KISS @ O2 2017 - Virtual Reality

I just got around to (as well as being aware of, as I somehow completely missed the news when it was announced) exploring Melody VR as it is currently available on the Oculus Go and Gear VR headsets. I had been keeping my eye on Next VR for concert presentations in virtual reality given their existing NBA League games broadcasts that put you court side and occasion live concert broadcasts. Thus far, none of their concert broadcasts have been made on-demand and only an assortment of backstage experiences are up as such. Everything is presented with a 180 degree view from your "seat" in stereoscopic vision. Given that VR technology is at relatively early stage of development, the equipment such as the cameras and headsets have their limitations. I came into the VR world fairly early and have seen the improvements that have come along, particularly with video, to know that the future for this is extremely exciting. Currently, the best way to describe the image quality we can get is being quite near-sighted.

MelodyVR came to my attention this past week while researching further into the Oculus Go I received as a gift for Christmas. I've been a GearVR owner since the first headset released in 2015. At the time, NextVR was already in place with a Coldplay concert clip being one of the promotional clips included with the headset. I've never been a fan of the band, but something about being in the front row of their show next to fans going wild just sucked me right in as it would being at any live show with good energy, if for just a few minutes. Despite that, the full show has yet to be released 4 years later and no actual live performances from any band are available on their app. The mentions of Melody VR also came with complaints of "poor quality video" and "2D presentation, so I didn't immediately think much of it.. until I saw that they had the entire KISS concert at the O2 from 2017 with 8 "jump spots." https://melodyvr.com/performance/kiss/

Melody VR has a library of complete concerts from a variety of artists all on demand with The Who being one of KISS' peers on tap. Yes, these are in 2D and with a quite near-sighted presentation, but in 360 degrees. They are also a glimpse into the future. Right off, I can say we have come a ways since 4 years ago where it was quite standard to notice the stitching effect between multiple cameras. You would look around your environment, be it a city street in NYC or somewhere in Japan, and notice a warped area in the image. These have been completely done away with, leaving the lack of 2D and greater image clarity to be dealt with.

The 8 jump spots let you choose where you want to view the show from. My two obvious favorites are right in front of Paul or Gene's mics, which I switch between depending on the song. These vantage points are close enough see them clearly as well as the rest of the stage. Despite all of the current limitations of the technology, it's very easy to get swept up into the excitement of being at an actual KISS concert. It's a trip to be standing on stage in front of Paul watching him do his thing, strutting around on stage, wielding his guitar in that Paul Stanley way.

Being able to watch the audience is a huge part of what makes the experience what it is. It simultaneously reminds you how going to the actual show will never be replaced by virtual reality, but being able to be among them virtually drives the excitement of the experience that no filmed concert can capture the same way. I switched to the jump spot over by Paul's secondary stage for Psycho Circus and Black Diamond to try and get a better look, but given that his back is to you for a lot of it and is just a bit too far, I turned around and watched the main stage instead where I could see the video screens to be able to see Paul's face. I wound up watching a girl sing every word of Psycho Circus and took notice of others doing the same. During Black Diamond, I noticed two 20-30s year old guys going ape shit, as if their prayers had been delivered. It took me back to a time when the song was fresh and I thought it was one of the most incredible epics I'd ever heard. It reminded me why I fell in love with this band.. a band that is about to embark on their last tour.

That last point makes me grateful that their show has been captured virtually in some way thus far. I have always fantasized, since the days of Star Trek - The Next Generation's holodeck, of being able to put myself in any concert from history as if I were actually at the show... be it back at Cobo Hall in 1975, 1984, or The Palace in 1990. The reality of being able to present such an experience is pretty far-fetched today, requiring technology we don't currently have, but we can capture the band today as they are and come very close to that holodeck experience.

MedodyVR seems very aware of the limitations of the current technology and are dedicated to seeing it evolve to a point where we are experiencing these concerts with sharp and stereoscopic images that further immerse us in these shows. I certainly hope the coming "End of the Road" shows are captured using the most advanced VR capture equipment available so that we are able to call upon those last shows to re-experience them again and again, choosing different seats each time.

That sounds all nice and good if you ignore the fact that KISS concerts today are absolute shit and Paul Stanley of 2017 makes Jon Bon Jovi of 2017 in comparison sound like Jon Bon Jovi of 1995.

I haven't enjoyed broadcasts in recent years.. The 2013 Zurich show in particular, but I actually enjoyed the O2 show and thought Paul was doing a better job of making it work. The audience obviously thought so.

Frankly, when it is over, most people are going to be grateful any KISS show at all was preserved like this. Same for Bon Jovi.

I know this place is dead, but it really is bizarre that a bunch of people that purport to love going to live concerts seem to be completely clueless and disinterested in this. This is the future happening now and is only going to get better. It is NOT like watching a concert on TV with a headset strapped to your face. It's as if the community here and people in general lack open-mindedness and vision for the future.

Their current catalog has The Who, Fall Out Boy, Imagine Dragons (at Red Rocks, no less,) Walk The Moon, UB40, & 5 Seconds of Summer with many others. They have over 600 shows in the works with live broadcasts of sold out shows coming. MelodyVR has contracts with all of the major labels. For 10 dollars you can essentially attend a live concert in-person. There are plenty of shows that I would never have thought to attend, but the previews have me itching to pull the trigger on buying just based on a few seconds of dropping myself in the middle of a concert.

Aloha !

The people on this board who went to see other bands than Bon Jovi have left the board quite some time ago, I think.

I think I've watched a Coldplay show in VR about a year ago when I received my VR glasses. Although I agree with you by saying it's a way to experience a live show I think soundwise there's a lot that has to change.

Most official releases stemming from live shows don't actually sound live at all with crowd noise mixed to the background and a completely different mix when it comes to instruments and vocals. This results in a rather alienated experience as opposed to being part of it. It's why most good audience recordings often capture the atmosphere and entire show better than the official live releases of the same show. I've loads of official live albums from several artists but only a few sound like an actual live concert. I still prefer Bon Jovi in Osaka 1995 over any official live release from the same tour.

I doubt that. If it sounds shit, then why bother listening and watching it? If only it'd make people long for a similar recording but from a tour they would like to see. Bon Jovi released audio of an entire leg of the THINFS tour and all every fan really wants is the same recordings but from a tour they actually care for. The same goes for this stuff.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

I’d only be interested in “attending” some of the greatest gigs of all time like Isle of Wight when Hendrix, the who, the doors were there.

Re-live gigs I attended like Bon Jovi from Mk bowl in 93 or GNR from Wembley 91 would be great as well

I’m not really interested in seeing gigs from nowadays as I can attend them and none of the bands I like are as good as they were back in the day.



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I remember you getting very defensive when I pointed this out a couple years ago, I like how you admit it now.

The only way to avoid this (the bands you like getting worse and worse with time) is to get into new bands and be more accepting to different sounds.

Tell you who were good - LA Guns. Saw them last March and in 1991 before that. But most bands lose it with time.

Trouble for me is that theres not a lot of new bands I buy albums of let alone want to go and see them. I like Bring Me the Horizon and Falling in Reverse but I dont like many new bands.

my music taste is stuck firmly in the 80s & 90s.

This is the truth. Be cognizant of the fact that every generation has their people that get completely stuck in an era and dismiss anything that comes after it as crap. Everything that you (SteelHorse) praise in the 80s and 90s was dismissed as utter shit by those that came before you.

It's fine to like what you do, but it does translate into missing out on that feeling of discovering something new and fresh. MelodyVR is very much about offering that opportunity. Being able to go to shows in-person has nothing to do with it. That's like saying you don't need Spotify because you can buy the albums. Granted, MelodyVR isn't an unlimited streaming service, but paying $10 dollars to be front row, as often as you want to be, is far more accessible than paying $500 dollars and up for the actual seat at the show. I'm hardly going to stop going to shows. It's more likely that I'll start going to more shows by new bands that I'm discovering as a result of attending their shows virtually.

That Coldplay show never did surface in full length. It was only ever used as a showcase for early adopters.

As for the sound issue, that is very much an individual thing. I certainly have come to appreciate audience based recordings in the last one or two decades where I previously absolutely hated them for their horrible quality. Otherwise, I think the majority prefer a professionally recorded live show over an audience recording. The issue comes up when dealing with dry soundboard recordings with a horrible mix. That I agree on.

I actually quite enjoy the sound of the KISS show in MelodyVR, and I haven't much enjoyed the professionally filmed shows in recent years. Unlike with those, this is more like going to the actual show in terms of enjoyment, as is often argued on these boards where everyone not in attendance is savaging it based on the stream and those that were actually there were having a great time.