Celebrate the new year in VRChat with Jean-Michel Jarre!

Virtual events have had a blast this year, with some performances that have become very successful, like the concert in Fortnite by Travis Scott, The Burning Man Festival in Altspace VR, or the Tomorrowland concert. So what could be the best way of celebrating the end of this 2020 if not with a fantastic virtual reality concert happening at midnight of the 31st, available on all platforms, all for free, and with a legend of electronic music like Jean-Michel Jarre? 

Every year, around mid-December, I hear people asking me “What are you going to do for New year’s Eve?” and usually I have absolutely no clue about it. But this year it’s different: I already know that I’m going to work with the usual epic team headed by VRrOOm, because we are organizing a big concert for New Year’s Eve inside VRChat! And it will be the biggest event we’ve ever organized. We’ve learned a lot from our experience with the previous concert Alone Together (where we also had some issues, let’s admit it) and from other events like Venice VR Expanded and we’re ready to offer you a smooth experience of fun in virtual reality.

The star of the concert will be Jean-Michel Jarre, a living legend of electronic music, that has innovated its field in the 70s and 80s. The location will be the Notre Dame Cathedral, a masterpiece that has gone lost in real life but that is still available in the virtual world (thanks Ubisoft for the hard work in producing it). It will be the occasion to watch a French legend of the music playing inside a French masterpiece, creating a unique mix between the new modern electronic music and the ancient historical building. This will be “Welcome To The Other Side”, a concert that shows exactly what VR is best for, that is creating impossible things. It would have been impossible to create a DJ set with a party inside the Notre Dame Cathedral, even when it was still intact, but thanks to Virtual Reality, it will be possible. And everyone would be able to join it!

We have worked months for this, and as you can see from the trailers and the pictures that I’m putting in this article, the results are amazing, thanks to all the artists and the creatives that have worked on it. The show will be pretty unique, and we are proud to say that it will actually be in Virtual Reality! VR is not used just as a marketing term: here the concert is not just a CGI video, but a full 3D experience that you will be able to enjoy inside VRChat with other people from the community! This way if you feel alone during New Year’s Eve and you can’t see other people or have a party because of the lockdown, you can have a big party with other people from all over the world in VR.

“Welcome To The Other Side” will be available on all platforms: if you have a PC (with or without VR), you will be able to enjoy it in all its greatness inside VRChat. If you have a Quest, you can still enjoy a more limited experience always inside VRChat. If you will be in mobility or you don’t have a VR headset, you can still be part of it by watching the video stream on Youtube, Facebook, and other social media! The show will start at around 11.25 pm CET and will go on through Midnight where everyone will salute the new incoming year. After the show of Jean-Michel Jarre, an afterparty environment will be available for those who still want to have fun together in virtual reality.

Do you want to join us? Well, tune on VRChat on December, 31st 2020 at 11.25 pm CET and look for the worlds containing the name “Notre-Dame” in them: one will be for PC users and the other one for Quest users. Or if you want to just watch the live stream, you will be able to find it on Youtube, Facebook, and Twitter! See you there… On The Other Side of 2020!

(Header image by VRrOOm)