Amazing Grace
…how sweet the sound! And vision! And Experience!
This picture by DrFran cannot even begin to do justice to a special performance by Grace McDunnough last night in Second Life.
Music is part of the lifeblood of the metaverse just as much is it is the soundtrack to our lives. For those of us of a certain age this summer has been full of it – particularly as we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the “Summer Of Love”. To date there have been three highlights. The first was “SOL 07″ where contemporary performers came together in an attempt to recreate the spirit of ’67 at Chris Hambly’s “Audio” complex with art installations and more. The second, around 10 days later was an emulation of “Woodstock” in Second Life with multiple locations across various SIMs. The third was the real-life anniversary concert in San Francisco’s Golden Gate park a couple of weeks back which I could only bring inworld personally by loading the stream into a player on our land.
All were fine parties and great events and brought back memories of another time. It was a time when the expression “multimedia” came into being, but in the absence of modern technology it referenced the nature of events. Musicians would appear with lightshows behind them, dancers on stage and myriad other experiments designed to enhance the environment as a whole – extending the power of music into an all-consuming “experience”. Such concepts were in fact crucial to developing many tools we take for granted in our interfaces today. They are certainly evident here in Second Life.
Much as I relished the events of the summer, it was an exercise in nostalgia for the most part – albeit a positive evocation of the spirit of times past. Enjoyable and emotive, but nonetheless consuming memories rather than truly reliving them.
So back to Grace,
t short notice I and a few others were invited to a SIM to “witness” her new “Musimmersion” concept and performance. Hard to explain concisely, but it immediately invoked the very mood that none of the aforementioned events managed. It was an inspired set with a selection of songs that for the most part fully triggered the memories I have been talking about. But far more.
Grace has now taken the potential of our new digital world to a new level by seating her audience around her, locking down the SIM and then proceeding to take listeners on an all-embracing audio-visual adventure. Collectively, she moved us through multiple environments designed to complement the ambiance of each successive song.
And it worked a treat!
Words cannot describe exactly what she did any more than still pictures can. So much was down to movement, effects and the interactive nature of the new world, not to mention her personal interpretation of the music she chose for the show. It was, dare I say it, a “trip”, in the sense we used to use the expression.
There will be public performances coming up. They deserve to be the “hottest ticket” going. I would want to be at every one of them and could probably single-handedly fill her audience each time. So if you catch the drift of what I’m trying to describe here, you owe it to yourself to “immerse” yourself in one of these shows if at all possible. You won’t regret it. Indeed, you might never forget it!
Thanks for the magic Grace!
