Amaze VR and Avenged Sevenfold held an exclusive first look at the new immersive interactive concert, Avenged Sevenfold VR Concert: Looking Inside, Tuesday, February 27. A few lucky fans and select press were invited to the intimate event to hang out with the Grammy-nominated rock band and experience the virtual reality concert before its official release on Wednesday, February 28 only available on the AmazeVR Concert App.
The global leader in VR concerts, AmazeVR, teamed up with Warner Records and Avenged Sevenfold to create the first ever rock VR concert. Looking Inside is a 26-minute VR concert that highlights the band’s iconic hits and new music from the band’s eighth studio album Life Is But A Dream matched with other-worldly visuals. Huntington Beach-based metal icons Avenged Sevenfold mark the first time AmazeVR has partnered with a band and introduced a new genre to the AmazeVR Concerts App. The production is an innovative way to connect fans to artists with a special one-to-one performance, revolutionizing concert experiences and is available for download on Apple Vision Pro and Meta App Lab.
“We knew that Avenged Sevenfold was the perfect choice to debut our rock genre, they are constantly challenging the norm, experimenting with new technology, all to prioritize connecting with their fans,” said AmazeVR CEO and Co-Founder Steve Lee in a press release. Avenged Sevenfold adds to the AmazeVR Concerts app calendar of artists, including T-Pain, Megan Thee Stallion, Zara Larsson and UPSAHL. Users can access one free song per artist and purchase the entire concert for the exclusive launch price of $12.99 and experience the show forever.
AmazeVR’s Avenged Sevenfold VR Concert: Looking Inside, transports the audience into a dark dreamscape that features a purgatory waiting room, Death, fire, and of course Wes Lang’s Life Is But A Dream artwork. Looking Inside provides such a close encounter with Avenged Sevenfold that vocalist M.Shadows will appear to be mere inches from the viewer’s face, and showcases close-ups that can be replayed to study Brooks Wackerman’s drumming, Synyster Gates and Zachy Vengeance guitar tricks, and Johnny Christ’s bass playing. Fans can also expect to have a close encounter with Death during Avenged Sevenfold’s VR performance of “Hail to the King” and get up close and personal with the band’s signature trademark of a flying skull with giant bat wings during “Nightmare.” The band utilized the new technology to its greatest extent keeping the viewer’s on their toes, including having a Johnny jump-scare as he screams in the face of the viewer as the screen lights back up.
During a special Q&A with all five members of Avenged Sevenfold and Lance Drake, Creative Director of AmazeVR, it was repeatedly mentioned that the teams all felt the same flow and level of passion to create such an innovative experience. Drake mentioned that it took about 60 people of AI engineers, CG stage designers, a Metaverse team, and more to bring the project to life. Everything seemed to connect with the project including finding the perfect title. Drake revisited Lang’s visual artwork for Life Is But A Dream and came across a piece titled Looking Inside and figured it was the perfect title and the perfect way to relate back to the new album.
Drake explained this VR concert came with some challenges as it differed from any previous AmazeVR concert as the band brought their tour crew to the set. Shadows elaborated that the band needed to be as perfect as possible as every performance was shot in a single take live with a 180 degree view camera. Though the band is known to be very meticulous with their work, Synyster did admit that viewers will be able to catch a few hiccups here and there during his guitar solo. The live performance was being mixed on the spot by the monitor engineers, guitar techs made sure all twelve guitars were tuned and switched out for the perfect songs, all while filming with a pre-programmed robotic arm. With help from Director Drake, the band hit their marks and knew exactly when to make eye contact to draw in the viewer for an extra personal experience.
When asked how the band decided on the VR concert’s setlist Shadows answered, “These seemed like the most rational songs to expand this sort of pallet of creativity. ‘Mattel’ with the daisies, and have all this stuff happening, ‘Nobody’ with the monoliths… it just made sense to where we are at.”
“Going into it, you really have nothing to be inspired by because we’ve never seen anything like it. So we’re kind of taking a blind leap of faith,” said Zachy. “We wanted to incorporate some of our big songs. like ‘Hail to the King’ is a fan-favorite, easy to digest, but we wanted to bring the new album’s flare and where we are at at this point of our career… these songs just felt like they flowed together,” he added. “We had some behind the scenes conversations where ‘we don’t want to be a novelty’, we don’t want to just go out there and do a concert, this has to be important.”
The metal band mentioned that they wanted to reinvent their older work. The AI technology and graphics certainly helped them revive their hit “Hail to the King” as Death lingers behind the band, constantly changing its location. Or getting chills as Shadows does the classic sinister laugh close to the viewer’s face during “Nightmare” while a giant terrifying skull flies overhead in a location that appears to be a dark hell. The band also mentioned that they had sworn off music videos for the past two albums, but they might continue to experiment with VR. Everything about the VR performance is amplified in a way a traditional in-person concert could not execute. The viewer can choose what to focus on, whether it be the surrounding visuals or what exact notes Synyster and Zachy are hitting as they play shoulder to shoulder directly in front of the viewer.
“I was just thinking if I was a young musician and Van Halen had this or Prince had this, I mean I would be the first one to buy the VR headset and say ‘okay, what is Alex Van Halen doing here?’ So, I mean to have that intimacy and front row to your favorite musician or musicians is just unbelievable,” said Brooks.
While the press enjoyed the Q&A in an intimate screening room, a dozen of lucky contest winners enjoyed the full Looking Inside VR Concert. Following the Q&A, the band saw an opportunity to surprise fans while they were still immersed into the VR concert. Shadows teased a fan who refused to take off his headset to see who was holding his hand, Synyster tickled a few people, and Johnny sat on a fan who immediately took off the headset to greet him.
Avenged Sevenfold will also be including the immersive concert experience into their VIP packages on the upcoming Life is But a Dream North American Tour. Fans will have the opportunity to view the band’s performance of “Mattel” inside the VIP lounge where five headsets will allow fans to step into the virtual world. The band returns to the road on March 6 with special guests Poppy and Sullivan King in Buffalo, NY. For more information on AmazeVR, along with upcoming concerts, visit amazevr.com. Check out the Avenge Sevenfold AmazeVR Concert trailer below:
(Originally published on Mxdwn.com)
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