A couple of days ago, in between eating instant porridge at my desk and looking back on the previous week’s horoscopes to see if they were accurate, a colleague tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I wanted to spend the afternoon wearing a virtual reality headset and watching artists like Rag'n'Bone Man and Jess Glynne perform their hits through a screen for journalism. I obviously agreed – getting out of the office for the afternoon gives me the same bleak thrill as when I was at primary school and got asked to take out the recycling – which is how I found myself shuffling into the offices of a company called MelodyVR, sticking my head into a plastic machine and going to a “gig” that I might not have left my swivel chair for had it been “real”.

The world of VR is a contentious and interesting subject. Those that are totally against it are usually the same kind of people who think social media is turning teens into narcissists and avocados are to blame for “generation rent”. And then on the other end are the transhumanists among us who don’t see any problem in staying inside all day, plugged in until we turn into boneless slugs, incubating our bodies like fleshy plants until they reach 250 years old. I personally sit somewhere in between, although veer towards the latter tbh. I like to consider myself a proponent of new technology, and feel excited about a future (or present?) in which everyone can experience the farthest reaches of what the world has to offer. But I also sometimes feel drawn towards the romance of “realness”, and think the transience and pain of human existence is what make the brief spells of sweetness on planet earth twice as sweet.

But anyway: VR gigs! What of them? The MelodyVR offices actually look very much like the VICE offices, apart from they have free snacks, so after stuffing some mini popcorn packets into my dungarees, I charged upstairs to where the virtual live shows would take place. Once I got there, I was passed a headset and hand controller which allowed me to flick through a performance database – kind of like Netflix for gigs – full of shows from Fall Out Boy, Sigrid, Bring Me the Horizon, Rag‘n’Bone Man, Jess Glynne, KISS (???) and Rudimental among many others. I obviously chose to watch Fall Out Boy because I’m an overgrown emo, so after some adjustments to make the headset fit my tiny pea head, I suddenly found myself “on stage”, in front of a screaming arena crowd, while Pete Wentz stood beside me swinging his holographic arms up and down a guitar neck to the sound of “Dance, Dance.” If I had been 13 years old, this whole scenario would have made me lose my shit.

According to a press release, this new venture is the world’s “only virtual reality platform licensed by the music industry.” MelodyVR have secured deals with Universal, Warner, Sony and Roc Nation, with agreements to film in certain venues, and have starting selling “virtual tickets” to shows in the United Kingdom and United States. In other words, this is a win, win, win situation for music industry capitalism. MelodyVR cover the relatively minor cost of filming, the artists get more money and exposure and the venues sell more tickets. And then there are the audience, who can watch shows – either live or pre-recorded, arenas or private – in the comfort of their own homes, from any part of the world, as long as they have a VR headset (initially on Oculus Go and Samsung GearVR) and the MelodyVR app. So far, so simple.