Packed room and cool kids, talking about music as well as games, mixed with nerds chatting about smart contracts and blockchains. Welcome to ethereum’s “story of decentralization over the course of a day.”

Sponsored by ConsenSys, Microsoft and others, the event is somewhat unique. Fully focused on eth, but less on code or individual projects and more on eth’s uses in wide ranging applications, from music to football, supply chains and industrial revolutions to games.

It’s still on-going, so below is just a glimpse of a very unique day for ethereum and the wider blockchain space, “a day of technology storytelling in every imaginable medium,” as the Ethereal website states.

First off, the place is packed. It’s full to overcapacity, so no one else can come in. Wouldn’t have expected anything less for a blockchain cultural event revolving around smart contracts with music and football. But for some that’s far too boring. Way more fun to play Risk right?

That’s an ethereum based risk style board game. Yes, we want it too. No, you can’t have any more details. Soon-ish. It’s all recorded, with videos hopefully out tomorrow or so, plus more articles in the meantime.

But who wants space like bubbly things when you can have trendy walls that make you think of cool clubs with some guys chatting about e-sports. Hey, who knew this geeky thing could keep you fit too – well in principle anyway.

They’re just heating up the crowd for the SingularDTV guys to come on. They’re backstage right now, walking around an outright mess, but, who knows, maybe that’s stupendously orderly to these movie and music guys.

Oh my god what do we have down here. Is this Burning Man or London’s Camden? What is that! Gib that hat or I’ma take it and run. Dude, geez, how much cooler can MetaMask get?

Ok, ok, let’s go serious and watch Cab Morris (seriously? You couldn’t find a less cool name?), the guy who is:

“Leading “Illinois Blockchain Initiative,” an effort to position State as pioneer in analyzing feasibility of distributed ledger technology and in defining use cases in government. Working with private sector partners to structure business case, blockchain technical architecture and implementation strategy for identity registers and compliance/entitlement ledgers.”

Yeah, yeah, blockchain, shmuckchain initiative, just look at them (both of them). Doesn’t eth have the most handsome people folks? Good people, grounded people, intelligent people. Happy People.

And cool people. Who would have imagined 20 years ago some handsome guy in a leather jacket would stand up and say we are building the web we wanted and the web we should want with blockchain tech.

Welcome to 2017 folks. The year when blockchain and smart contracts are cooler than Burning Man (well ok, sort of). A year when code is art, and artists come. A year when the best of this generation across all fields band together to change this world.

Thanks to all those who shared those images on Twitter. Follow the cultural ethereum event in real time at twitter’s #ethereal summit