Last week over four incredible days — Decentraland hosted the first ever Metaverse Festival.
I think most of us can agree it was a huge success.
Bringing people from all over the world to celebrate and party together, it was a historical moment for Decentraland and really showcased what amazing feats can be achieved within Metaverse spaces.
The Metakey VIP area held exclusive events for the Key-holders. We had a live art stream from our amazingly talented Art Director Billy Roberts. We also had Michael P with a Q&A and a tour of the event itself. And the man the myth the legend, Matty himself streamed there with giveaways and brought his exclusive insights into the NFT industry and Decentraland.
We were also SO lucky to interview some of the amazing acts at the festival that were gracious enough to drop by the VIP lounge. We caught up with:
Djanan Turan — London-based Turkish singer, songwriter and producer. She was the first EVER artist to perform live in Decentraland almost a year ago. We spoke about her perspective on the evolution of the space over the past year and the unique dynamics of connecting with an audience in-Metaverse.
Aluna Francis — of AlunaGeorge fame; released her first solo album “Renaissance” in August last year. We talked about replicating and elevating the festival experience in DCL, and discussed her own recent utility-driven NFT release!
Fuze the MC — Oakland-based digital strategist, hip hop artist, and business developer. We chatted with him about winning hackathons and our favourite mo-cap dance moves…
Akira the Don — British musician, DJ, “Wavelord” and producer. We explored together the transformative potential of music, the role of NFTs in the music industry and the future of the Metaverse.
There was also so many other areas of the festival to explore. However the four main stages were where we all saw most of the action.
Each day there was a new incredible build on the evolution stage.
This was where we saw some of our biggest acts, with massive headliners such as:
Day 1: Nina Nesbit, a Scottish singer/ songwriter who donned a motion capture outfit specially for her avatars performance at the festival.
Day 2: Alison Wonderland who performed an amazing DJ set, and also had her own exclusive Wonderland church set up at the festival.
Day 3: Deadmau5 who turned the dial up to 11 on the brightness setting and dazzled us all with a fantastic set.
Day 4: Paris Hilton, closing down the festival with her DJ set as her brand new Genies avatar and with special guest Fewocious.
The world stage was a tropical paradise of flamingos and lights. We were introduced to some amazing international acts such as The Turbans, Lokyii, Charlie G and Renu.
The OG Smash Stage was a fusion of space with 90s Rock and Roll nostalgia. And was a community curated stage that featured artists from the NFT space, such as Boombox head, Scrilla and Vandal.
The MultiNFT.io stage was the after party of each day, featuring a 1–5am Techno set with a very Tron looking theme. It featured such artists as Drunken Kong, Samra and Magic Cacoon.
The Acoustic stage featured a live stream from The Harrison Bar in London each day. Featuring such artists as as Alabaster De Plume, Dan Korn and Dana Immanuel. It had an outdoor festival theme, featuring a train ride, a Ferris Wheel and even a butterfly catch game with a POAP reward.
POAPS were a major feature of the festival. We had our own exclusive one for our Key Holders in the VIP area — but each of the stages also had a POAP available for collection, and each of the artists at the evolution stage had their own own to collect once you had attended their set for a few minutes.
There were also many opportunities to grab some free Decentraland Wearables. Our Key-holders got their own VIP shirts but there was plenty of crates dropped throughout the acts at the evolution stage with free goodies for all attendees.
There was also plenty of fun fair games and food trucks if people needed to take a break from all the tunes. One of the stand out attractions for many was the pump and dump or portable toilets. Which gave everyone the opportunity to create their own tunes!
Day four ended with an after party at the Monkey Shoulder Hex Bar (only for those over 18 though!).
What an absolute journey this festival was for everyone. I think we can all agree that it will go down in the history books and when we are all older we will turn to the younger generation and tell them “I was at the first one!”
And as a final note we would advise keeping on top of the Metakey twitter and discord. We found this whole experience very inspiring, and may even be looking to hold our own similar events in the future!
Now to sleep after a full four days of fun….
SarahCorgii
29.10.21 Edit:
Just wanted to add some more information to this that we got from the amazing folks in Decentraland. Anyone that loves numbers and stats is going to enjoy the following.
The total attendees to the festival was 24,163. With 32,437 logged into Decentraland at the time this means that 74.49% of people in Decentraland were in the festival!
Peak attendance throughout the festival occurred during Deadmau5. At 1913 people attending!
There was also a total of 11204 NFT’s claimed throughout the festival. With a split of:
FEWOCIOUSxParis HiltonxGENIES — 200
Metaverse Festival Wearables — 8405
Deadmau5 Metaverse Festival ’21–2599
Certainly can’t wait until the next big Decentraland event to see if we can all smash some attendance records!
