Virtual dance music festival to take place in Minecraft next month

News

A virtual festival, Electric Blockaloo, is set to take place in the online game world of Minecraft next month.

Presented by promoters Rave Family, and taking place from 25th – 28th June, the online festival will feature over 300 DJs and live artists across more than 40 “stages”. In order to attend, fans will need to pay a cover fee to access to the artist-curated Minecraft servers and exclusive streams, as well as some releases exclusive to the event. 

So far, stage hosts for the festival have been announced, with artists and labels including Diplo, La Fleur, TOKiMONSTA, Nicole Moudaber, Uniiqu3, Dirtybird, Anjunabeats and more all curating their own virtual “stages”. See the full list of hosts below.

Those who wish to “attend” the festival, but who are unfamiliar with Minecraft and how to play it, will be able to access a “training camp” ahead of the festival. 

A portion of each ticket sale will go to Bye Bye Plastic, an organisation aiming to eliminate single-use plastic from music festivals by 2025.

It’s the latest development in the world of “virtual festivals” amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Last weekend, Movement Detroit hosted a live-streamed festival featuring DJ sets from Carl Craig, Loco Dice, ANNA, Seth Troxler and more in lieu of the real-edition, which was set to take place on the same days. Similarly, EDC Las Vegas hosted a “Virtual Rave-A-Thon” in place of its postponed event two weeks ago. Burning Man announced that it will also be hosting a virtual event this year in the wake of its cancellation due to coronavirus.