More on Metarama

Every year sees new and better festivals and events, keeping audiences entertained, but making it difficult to keep ahead of the pack.

Now, reunion tours and acts are making the Summer festival circuit double as a roadshow, upping audience numbers from the draw of events and exhibits.

Bonnaroo has worked hard to give the people what they want. One of the most well-established festival brands in the country, they saw a decline in ticket sales in 2016, but after tweaking their product to provide a uniquely immersive experience on stage and off throughout the weekend, they have rebounded.

Indeed, they are nearly sold out, which is a first since 2013. But enough about Bonnaroo. They set the stage.

Concert promoter C3 Presents hopes to have the same success with Metarama. Running some of the best festivals in the country, not including Bonnaroo, they are as responsible for the concept of modern festivals in America as anyone. Their achievements include the Austin City Limits Music Festival in Austin, Texas starting in 2002, and Lollapalooza in Chicago starting in 2005.

C3’s latest addition is Metarama, which will take place October 19 and 20 in Las Vegas. The new product combines the worlds of live music, esports, and gaming alongside elements of streaming, cosplay, comedy and more. [ed.: But will there be furries?]

It caters to a new and young crowd which is just developing. The Millennials have grown up, and have money to spend (notionally). Their needs are not being met, and that needs to change.

“If you look at the consumption of gaming and the amount of time spent gaming per week and the amount of money spent on gaming and esports, it appears that our concertgoer/festivalgoer is also a gamer. Just by the math of it, almost everybody is doing some kind of gaming,” said Walker.

“So I felt like I probably wasn’t trying to reach out to a different consumer on that side because I think if we went around and polled the kids at Lollapalooza and the fans at Lollapalooza, I suspect some large share of them also game. So I felt like it was probably a similar demo,” he said.

Metarama is not the only light shining on gaming and esports in Vegas. For example, the culture of pervasive game playing is something that the Vegas area developers of the Ecoin ledger are counting on.

We hope that even 20 years from now we’ll be looking forward to the next annual Metarama in Las Vegas.