Digital concerts have had a varied history with Damon Albarn’s Gorillaz pioneering the concept in the West and Japan’s Hatsune Miku continuing to sell out arenas in Asia. However, developments in 3D modelling technology in the last 10 years has given rise to an all new form digital concert. Perhaps most infamously, Coachella 2014 brought us Tupac resurrected and rendered in all of his early-2010s 3D glory. Although still essentially a projection on a large screen, the 2014 Coachella performance imprinted the hologram concert into the music zeitgeist. 

Fast forward ten years and we are now faced with a massive digital performance industry, whether that be entirely online events like Travis Scott’s Fortnite concert in 2020, or holographic arena shows like ABBA’s Voyage. While Voyage still works of the same technology as Tupac’s 2012 performance, all aspects of the process have been greatly improved: 3D modelling, motion capture, projection, lighting, and sound design have all been refined to a high degree in an attempt to convince the audience that they aren’t just looking at a big screen. Despite the band being as unlikely to return to the stage as Tupac, their digital renditions sold 1.4m tickets in its first year. 

Perhaps what hologram concerts need, to truly live up to their futuristic namesake, is a leap in technology. In comes Layered Reality, a UK based digital events specialist who have secured the rights to give Elvis Presley the Lazarus treatment. Layered Reality is a company that specialises in virtual reality (VR)  technology as a vehicle to tell immersive stories to participants. Although official material from Layered Reality is vague on the specifics of the Elvis experience, it appears that it will feature physical set and sound design used in combination with an augmented reality overlay (AR) viewed through a VR headset. 

In addition to this smorgasbord of technological bells and whistles, the digital Elvis will use AI models to generate new dialogue from the star. Speaking to the BBC, Layered Reality’s CEO, Andrew Guinness said: “The AI generates an authentic version of Elvis, born of original material, but it [also] allows you to do new things with him.” Much like the unofficial fan AI covers seen last year like ghostwriter977’s ‘Heart on my Sleeve’, Layered Reality will use old footage and recordings of Presley to train an AI program to mimic his voice. 

The experience is scheduled to take place in London sometime this year. Layered Reality offers a mailing list for those wanting to receive updates on specific locations and dates on their website. 

This year’s Wireless Festival will run on the Friday 7th July until Sunday 9th July with Playboi Carti, Travis Scott, and D-Block Europe as the headlining performers. 50 Cent is also set to perform as a special guest. It will take place at Finsbury Park in London bringing the rap and urban community back together.

On Wireless Festival’s official Instagram, it was announced that tickets had “OFFICIALLY SOLD OUT” as seen below:

Although not all names on the lineup has been revealed, musicians including Lil Uzi Vert, Metro Boomin, FLO, Mariah The Scientist, Lil Durk, and Lil Tjay will be performing across the weekend.

BBC 1XTRA is this year’s official broadcast partner for Wireless Festival 2023. They will be broadcasting live from Finsbury Park allowing fans to follow along on BBC Sounds, and BBC iPlayer.

The following BBC Radio 1XTRA hosts are confirmed to appear across the weekend: Kenny Allstar, Seani B, DJ Target, Tiffany Calver, Nadia Jae, and Remi Burgz.

See the announcement video for the lineup names below:

2023 Names are here

@nellarose @yungfilly1 @Darkestman_1 @HenrieVIII @itsNadiaJae @KennyAllstar pic.twitter.com/rJSTCgkQIp

— Wireless Festival (@WirelessFest) January 25, 2023

Last year, Wireless took place over at Crystal Palace, Birmingham, as well as Finsbury Park. However, it will only be held at Finsbury Park this year for the entire three-day event. Headlining artists for Wireless Festival 2022 included the likes of Cardi B, SZA, Nicki Minaj, A$AP Rocky, J. Cole, Dave, and Tyler, The Creator.

The music festival has been running since 2005 with headlining artists including Jay-Z, P!nk, The Black Eyed Peas, Pulp, Rihanna, Bruno Mars, and Stormzy.

Those who do not want to miss out are encouraged to quickly purchase tickets to avoid disappointment while limited VIP packages are still available.

Remember to be aware of ticket scams and only purchase tickets via the official Gopuff delivers Wireless and their official ticket partners.

Here is the list of artists announced to perform so far:

Friday 7th July

• Playboi Carti
• Yeat
• Lil Uzi Vert
• Metro Boomin
• Lancey Foux
• Ice Spice
• Kenny All Star
• Ken Carson
• Latto
• Destroy Lonely
• Homixide Gang
• Lola Brooke

and more…

Saturday 8th July

• Travis Scott
• Lil Yachty
• Headie One
• Bryson Tiller
• FLO
• Joey Bada$$
• Lucki
• Mariah The Scientist
• Clavish
• NLE Choppa

and more…

Sunday 9th July

• D-Block Europe
• 50 Cent
• Lil Durk
• Popcaan
• Lil Tjay
• Dexta Daps
• DJ Target
• K-Trap
• GloRilla
• Black Sherif
• Dréya Mac

and more…

Buy tickets here

Rolling Loud Rotterdam is hosted by Woo Ha! and will kick off in the summer of 2023 at the Rotterdam Ahoy venue, located in the heart of what is The Netherlands’ second largest city and one of Europe’s primary seaports.  With the announcement of more acts to follow, the Rotterdam event is schedules to take place on June 30th – July 1st, 2023.  You can check the line-up as it stands so far, and grab pre-sale tickets, here.

Travis Scott will go on to headline Rolling Sound Portugal, which, this year, takes to the picturesque beaches of Portimao on the Algarve coast as a venue.  With announcements of the full lineup for the event to follow soon, presale tickets are currently available here.  The festival will take place on 5th – 7th July, 2023.

2023 looks to be a busy year for Rolling Loud’s organizers, as in addition to the Rotterdam and Portugal dates, Rolling Loud has events planned for Thialand in April, and California in March.  The California event will be headlined by Travis Scott, Future, and Playboy Carti.  July will also see the eight annual Rolling Sound flagship event returning to Miami on July 21st – 23rd.

Check out footage of Travis Scott performing “Stargazing”, live at Miami’s Rolling Loud in 2019.

Since its inception in 2015 by founders Matt Zingler and Tariq Charif, Rolling loud has earned global acclaim from critics and festival-lovers alike, with Variety calling the event “The biggest hip-hop festival in the country”, and Forbes describing it as “a lifestyle brand. They are more than just the shows. They have built a community with their consumers and are building new channels to maintain continuity”.  The festival’s 2022 headliners in the flagship Miami event included the likes of Kid Cudi, Kendrick Lamar and Future.  September 2022 brought the first ever Rolling Loud Toronto, where Future was joined by Wizkid and Dave, and Rolling Loud New York, where Nicki Minaj, Asap Rocky and Future took headlining slots.

For full details on all of Rolling Loud’s upcoming 2023 events, check out their website here.

Wooooowwwww just woooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

— TRAVIS SCOTT (@trvisXX) August 6, 2022

Round 2 London tonight this gonna be special one man dem ready — TRAVIS SCOTT (@trvisXX) August 7, 2022

On August 8^th, the day after the second of the two shows, which was added due to high demand, Scott tweeted, “London thank u for those last two days. What an amazing fucking time ahhhhhhhhhhhh”  and “I’ll be back when it’s album time”.

London thank u for those last two days. What an amazing fucking time ahhhhhhhhhhhh

— TRAVIS SCOTT (@trvisXX) August 8, 2022

I’ll be back when it’s album time

— TRAVIS SCOTT (@trvisXX) August 8, 2022

Scott kicked off the first show in a typically dramatic fashion, pyrotechnics firing as the rapper appeared on a podium above the stage as he opened with “Hold That Heat”. Scott didn’t disappoint his UK fans, smashing through a 23-song set, including the songs “Sicko Mode”, “MAFIA”, “Way Back”, and “Butterfly Effect”. The incendiary performance was quickly shared by fans who didn’t hang around posting footage to social media. Concert attendee @Adam_Baines tweeted, “@trvisXX Travis Scott at  @TheO2 tonight went beyond wild, never seen a crowd like it”.

@trvisXX Travis Scott at @TheO2 tonight went beyond wild, never seen a crowd like it pic.twitter.com/CDf9o2UWPe — AB (@Adam__Baines) August 6, 2022

The rapper also performed “Pick Up The Phone” with a fan and then gave him his shoes and treated the crowd to a couple of unreleased songs, with Scott performing “Lost Forever”, featuring Westside Gunn and James Blake and “God’s Country”, featuring Kanye West. Both songs will likely appear on his upcoming album Utopia.

Travis Scott performed Pick Up The Phone with a fan then gave him his shoes pic.twitter.com/Ykomv60hCl — TRAVIS SCOTT FAN PAGE RodeoTheAlbum (@RodeoTheAlbum) August 7, 2022

The London stint is Scott’s first headline engagement since the Astroworld tragedy last year, where ten people died and many more were injured in the fatal crowd crush. NME reported Houston Fire Department Chief Sam Peña’s comments at the time: “The crowd began to compress towards the front of the stage and that caused some panic and it started causing some injuries.”

Festival goer Alexis Guavin told CNN in the aftermath, “I have been to many Travis shows before and am definitely aware of how insane the crowd and pits can be but this was my first Astroworld fest and I had no idea it could get like that”. She continued, “Once he started, all hell broke loose. All of what is to be 50,000 people ran to the front, compressing everyone together with the little air available. Luckily, I have mosh pit experience and am 6ft tall so I could at least put my head up to breathe but others not so fortunate”.

The first of his London shows didn’t go without incident, with a fan throwing something at Scott. The London newspaper The Metro reported, “It was reportedly a heavy item, as a loud bang was heard as it made contact with the floor. The rapper was said to be unimpressed and annoyed by the incident but carried on with his show without interruption, avoiding its distraction”.

The BBC’s Mark Savage reported earlier today that Eilish asked the O2 security team to distribute water to fans before asking “Are you all ok? It’s hot, I know, Don’t try to save feelings”, and eventually pausing the show to ask fans to “Take a step back” and “Give everybody some space. If someone looks a little woozy, just tell someone.”

Thankfully everyone ended up being okay, after fans took it upon themselves to form a protective circle around the effected party and shined phone lights on them until security arrived, her set carried on as usual. However, it’s not the first time the star has had to pause a show to check on her fans safety. Back in February, she interrupted her Happier Than Ever tour show in Atlanta after noticing someone struggling to breathe and refusing to proceed until they could access an inhaler. She also had to stop her show later that month at Maddison Square Garden in New York saying “If you want to sit down, you are allowed. Go ahead, you’re good. Sit down, take a breath.”

Eilish is currently in the middle of her UK tour promoting new album Happier Than Ever. She will perform again at London’s O2 tonight before continuing on to Glasgow’s Ovo Hydro Arena on Tuesday 14th June, Birmingham’s Utilita Arena on the 15th, and returning to the O2 in London to finish the UK leg with two final shows on the 16th, 25th, and 26th. You can grab any remaining tickets here.

View this post on Instagram

Franchise T™️ 1

A post shared by M.I.A. (@miamatangi) on Oct 5, 2020 at 2:48pm PDT

2020 marks a return to music for M.I.A, who has in recent years been focussing on her political activism. The 45 year old musician is vocal in critiquing the Sri Lankan government and has provided much aid to those suffering within the country. Her music is often politically charged. For instance, Paper Planes was a comment on the prejudices and stereotypes that people have toward immigrants.

The catchy chorus ‘All I wanna do is [bang bang bang bang]// And a [click ka-ching]] And take your money’ is an example of M.I.A’s lyrical ability to use irony in making commentary about social issues. Her input on Franchise is, however, not quite so serious.

Her verse sees her rapping: ‘Golf buggy, Kawasaki// Catch a fish, sushi, maki// livin’life// London city, left the town (Ah)// Thug and Travis be the fam’. These slightly random lyrics have been criticised by listeners, to the point of someone starting a change.org petition to have M.I.A’s verse removed from the track!

Others have jumped to her defence, commenting on her Instagram: ‘MIA your verse was good, don’t let the haters get to you!’ and ‘…her verse was the only good thing in this song’. Regardless of the controversy, it is good to hear new music from M.I.A, who surely deserves the No.1 spot after all this time.

On another note, M.I.A’s biopic – an intimate documentary made up of hundreds of hours of personal footage of her – is coming to Netflix later this month. It is titled MATANGI/ MAYA/ M.I.A in reference to the several facets of her identity.

Matangi is her Sri Lankan birth name that was replaced with Maya when she and her family moved to England because ‘people had a hard time pronouncing it at school’. M.I.A, of course, is her musical moniker. The documentary is hitting Netflix screens on October 15th, so be sure to check it out if you want to find out more about M.I.A and her achievements.

Astroworld is Scott’s third studio full-length release, and at the time of writing has two different album artworks. These were both snapped by David LaChapelle, and the alternate artwork is what has drawn the ire of the public, after Scott’s official cover seemed to cut out the inclusion of popular trans model Amanda Lepore. You can see the original image below, with the modified version below that.

Lepore is clearly featured to the left of the centre of LaChapelle’s original shot, yet doesn’t feature in the final version of the artwork, which was fully shown on August 1.

Scott has now responded to the controversy via his own social media. In an official statement, Scott said:

“This is very important for me to speak up about: Growing up I’ve been taught to accept everyone, not to cast people away but bring them into your home! I have nothing but respect for the LGBTQ community.

“I want to use my voice to make it clear that everyone on this planet is as equal and as facing awesome to the next. Me and Lachappelle set out [to] create images that i grew up watching him create for years that inspire me today.”

He continued: “Yo Amanda you did upstage everyone even me…and I can’t wait for everyone to see the booklet that me and Dave put together that includes all these images. thank you for being apart of it. Sorry for the misunderstanding.”

Scott also took to Twitter, to reinforce this, captioning a further statement with “EVERYONE IS WELCOME TO ASTROWORLD.”

EVERYONE IS WELCOME TO ASTROWORLD pic.twitter.com/npNZ53Fzzn

— TRAVIS SCOTT (@trvisXX) August 4, 2018

To some, Scott’s words ring hollow, with RuPaul’s Drag Race’s season 10 winner Aquaria calling out the Houston rapper outright, which you can see below.

Hi transphobia! I just saw transphobia gurl!

— Aquaria (@aquariaofficial) August 1, 2018

Lepore doesn’t appear to be too affected by the whole affair, however, writing on Instagram “A girl can’t help it! I’m too distracting for the eyes. I upstaged everyone in the photograph! Oh well… I love David LaChapelle and Travis Scott. Love and kisses.”

The gig was held at Manhattans Terminal 5 Venue, and it’s there where fans were encouraged to jump from the balcony down to the ground floor level, where more crowd was by Travis himself. The rapper announced “Are you gonna do it? They’re gonna catch you, don’t be scared” which you can see in the footage below.

There are no fans like @trvisXX fans. pic.twitter.com/tv04tn07p9

— RAVEN B. (@RAVIEB) May 1, 2017

However Kyle tells the New York Post that he was pushed from the third floor balcony, after the crowd surged forward, “everyone was packed in like sardines. It was hard to breathe”. Once Kyle had hit the floor, he said he was then picked up by the venue Bowery Presents security, after Scott had shouted at them to bring Kyle forward. He was shifted to the side of stage, where he was let to recover by himself without any support, or check for injuries immediately.

It’s on stage that Kyle was then handed a ring from Travis Scott, real name Jacques Webster Jr. himself, which seems to be some attempt to make him feel better about the situation. Green was then carried away from stage and eventually an ambulance arrived. The student says his injuries included fractured vertebrae, a broken left wrist and a fractured right ankle, leaving him paralysed on his left side and dependant on the use of a wheelchair.

Travis’s live shows have a reputation to be rowdy, with crowds often always mosh pitting, crowd surfing and stage diving, and will always inspire the crowds to join in on this energetic behaviour. This sometimes even leads Travis himself to participate, creating an even more hyped and excited atmosphere, making it easy for accidents to happen. This chaos unfortunately leads to the young Kyle being “dependant on his family for almost everything”.

Pitchfork used this notable usual behaviour at the stars concerts as a complaint alleges that “Travis Scott incited mayhem and chaos through his conduct”. It’s to this they received a statement back from Scott’s representative’s days after the show. “The safety of everyone is held in the highest regard and we are currently conducting an internal investigation to ensure that this does not happen again. We are deeply concerned about the guest who was injured and intend to offer him our support”, the statement reads.

Student Kyle Green filed the lawsuit on Friday in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, against Scott, his manager David Stromberg; Bowery Presents, which are the company responsible for the shows ran at the venue Terminal 5; and the security company Strike Force Protective Services.