Ben Folds in Second Life the Event
Well it all started on time, DNA Prototype took to the decks at the Aloft hotel party area.
The invited guests gathered, danced and talked whilst the music streamed in.
All Pictures from Snapzilla
I dont usually do nightclubs anymore, so it was good to let epredator potato throw some shapes.
A few of us synched with Satchmo Prototype, he had a dance machine installed in his head, so a simple click of the green noggin and away went your avatar dancing.
We had quite a range of invited guests at the event, some new faces and some of the usual crowd.
Algernon Spackler was there to, as was Juiceof Prunes, though strangely, and this is one to watch out for, JuiceOf just happened to be at the hotel when the event got locked down. So she was not on the group list but still had access to the island. It felt cool to have someone accidently gate crash. I am guessing the access control is checked on entry?
Anyway lots of people and of course a Smurf were there
Ben folds turned up, in SL and on an audio feed. He was clearly gobsmacked by the reaction of the crowd and both the craziness and immersion. There were a few technical hitches requiring text chat “is this thinng on”, but SnoopyB and some of the Sheep were in a RL office with Ben. This added a great deal to the dynamic, and these mixed mode events bring people together more.
They were clearly enjoying themselves too.
Ben played some music from his new album which sounded great, and answered some questions.
The crowd jostled for postion, but respected the stage.
When asked about whether he was a Second Lifer Ben decided to show his technical prowess by playing some of the ringtones he had downloaded to his phone in RL.
This was hilarious and sort of set the tone (no pun intended) for the next part of the evening.
I did comment how ironic it was as when people who have not got the metaverse bug yet as “So why would anyone by virtual content” I usually use the “Why does anyone by a mobile phone ringtone”.
Anyway it was time to head over to the Sony BMG media Island for its first event. TPing a crowd over led to a little confusion but we all made it I think.
SnoopB and Ben had chairs on a stage, but the potential for amusing antics took hold and the party dynamic got a whole lot more interactive.
I think you can see from this product placement where this might then go.
Ben had his Duff beer attached, this eventually causes you to reel and fall over, in this case off the stage so it looked like crowd surfing. He is in this shot somewhere, I think he fell on Algernon.
Another person shouted that Ben had fallen on them and they would never wash this avatar again.
Next thing we know Ben has removed his shirt and dived into the audience with a lightsaber. I was laughing so much that I did not take any more pictures. Apart from Algernon decided to sit and watch from the stage. It was 3am UK time though.
Anyway, a successful and once again varied event. Another set of anecdotes to add to the “back in the early days of the metaverse” after dinner speaking material for when I retire.
October 20th, 2006 at 12:06
*jealous*
I’m a big BF fan so I was gutted to miss out on this in the “ticket lottery”. It sounds like it was really good. I’ve seen Ben live in RL and he’s SO GOOD :-)
October 20th, 2006 at 12:06
Isn’t that a valid question? Why does anyone buy a mobile phone ringtone? :)
October 21st, 2006 at 05:52
Linked to the .com, how nifty.
Anywho, I was there, it roxed my sox, but just one thing. I LOVE RENT A COP!!! THE .ORG PUT ME UP TO IT!!!!!!!!
:)
Fun times, makes me want to forget my life and play this blasted gmae 24/7.
October 21st, 2006 at 09:41
That was the best SL event I’ve attended yet, and will probably be the gig of the year for me. It will be interesting to see if the other Sony artists get into it as much as Ben clearly did. Somehow I can’t imagine Christina stage-diving.
October 21st, 2006 at 18:56
[...] There has been a wide range of reactions to the Ben Folds event we threw with aloft and Sony BMG on Thursday night and I wanted to take a step back and review how things went. My overall reaction was that it was really fun and unusual for the people who were actually there, but there were definitely things we will do better next time. I would actually argue that is was as fun as a real concert, but just in a completely different, more intimate way. In a real concert, the artist is up on stage and you’re in the audience. During this event, Ben got down and really played with his fans. This WAS an amazing time, but you really had to be there (see eightbar and Roo Reynolds, and I hope Eric Rice chimes in too with his opinion of all this). [...]
October 21st, 2006 at 23:52
Thanks for touching my head! =P I didn’t stick around for the event since I wanted others to get the experience but I certainly had a lot of fun mingling and feeling the excitement during the DNA Prototype portion of the event.
November 15th, 2006 at 02:13
Yeah so i signed up to try to see this event, but i got stuck in the damn teen grid and could even get out!
November 16th, 2006 at 00:24
[...] Second Life is The Sims, maar dan in het echt. En misschien drukken we ons zo zelfs wat oneerbiedig uit. Nieuwe poging: Second Life is een on line samenlevingen in een driedimensionele wereld waar gebruikers kunnen socializen en bouwen aan hun eigen economie. Soit, iedereen speelt een rolletje, heeft een eigen figuurtje, kan een huis bouwen, naar de bakker gaan, een vriendin opdoen… Bild wordt uitgegeven in de wereld van Second Life, er is een filiaal van Reuters… én je kan er naar Ben Folds Five gaan kijken. We zoeken nog naar de audio, maar er zijn al beelden… [...]
February 9th, 2007 at 18:30
Awesome, man
April 19th, 2007 at 03:01
Hello,
Very Informative Posts.
I really like what you have going on here. I’ll be back soon
April 19th, 2007 at 21:42
Pretty Cool Place.
I like your style too.
Cya again,
Joey
April 20th, 2007 at 21:53
Hey,
I love what you’e doing!
Don’t ever change and best of luck.
Frank
April 21st, 2007 at 21:17
I think Dallas is gonna win it all in the NBA
Nobody’s gonna stop them this year. Look out for BigDirk!
April 25th, 2007 at 21:55
Looks Like Dallas is in trouble!
Phoenix might end up blowing them all away.
PHX vs. Det. Hmmm..Could be interesting?
April 26th, 2007 at 17:56
I’m not quite understanding what all
this is supposed to be about?
Must be me or something…
June 9th, 2007 at 04:41
[...] Ben Folds in Second Life: Wrap Up Ben Folds was in Second Life last night (October 19) chatting with fans & previewing new clips from supersunnyspeedgraphic, the lp. Visit one of the links below to check out what people are saying about the event! Plus there are lots of additional screen grabs on these sites too. eightbar: Ben Folds in Second Life the Event rooreynolds.com: Ben Folds: gig of the year theSuburbs.org.uk: Second Life Chat [...]
July 13th, 2008 at 11:32
[...] remark about the happening! Plus there are lots of supplemental shield grabs on these sites too. eightbar: Ben Folds in Second Life the Event rooreynolds.com: Ben Folds: gig of the year theSuburbs.org.uk: Second Life [...]
October 21st, 2008 at 20:35
Thank you very much for the great information-
Thanks
June 26th, 2009 at 12:26
I enjoyed reading this – very informative and useful information without a bunch of BS!