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Coachella goes virtual with three YouTube streams and a VR experience

By Parker Hall April 12, 2016

Coachella VR remote live stream experience — Coachella

The first weekend of California’s Coachella is almost upon us, much to the delight of sundress and tank top wearers everywhere. But thanks to modern technology, even those of us who live in colder, far away lands can get in on the action.

This year, Coachella continues its bid to serve up its diverse sonic entree with three channels of select performances set to stream via YouTube, as well as a new live VR experience.

The traditional streams of the 2016 festival include a customizable scheduling feature, meaning that you can dial up your list of favorite shows, and the stream will automatically switch channels to catch those different acts throughout the day. This makes Coachella a perfect background setting for those who will be at home all weekend, as once a schedule for the festival is set, fans can simply wait for the stream to jump without additional effort.

And because the streams are available via YouTube, you can use Google Chromecast and other YouTube-enabled streaming systems to watch the festival live on the big screen. The festival also offers a special website with the YouTube streams embedded.

In addition to its three live streams, Coachella organizers have promised those with virtual reality headsets such as Google Cardboard, Samsung Gear VR, and others a special experience via the Coachella VR app. Alongside recorded footage, and the ability to virtually tour the festival grounds, the app’s partner, Vantage.tv, promises high quality live streams of select festival performances — though they will likely be less numerous than the three non-VR channels.

A full schedule of streamable acts will be available on the Coachella website as the event draws closer. For more information about the availability of sets in virtual reality, you can download the Coachella VR app on Android and iOS.

The three-day first weekend of Coachella begins this Friday at 3:30 p.m. PST, and extends through the end of day Sunday.

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Parker Hall is a writer and musician from Portland, OR. He is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin…

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