Ninth International Conference on Tourism & Leisure Studies

Abstract

Increasing acceptance and reliance of computer-mediated communication has seen growing proliferation of virtual events – events where one or more participants are not co-located physically. Whilst virtual events have gained mounting foci from researchers, developers, and end-users in business and adjacent task-related contexts, empirical research from a leisure context remains limited. More specifically, in live musical performances given in public (concerts), extended reality and holographic technology has advanced to the level deemed acceptable to introduce unprecedented phenomena where the performers are remote and pre-recorded. Concert experiences like ABBA Voyage and Tupac at Coachella have successfully leveraged extended reality technologies alongside motion capture and artificial intelligence to deliver live events where the performers (digital avatars) are not only not co-located with the audience spatially, but also temporally distanced (composite of recorded live performances). Thus, this research projects aims to explore the implications of virtual avatar performer replacements on the concert-going experience. Utilising ABBA Voyage as a case study, research questions revolve around: 1) emotional responses to manufactured avatar-crowd interaction; 2) (re)visit motivation to pre-recorded live performances; 3) importance of social presence; 4) responses to temporal dissonance of performer appearances (digital avatars being de-aged to perceived prime instead of current age or dead). Data collection methods include netnography, live participant observation at Abba Voyage, participant interviews, and participant and researcher reflective journaling. Findings provide significant insights to the future of the live music industry, extensions to virtual events research, and discussions around the continued blurring of corporeal and dematerialisation across society.