Artist Daler Mehendi to host virtual ‘metaverse concert’ on Republic Day

Days after a couple from Tamil Nadu announced India’s first metaverse wedding, Punjabi artist Daler Mehendi is set to become the country’s first singer to take to the metaverse. Mehendi announced what he claims is India’s first metaverse concert on his Instagram profile late last week.

The concert is set to be held on India’s Republic Day tomorrow, through what looks like a specially created platform called Partynite. According to the website for the concert, users will be able to “hangout with friends” through customisable avatars, meet new people, join parties, attend events and play games. They will also be able to claim mint non-fungible tokens (NFTs), while dancing, listening to music and having a drink in the virtual space.

The concert begins at 12pm IST tomorrow, and a trailer on the website suggests that users will be put on a virtual ship, which should include multiple activities.

To be sure, Mehendi is not the first artist to explore virtual reality concerts in recent times. Global artists like Justin Beiber and Arianna Grande had explored this medium last year. Beiber held a 30-minute virtual concert in November last year, while Grande had done one on popular battle royale game, Fortnite, in August last year.

Mehendi’s event is one in a growing line of virtual events that have gained acceptance recently. On January 20, a Tamil Nadu-based couple announced a “metaverse wedding”, inviting guests to join them in a virtual space for the reception. This happened around the same time that a company called Topia.io hired a sales professional called Daniel Flood who built a metaverse resume (read below).

Also read: From resumes to weddings, people are lapping up the metaverse