By Vanessa Hu
Rating: 5/5
The band Glass Animals performed their “Live in the Internet” concert on Oct. 15, but instead of performing to a crowd of fans at a concert venue, they sang only in front of cameras. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in-person concerts are no longer an option, and the band had to cancel their Deja-Vu tour halfway through. To make up for the cancellation, Glass Animals brought the show to their fans in the form of a “one-off audiovisual experience” all packaged in a custom site.
The show started off with a performance of the title track “Dreamland” from the band’s latest album. From there, their setlist consisted of songs from their previous two albums, “How to Be a Human Being” and “Zaba.” The show featured three surprise guests: Anaïs Oluwatoyin Estelle Marinho, known by her stage name Arlo Parks, Kanah Flex, and Denzel Curry. Marinho sang a new rendition of the song “Tangerine” while Flex did a freestyle dance to “Hazey” as a nod to the music video in which he also starred. Curry rapped his verse in his collaboration with Glass Animals of “Tokyo Drifting.”
In addition to the guest appearances, there were many other highlights of the concert, one of them being the smooth transition from “Black Mambo” to “Hot Sugar.” The transition was so seamless that I didn’t notice that they were playing a new song until Dave Bayley, the lead vocalist of Glass Animals, sang the lyrics of “Hot Sugar.” Another memorable moment was when the band displayed videos of their fans lip-syncing to their song “Heat Waves” while they performed. The videos were a reminder of what it would have been like if the concert was in-person, with the audience singing along with the band, marking a special moment of connection. After the performance of “Pork Soda,” the concert ended in an ignition of sparks caused by Bayley, who threw a pineapple (a reference to the lyrics in “Pork Soda”) into the desk that was part of the stage set, giving the concert a dazzling ending.
The band used a retro theme for their concert, which fit really well with their performance. Their stage setup was elaborate, with props and references to past albums and their merchandise. For example, the plants that lined the perimeter of the stage harked back to the jungle vibes of their first album “Zaba.” Furthermore, at the beginning of the concert, Bayley takes a Pez from a fan-made 3D-printed Pez dispenser. The Pez ties into the retro and nostalgic vibe of their album “Dreamland,” and it’s also a reference to their unique merchandise website, where fans can purchase items like shoes, VHS tapes, and floppy disks. The band has also alluded to selling nunchucks and cat toys on their website in the future.
The live-streamed concert conveniently allowed fans to watch the concert from the comfort of their own homes, but it also suffered from a variety of technical difficulties. The streaming platform crashed because of an overload of users on the site. As a result, the band decided to cut the interactive aspects of the website, such as the live chat, pre-show games, and augmented reality, to decrease the bandwidth on the site. Additionally, since the stream continued to crash, the show that I watched wasn’t live. The “Live in the Internet” show had a total of four streams, each at a different timezone. The previous two streams were partially live, but because of the technical problems, the third stream was a recording of the band’s live performance. Despite these technical issues, the show was still enjoyable, and they didn’t take away from the experience. The band’s live vocals, stage presence, and even the stage setup combined to make an unforgettable concert.
Overall, I rate the Glass Animals’ “Live In The Internet” concert five out of five. Despite the lack of a live audience, the band’s stage presence and energy were clearly expressed, resulting in an incredible one-time performance.
