TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Sunset Town Festival is on the road again, playing events from April to August, at the Megaport in Kaohsiung, Coachella in the United States, and in other countries, including Japan, the U.K., China, Indonesia, and South Korea.

In collaboration with the NAXS FUTURE art collective, the four-day Sunset Town Festival began as an online showcase in February featuring Taiwanese artists such as 9m88, Mong Tong, LINION, The Crane, and actor Greg Han. The lineup also included FOLK9 from Thailand, ADOY from Korea, and The fin. from Japan.

It built on the success of a previous event in 2020 when NAXS worked with Unsound festival in Poland for an online project. This presented Taiwanese artists such as Meuko! Meuko! and Scattered Purgatory.

The organizers said in a press release that a music fest in the metaverse was a temporary idea first proposed to deal with the problem of putting on a show during COVID. It was promoted as metaverse music and emphasized the quality of live performances in the comfort of the great indoors.

Now, with the pandemic seemingly in retreat, Small Town Festival instead exists at the intersection of live and recorded music, real-life shows, and music in the metaverse. After creating an avatar, entrants to Sunset Town Festival can experience four virtual stages of music and dancing.

The playful nature of the metaverse is said to be like being in a video game from the noughties. It is also a journey of musical discovery.

Here is the list of tour dates:

• 4.01 Kaohsiung @ Megaport


• 4.12 San Francisco @ The Regency Ballroom


• 4.13 Sacramento @ Harlow’s


• 4.15 Indio @ Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival


• 4.17 Phoenix @ Crescent Ballroom


• 4.22 Indio @ Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival


• 4.29 Chengdu @ Cactus Music Festival


• 5.01 Nanking @ Midou Music Festival


• 5.14 Jakarta @ The Other Festival 2023


• 5.21 Fukuoka @ CIRCLE‘23


• 5.26 Birmingham @ O2 Institute


• 5.27 London @ Wide Awake Festival 2023


• 5.29 Cardiff @ The Great Hall


• 5.31 Newcastle @ Northumbria University


• 6.01 Manchester @ New Century Hall


• 6.04 New York @ Knockdown Center


• 6.17 Kuala Lumpur @ Zepp KL


• 8.19 Tokyo @ Summer Sonic


• 8.20 Osaka @ Summer Sonic