Ever wanted to go to a Coldplay concert? If you own a Gear VR headset, you’ve got a free ticket for the VR livestream of the band’s ‘A Head Full of Dreams’ performance next week.

Samsung and Live Nation are teaming up to bring Coldplay’s performance on August 17th from Chicago’s Soldier Field straight to your headset, starting at 8:30 pm CT (your timezone here). The concert will be streamed in VR live on Gear VR through the Samsung VR app, and will also be available for replay for a limited time following the event.

Gear VR users in more than 50 countries will be able to view the VR livestream, and Samsung promises that the VR broadcast will let fans “[experience] the energy of the show like never before.”

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According to Billboard Boxscore, Coldplay’s ‘A Head Full Of Dreams’ tour is the fifth highest grossing of all time, with more than 5 million tickets sold. A Head Full Of Dreams is the band’s seventh album.

Gear VR users have reason to be excited, but, as with many 360 video releases, those with high-end headsets like Vive, Rift, and PSVR, are strangely left out of the loop.

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Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • Chad Michael Dyle

    Are they hoping that the Oculus/Vive owners will also purchase the less expensive GearVR? I’m already getting tired of “this only works with that” and “is coming to this one first”. Whats up with “GearVR Powered by Oculus”? Can’t they let the people that bought the full Oculus Rift get in on it as well?

    • benz145

      Yeah that’s why it’s frustrating. People invested in the high-end headset and a big PC and can’t watch some of the stuff that a lower-end device can do and the reason is not about performance but business decisions.

  • Scott

    It looks like it’s a Samsung thing, not an Oculus thing. Therefore it makes sense it’s GearVR only. If it was an Oculus run thing then I would also ask ‘why’

    • Chad Michael Dyle

      Gotcha. I just kept seeing the “Powered by Oculus” on a lot of the GearVR stuff. I guess Oculus was able to jump in and handle the software side before Steam? This feels like its starting to devolve into the console world where specific titles were only available on certain consoles. I’m getting old. I just want to play whenever I have a few free moments.

      • ummm…

        well therein lies another lost opportunity for the vr industry. Instead of having vivers, or rifters paying to watch nba games or concerts in vr and incorporating it deeper into our media consumption, we just take what we can get and spend time in “reality”.

        its short sighted. They really think the Gear, which people may buy but probably use less, with its less hardcore fan base is going to be the entryway into widespread consumer vr. Its as if companies think americans will spend 100 bucks for something they dont use, instead of 600-900 bucks for a purchase they will use and support the sector.

        i could be wrong.

        • Armando Tavares

          «…Its as if companies think americans…»
          1. Samsung is a South Korean company that sells hardware and consumer electronics worldwide.
          2. The event will be broadcast in over 50 countries.

          Why do Americans keep analyzing stuff as if the USA is the only country that matters? It’s mind EFing boggling.

          • ummm…

            Lol, I see why you are upset. And there is some truth to what you say. But this is about vr here, on an American vr site. And vr technology is largely an American invention, at least in its current iteration. Oculus, vive (which says HTC on it but is a valve product in many ways) is American innovation, with global reach. The companies that sell them, American. Where are most vr headsets sold? I didn’t see any fifa events offered, but that could be my short sightedness.

            The point being, Japan south Korea and China all love their electronics, so where are there artists? Why is it a western artist? Maybe you should be complaining about why some jpop act only streams on the gear, bit instead you complain about why ppl discuss a WESTERN act only streamong on WESTERN hardware IP from a WESTERN point of view. I travel the world. I have a global view. Sometimes south Korea just isn’t on my mind, and why should it in this case; to please your ego?

          • Armando Tavares

            I could pick apart your comment and then we could go back and forth while we’d do the same to each other and so, I wont.

            If you see (at least) some truth in what I said, know it upsets people.

            Don’t do it anymore…. keep doing it… whatever you decide to do, now you know.

          • ummm…

            you havent taught me anything. the reason the western world, and america especially, is by default spoken about when it comes to consumer culture and tech innovation is not because we are ethnocentric only, its because its reality. i dont know what freaking country you are from, but i guarantee you it hasn’t had as much to do with the success of apple, let say, as the western world has. its just the facts. high tech, western world.

          • Armando Tavares

            Well…. you are right on one thing: I wasn’t able to teach you anything *sigh*

            Have a nice weekend.

          • ummm…

            you too.

          • ummm…

            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_consumer_markets. I haven’t looked at sources, but its an interesting list.

          • ummm…

            you should also be sensitive to the fact that one can speak about america exclusively just as you decide to speak about south korea, on top of that while the internet is international – this is an american site.

  • ummm…

    no matter what they do, ive bought a vive and im happy with it. do i really need to see low rez warped 360 videos? no.

  • Jeff Messer

    EXACTLY.

    “Gear VR users have reason to be excited, but, as with many 360 video releases, those with high-end headsets like Vive, Rift, and PSVR, are strangely left out of the loop.”