Celebrity guests, zombies, nudity, endearing pop ballads, giant squids-our Second Life concert featuring Jonathan Coulton had it all. Relive all the virtual memories of a night of virtual rock in this gallery of highlights. Or see what you missed spending your Thursday night in the “real” world. Suckers!
Audio:
Released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License
Full Concert: AAC format
Jonathan Coulton’s set: MP3 format
Thanks to Mike at spiffworld.com for splitting up Jonathan’s set into individual songs.
In-world photo by Zenigma Suntzu
PopSci.com editor Megan Miller (here as Megala Marx) gets a better view courtesy of performer Jaycatt Nico and event organizer Zenigma Suntzu.
In-world photo by John Mahoney
An unidentified stripper expressed her love for Mr. Coulton by shoving him, guitar and all, into a potted shrub.
In-world photo by John Mahoney
It all went down in Menorca, a popular venue for in-world events. The packed house managed to overload Second Life’s servers, causing some avatars to render incompletely or not at all. So don’t let the empty appearance deceive-the place was bumpin’!
In-world photo by Zenigma Suntzu
A number of Coulton fans joined Second Life just for the show and were apparently confused as to how to dress themselves. Or maybe they were just trying to kick the party up a notch. Either way, thanks for coming, creepy naked guys.
In-world photo by John Mahoney
Forget Stonehenge-for Coulton’s squid-themed “I Crush Everything” a giant cephalopod descended from the rafters. PopSci.com editor John Mahoney/Ricky Romeo quickly found the best seat in the house.
In-world photo by Zenigma Suntzu
Representing our much-appreciated extraterrestrial readership, this little guy had some floating text above him that read “I LOVE POPULAR SCIENCE.” Looking fine in that jacket, too.
In-world photo by Zenigma Suntzu
Another shot of the massive squid. So that’s where the backstage calamari buffet came from…
In-world photo by John Mahoney
Yonatan/Jonathan soon recovered, striking his best rock-star pose. Stunning!
In-world photo by John Mahoney
Jeep-like robots, nightie-wearing she-devils, stylish silver-skinned robots (PopSci.com assistant editor John Mahoney as Ricky Romeo)-a diverse audience indeed.
In-world photo by John Mahoney
And the squid wasn’t all: “Skullcrusher Mountain” featured this half-monkey half-donkey creature scampering through the club. Thankfully no avatars were trampled.
In-world photo by John Mahoney
During zombie tribute “Re: Your Brains,” some staggering undead avatars lurched to the stage.
In-world photo by John Mahoney
A true man of the people, Coulton passed on his plush virtual dressing room to check out the other performers. Behind, the show’s Creative Commons license is posted for all to see.
In-world photo by John Mahoney
Slim Warrior started things off, with much dancing and rejoicing.
In-world photo by John Mahoney
Author, Coulton buddy and Apple “PC Guy” John Hodgman was an unfortunate victim of Second Life’s rendering problems that night (but the possibility remains that his pants were simply rocked off).
In-world photo by John Mahoney
Cylindrian Rutabaga during her excellent opening set.
In-world photo by Zenigma Suntzu
Popular SL duo Frogg Marlowe and Jaycat Nico also performed.
In-world photo by John Mahoney
PopSci editor in chief Mark “Front Row” Jannot was also suffering from some peculiar rendering, including some mysterious tattoos, but his dapper newsboy cap appeared normally. Sitting next to him was one of my favorite attendees that night, a portly gentleman in a Linux T-shirt smoking a green cigar.
In-world photo by John Mahoney
Coulton rocks the show; flying she-devil looks on.
