New Year’s Eve celebrations are set to be vastly different this year with most of the UK consigned to tier 4 coronavirus restrictions.
All is not lost, however, thanks to Iceland. The Nordic country is hosting a live, fully virtual New Year’s Eve experience – complete with the Northern Lights and Sigur Rós.
Tech innovator OZ will be powering the event through a partnership with Directive Games and Snapchat. The former is providing the virtual scenes while the latter will allow visitors to join with their own Bitmoji avatars.
‘With OZ technology, we remove physical barriers for audiences, taking them inside live events, creating a new future for music, sports, gaming, and fashion.’
The free virtual event, which starts at 23:35 GMT and will count down to the new year, will see popular music artists Sigur Ros and Kaleo, among other Icelandic celebrities, transformed into avatars for the night.
‘Our goal with this New Year’s festival is to premiere the ultimate stage for the world by uniting everyone in a shared experience-full of energy and life-where they are free to interact and express themselves,’ explained Gudjon Gudjonsson, CEO of OZ.
Iceland has long been a popular destination for New Year’s travellers who want to experience the fireworks, culture and hopefully catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights.
It may not be quite the same, but the virtual festival ‘will experience the Northern Lights and the best of Icelandic music for free.
Organisers suggest ‘attendees should stay beyond midnight, when the pollution-free digital fireworks will be lit to mark the start of a great 2021.’
If you’re interested in attending, you can register here with your Snapchat account.
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