Attention Gorillaz fans! From now until Sunday, you have a chance to listen to the group’s newest album ‘Humanz,’ a week before its official release, through a unique VR experience, only at Cathedral Square Park.
Gorillaz have announced a “global listening party” now through Sunday, during which they are streaming their new album on a continuous loop at various locations around the world, as marked by this map. In order to stream it, you must download the official Gorillaz app, and make your way to one of these locations. Cathedral Square Park is place in the metro Milwaukee area to have this one-of-a-kind experience.
I went to Cathedral Square myself to experience this, and I can assure you that if you decide to check it out this weekend, you will certainly not be disappointed.
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At first arrival, it was quickly appearing as though it was going to be an underwhelming experience. The app requires you to have your camera on and looking around the park, at which point different icons will appear on your screen. Each of these icons will take you to each animated band member’s bedroom (picture above and below), where you can click on different things in the room that would take you to various playlists and videos related to the new album. However, in none of these rooms was the album playing.
It made me wonder if perhaps something was not working with the stream, or maybe there was something one of the rooms that I had missed. After some patience and investigation, I discovered that the app itself takes longer than most to locate you via GPS. Once it has located you, and you go back to the home page on the app, the real fun begins.
A stained glass window icon appears on your screen, which may or may not be specific to the Cathedral Square Park location. Once you have clicked that, the app will prompt you to put on your headphones, and the album will begin playing. As the album plays, you will see an arrow on your screen prompting you to tilt your screen upwards towards the sky (pictured below). In the sky is the “spirit house,” something that has been a major part of the music videos and rollout for the album. The house had flashing lights of various colors coming out of the windows, pulsating to the beat of the music.
Though I will not spoil anything about the album itself, I can promise that anyone doing the virtual reality experience at Cathedral Square Park will not be disappointed by the music. I highly recommend that both dedicated and casual listeners take the time to experience it this weekend, because it is opportunity to not only say that you heard the album before it was released, but that you got to experience it in an incredibly unique way.