Session Information
On February 7th, 2022 Foo Fighters were announced as after-show performers at the annual Super Bowl American Football event. However rather than a physical performance it was announced the performance would be virtually, streamed in Virtual Reality via the Meta VR "Horizons Venues" platform. To view the performance in VR viewers would need a compatible Meta Quest headset. A regular 2D version was also planned.
Whilst the event was billed as the "First Foo Fighters show in VR" the reality is that the performance was pre-recorded and featured several layers of post-production, with no live audience present.
The recording date is currently unknown but it's believed the session was recorded prior to the announcement on February 7th. The band teamed up with Mark Romanek, an American filmmaker and director known for many popular music videos such as 'Hurt' by Johnny Cash, 'Closer' by Nine Inch Nails and 'Can't Stop' by Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Speaking of the event in a statement Dave Grohl noted that the band had played "some of the biggest stages in the world to the tiniest clubs to making movies and miniseries" but this would be their first time collaborating with Romanek and the first time shooting a performance for Virtual Reality.
The event was produced by Supersphere VR with post-production by Light Sail VR. Hidden Road Studios were credited for creative design and Notch also aided in design.
The production was so detailed that the band even required stand-ins for some shots - credited for these roles were Alan Duncan (Pat), Christopher Manning (Chris), Cody Rose (Taylor), Mitch Schlange (Dave), Connor Mandenhall (Nate) and Assas Shalhoub (Rami).
It is not currently known how many times the band ran through each song but owing to the nature of the VR shoot it's likely many shots were stitched together from different takes to create a cohesive VR experience.
The event was streamed on February 13th and the 2D version was made available on-demand shortly afterwards.
