Quest owners have another immersive concert to check out in Horizon TV, this time featuring the Goo Goo Dolls performing at New York City’s historic Beacon Theatre.
The concert joins a growing collection of immersive music performances available through Meta's Horizon TV app, including Coldplay’s concert at Wembley Stadium, Sabrina Carpenter, Arcade Fire, and several others. Apple is exploring similar territory as well through Apple Immersive Video on the Vision Pro, including a Metallica concert experience that places viewers directly inside the performance.
After spending more than an hour watching the Goo Goo Dolls show on my Meta Quest 3, I came away impressed by how naturally live music fits immersive VR180 video when the production is done well.
What immediately impressed me was the image quality. The Quest 3 delivered a consistently sharp and clear presentation in VR180 3D, with enough detail and depth to create a real sense of presence inside the theater. The Beacon Theatre itself plays a major role in that feeling. Between the lighting, stage design, and the visible crowd below, the experience captures the atmosphere of a live venue in a way traditional video simply cannot.
What makes the concert especially effective is the way it was filmed.
Several immersive cameras are positioned throughout the venue, including wide shots from the back of the theater that showcase the full scale of the stage and audience. Other cameras are placed directly on stage alongside the band, including a moving immersive rig that walks around the performers during songs.
Those moments completely change the feeling of the concert.
At times, you are standing so close to the musicians that it creates a level of intimacy that would be impossible for most fans attending the show in person. During the band’s performance of “Iris,” the combination of proximity, lighting, crowd energy, and spatial depth created moments that genuinely felt emotional in a way traditional video rarely achieves.
Video: Meta
That may ultimately be why concerts work so well in immersive video compared to some other forms of VR entertainment.
Live music already depends heavily on atmosphere, scale, lighting, and audience energy. Viewers also naturally accept fixed camera positions during concerts in a way they may not during narrative content or interactive experiences. VR180 enhances those strengths rather than fighting against them.
There is also something compelling about being placed in positions that are normally inaccessible. One moment you are sitting behind the audience taking in the entire theater. The next, you are effectively standing beside the band on stage as they perform.
That sense of access may be one of immersive entertainment’s biggest advantages.
Meta appears to understand that potential. Horizon TV has quietly become home to a growing library of immersive entertainment experiences beyond gaming, while the company’s previously announced partnership with James Cameron suggests broader ambitions around immersive 3D media and storytelling in the future.
None of this replaces attending a real concert in person. That’s not really the point.
What experiences like the Goo Goo Dolls concert demonstrate is that immersive video can deliver something traditional media cannot: the feeling of physically being somewhere you otherwise could never be.
For a VR industry still searching for mainstream entertainment use cases beyond gaming, experiences like this feel increasingly important.
