TRAVIS SCOTT’S MIND-BENDING FORTNITE CONCERT WAS A JOYRIDE THROUGH SPACE

At Travis Scott’s new “Astronomical” concert, I met skyscraper-sized clones of the rapper made out of fire, got granted special underwater breathing access to watch jellyfish backup dancers, and came face-to-face with a giant, carnivalesque planet with a pulsating speaker for a core.

This virtual experience happened via the online video game Fortnite and was announced on April 20 by Epic Games, surprising everyone used to Instagram Live concerts and livestreams in the midst of this global pandemic. Aside from just offering these otherworldly surprise moments for his fans, Scott also unveiled a new collaboration with Kid Cudi that looks to be part of a bigger moment involving the two artists: a formation of a group named The Scotts.

Shortly before the first of five shows kicked off on Thursday night (April 23), Scott appeared on Big Boy’s Neighborhood to tease what was to come. «To be honest, it’s just a full experience … a different experience,» he said. «Just giving people — without trying to say too much — give them just, like, a full experience of what I feel sometimes.  It’s so much fire shit.”

As it turns out, he meant “fire shit” literally. As the psychedelic intro began, following the living Astroworld planet zooming through space and time to bring Scott to his specially built virtual stage, I realized that Scott was about to take viewers on a trip unlike anything that we’d experienced before. Ten minutes and five songs later, I was breathless. And correct.