Sonic The Hedgehog is 30 years old and he's having a big party to celebrate. He's even booked Steve Aoki to DJ.
Due to take place in "a digitally created and immersive Sonic Universe", Aoki will play a 60 minute DJ set, featuring his own music and remixes he has created of classic tunes from Sonic The Hedgehog games.
"My favourite song from Sonic The Hedgehog is definitely 'Stardust Speedway'", says Aoki in a promo video for the show. "That's why I remixed it. When I hear it, it takes me back to when I was a kid playing the game".
"Sonic is memorable because of who he is and what he represents", he goes on. "He's this dude that is edgy and he's ready to go at any moment, and he's tapping his foot like like, 'Let's go, let's go'. It's the same kind of energy that I have in life. I love that. It's memorable. You just wanna charge. Charge at life. So, I really resonate with this character a lot".
Sure. Anyway, these virtual show things, they must be quite different to play, compared to normal live shows. Especially one like this where he's playing against a green screen, unable to see what the final show will look like.
"Virtual concerts and live shows are extremely different", Aoki agrees. "When I'm playing a virtual show, I have to really play in side my head. When I play a live show I see a crowd in front of me and I vibe off that crowd. So when I do virtual shows - and I got pretty good at this because during COVID I did virtual shows - I create my own fantasy world. Literally, you create a fantasy world in your head of what you imagine people are seeing".
Of course, the fantasy world in this show has actually been created outside of Aoki's head.
"I've seen what this world looks like", he admits. "The virtual world we're playing in is gonna be something you've never seen before experienced - this immersive feeling. It's all about this new metaverse. And I'm excited about what that looks like, what that feels like for everyone else. So when I'm playing in it, I'm imagining what you're seeing. It's absolutely phenomenal, something that you won't have experienced yet. So I can't wait for you guys to see my show the way it will look in this immersive experience".
I hope that's all clear. The virtual show will air on Twitch on 30 Nov, which also happens to be Aoki's 43rd birthday. You can catch it at 8pm UK time.