Updated Wednesday, May 13.

In times where massive public events are being canceled and we're being implored to stay home in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, our daily lives revolve around the internet more than ever. For music fans, you can virtually attend an upcoming online music festival, organized by the band Courier Club, in the game Minecraft.

Block By Blockwest: A Minecraft Music Festival aims to bring musicians and fans together to play games and celebrate their love for music. The event will take place on Saturday, May 16 at 3pm EST, and will consist of a diverse lineup of artists including Fever 333, Pussy Riot, Grandson, Knocked Loose and more. The festival will also feature mini games and an art gallery, which you can learn more about in the tutorial video below.

The initial date was set for April 24, but the servers weren't able to accommodate the number of attendees at that time. However, that first pass still raised $5,000 in donations. All proceeds go to the CDC's Coronavirus Emergency Response Fund.

For more details and updates, join the event's Discord here. See the full artist roster and a video tutorial detailing the instructions on how to partake in the event below.

"When COVID-19 hit, we had to cancel all of our upcoming shows for the foreseeable future, as did every other artist," Courier Club explained of how the idea came about. "Artists and their communities lost opportunities to connect through shows and we wanted to try to create a new interactive hub. We aren’t the first to come up with a Minecraft festival, this is just our take on the concept."

The band chose to host the musical event in a game as opposed to on a regular streaming platform because of the influence video games have had on them throughout their lives.

"Gaming is our nexus when it comes to influences on the band," they continued. "Growing up in the 'burbs meant we didn't have any firsthand accounts of being present during the genesis of music scenes, art movements and other cultural vessels. Video games were a direct link to that world because those movements informed the design and soundtracks of the games we obsessed over."

Block By Blockwest
Block By Blockwest
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