Hydeout 101: Your official guide to taking the festival home

A year without festivals. It’s been hard for us music fans, and even harder for artists and festival organizers who not only lost their culture but also their jobs. But as time dragged on, we began to adapt, and we began to learn how to enjoy not just music but the music experience at home. Clubs and festivals brought their performances online and artists learned how to play for a camera instead of an audience. It wasn’t ideal and it certainly wasn’t easy for anyone, but the light of music especially during difficult times cannot be dimmed. Eventually, we got better at it all, and now, 15 months later, livestreaming looks to be a permanent fixture in the music community and the quality of the experience has surpassed what anyone imagined when they first starting streaming from the one-man show that unfolded more than a year ago. That can especially be said about Hydeout Festival, who took the livestreaming concept, fed it steroids and delivered an entirely novel experience that sets a new bar for digital experiences.

Hydeout Festival was first announced in November of 2019 as a multi-weekend festival extravaganza to debut in Singapore in April of 2020 at a reimagined Gardens By The Bay. After being forced to cancel due to the pandemic, they got to work and earlier this year Hydeout shared the news that it was going digital. Even then, we weren't expecting this...

Presented as a multi-genre music experience, Hydeout: The Prelude debuted in January as a highly immersive future-forward digital experience with a production level that eclipses anything we've ever seen before. The event electrified and impressed fans all over the world with its cutting-edge technology and immersive virtual elements, in which they placed marquee performances from artists like Rita Ora, Martin Garrix, NGHTMRE, Andrew Rayel, Cosmic Gate, Don Diablo, Nervo, Yellow Claw, Dombresky, Eptic, Flux Pavillion and more. All the while, attendees could connect in real-time.

How fans digest these performances is one of the elements that set this experience apart from other digital festivals. Performances are presented as 40 episodes which can be viewed as a video-on-demand experience. That TOKiMONSTA set you loved? Watch it again at the gym, or turn it on again at the afterparty, or why not soundtrack your next dinner party?

Phase Two began streaming earlier this month and features some of the world’s greatest artists across a genre-bending line-up spanning hip hop to electronic to pop. EDM sensations like Alison Wonderland, TOKiMONSTA, Zedd, Hardwell, Fedde Le Grand, Armin Van Buren, Yellow Claw, Myrne, Slushii and more sprinkle the stages of Hydeout as well as unique indie-electronic acts like Manila Killa and Yung Bae and hip hop and pop heavyweights like Rita Ora, Wiz Khalifa, Tinashe, Bohan Phoenix and more.

From the dawn of the video game era, the online world has offered users a chance to escape and become part of a fantasy world. To live experiences not offered in real life, and to become, if only for a few moments, someone else. Reminiscent of a now digital Tomorrowland, Hydeout builds upon this idea and marries it with real-life experiences and the music of our generation. The online event will span three different worlds, HydeCity, HydeIsland and HydeEscape, with over 20 stages including Aqua Sphere, HydeAlley, Pandemonium, Sanctum, The Arch and The Mirage, plus other secret on-location stages in HydeEscape.

Here’s how it works: performance episodes from both phases are available after their premiere as a Video on Demand experience. Simply sign up for a free account, also known as having a Pay As You Go Pass here. The first five minutes of ALL episodes are completely free for everyone to watch so you can try before you buy. Love what you see? Purchase a HydeCoin Bundle (Lite/Premium), which allows you to access individual shows from US$2 each or you go for the entire 40-episode bundle and get a Season Pass for US$49.90, which grants access to over 40 episodes (including Season Pass Exclusive episodes featuring Wiz Khalifa, Kid Laroi, Charli XCX, G-Eazy, and Tokimonsta).

Sure, you can watch from your laptop while you’re meant to be working from home, but the Hydeout experience is so immersive, we recommend a little bit of atmosphere. Do you have a cosy sofa? Head there. Got speakers that go loud? Use them. That special bottle of wine you’ve been saving? Open it, let it breathe.

That said, the convenience of the on-demand experience means that you can tune in at the gym, in the car, from the party, or the afterparty! Once you get to know the sets, you’ll see which ones work for you during various moments of your life, and you become the curator of your own musical experience in life. Like a DJ, if you must.

Take a walk on the wild side and you might find yourself at the expanse of the Sahara at The Mirage Stage, or exploring the futuristic cityscapes of HydeCity which includes HydeAlley, The Arch and Pandemonium, or deep in the tropical worlds within HydeIsland, made of Aqua Sphere and Sanctum — the latter being a stage designed especially for and exclusive to Martin Garrix's performance. Need a new adventure, head to HydeEscape and visit locations around the world like the Mayan Pyramids, the River Thames and more.

Become part of these imagined worlds by engaging with and meeting fellow music lovers, fans and new friends around the globe. Make new connections via chat rooms, personalized avatars and games. One day, you might be dancing next to them on a dance floor somewhere new around the world.

Hydeout is about a lot more than just music. Alongside the tunes, you, the HydeTribe, can test your skills through interactive games. After customizing your own avatar, head to Hyde.Hoops to shoot some virtual hoops — as many as you can in 60 seconds. Or is dodgeball more your thing? Get your heart racing in an energetic game at Hyde.Attack where you can throw mushrooms at your competitors. Did that just get you hungry? A mouthwatering Hyde.Chef will offer guests an opportunity to cook up traditional Singaporean dishes like Nasi Lemak and chicken rice in a fast-paced memory game. To add a little competition, your playing against other users around the world and the experience is fueled via Hydecoins, which you can win to purchase more avatar skins or even save up for episodes.

Aside from a mesmerizing audiovisual journey through music, get to know more about your favourite artist through a series of exclusive interviews with DJs who share their stories and give attendees a look into their world from within the virtual realm. The experience is made interactive through Hydeout’s unique interactive features like global chat rooms which is a way for artists and fans looking to forge a deeper connection.

Pick up passes to Hydeout: The Prelude and find more information here