Enter Vision Pro
It's St. Patrick's Day, 2025. It's late, the family is asleep. I grab a beer and head out to watch a rock concert. But by "head out" I mean, put on the Vision Pro. Minutes later, I'm in Mexico City – over 5,000 miles away from my home in London – watching James Hetfield walk up to the stage. I'm right behind him. His cigar smoke wafting in my face. The crowd roars as he emerges into the stadium.
It felt very close. Very real.1
Honestly, I was blown away by the "Apple Immersive" Metallica concert that was released for the Vision Pro this past weekend. I like Metallica – like any red-blooded teenager in the 1990s, I grew up with "The Black Album" – but I was more of a grunge kid. But my god, Apple (and the band) nailed this experience. It's only about 30 minutes – just three songs – but I easily could have watched that for another few hours.
I watched it again today. In broad daylight. Suddenly it's night. You're absolutely transported. It's so good. It wasn't exactly like being at a concert, obviously – you're not too cold or too hot or feeling crammed in. Your beer doesn't spill. But it also wasn't like watching one on YouTube. It was in between – in many ways, a happy median.
It continues to feel like Apple is starting to come into their own content-wise with the Vision Pro. To say they were slow out of the gate is an insult to speed. Apple should have launched with dozens – if not hundreds – of immersive video experiences ready to roll. Instead, we had like a half dozen to start. And then we'd get a new one every six weeks or so – if we were lucky. But now they're starting to roll in a bit faster. And more importantly, Apple is seemingly getting better at producing them.
The first batch were pretty great but felt more like demos, quite literally. Now we're starting to rock, quite literally. Edward Berger's Submerged was a compelling glimpse into immersive cinematic storytelling, but this Metallica concert required no script. It just required a bunch of immersive cameras.2
Both were still clearly experiments, but it feels like the concert angle is quite a bit closer to reality – because yes, it's trying to emulate reality. Ben Thompson made the case yesterday that Apple should simply aim to recreate reality exactly. That they should place an immersive camera in the middle of the crowd and just start recording.
I do think that should be an option, but unlike with sporting events, where quick cuts to different angles is a massive distraction from the action – not to mention disorienting – I actually quite liked the camerawork for the Metallica show. To the point where I think this multi-camera, produced effort should be the norm for most people, and there should be an option for users to focus in on one camera, if they choose. Or to do their own cuts around the stage. This would create the potential for a lot of replayability – you could watch the show from the crowd, or from backstage, or from the stage!
That's the thing, while I like the idea of making this as realistic as possible – like you're in the crowd at a Metallica concert, while in your own home – I also think Apple should leverage the impossible here. You could theoretically buy a ticket to go see the show in Mexico City. You may even be able to score a backstage pass if you are lucky (or pay enough money). But you could not be up on stage with Metallica while they're performing. Apple should offer all three options – and more!
Thompson also spoke of his willingness to pay thousands of dollars to the NBA to recreate the feeling of seeing every game from floor seats. As someone who has also sat in such seats, it is a cool experience. You're at the same level as the field of play – and perhaps sitting next to giant human beings who are about to go out onto the floor. But it's also not the most ideal way to actually watch the action, as it's hard to see if, say, the ball is on the other end of the court. The best seat in the house is probably more like a few rows back from half court.3 Again, I think Apple should offer a few choices of angles here, and let you choose between them.
Back in the day, I was an investor in a company called Jaunt which had pioneered a camera rig and capture system to record nearly 360-degree videos for use in VR. It was a cool-looking sphere of cameras, and the effect of seeing a concert – from the stage – while being able to look all around you was wild. But it was also too early. VR wasn't ready yet. It's really still not ready. But Apple has the resources (and the will) to push for it now. Albeit with a slightly different "spatial" angle. This isn't VR remember – don't you dare say that. It's "spatial computing". In ways, Jaunt's old system offered a more immersive experience – again, it was nearly a full 360-degree view – than "Apple Immersive", but Apple has without question jacked up the production value and has the headset to make it shine.
You could see the rain coming down lightly during "Whiplash". You could almost reach out to touch Hetfield – seemingly holding up quite well for a 61-year-old rockstar – during "One".4 You could feel the crowd when "Enter Sandman" kicked into gear.5 I was totally lost in the moment. And it reconfirmed my thought that this is exactly what the Vision Pro was built for – at least in these early days.
The next obvious step would be doing a full concert in this format – again, ideally with camera control options. I understand that's much easier said than done, but it feels decidedly doable with enough money spent. After that, Apple needs to figure out the right way to do sports for the device. Again, the quick camera cuts aren't going to work for that. It probably should be more of a fixed perspective thing where again, the user can switch angles if they choose.
And that experience, far more than a concert, really should be live. Apple currently releases these experiences months after they're recorded. That's fine for the concerts – though that too would be pretty awesome to experience live – but for sports, we need to get to the place where we can stream games live. That's going to take a heavy lift, I know. But if a startup can do it, Apple can do it. They have the technology.
And the money. And the Vision Pro. It hasn't worked out perhaps as they had hoped in these early days, but the pieces are there to make something magical of all this yet. I just saw it with my own two eyes, on stage in Mexico City.
M.G. Siegler
M.G. Siegler
M.G. Siegler
1 As an aside, sort of a strange choice to put up a warning about bright flashing lights and immediately dive into bright flashing lights...
2 Specifically 14 of them, says Apple's press release here. You could clearly see them at points, which wasn't distracting but interesting as they sort of look like spider eyes. They're not huge! Someone just needs to tell Lars Ulrich which lens to look into in the future....
3 I like what Apple does with the theater mode for movies, where you can switch between the balcony or floor -- and shift just how far back you are in three settings. Just giving a few options would be interesting for these immersive camera angles. For sports, one could even be called "the best seat in the house".
4 Also a crazy reminder just how many phones are almost always out and recording/taking pictures during these shows. A fun side game could be to count iPhone versus Androids in the audience. Sort of awkward for Apple here just how many Samsung devices are seemingly in every shot!
5 Also a good reminder of how good the experience of AirPods Pro + Vision Pro is -- you can hear the crowd singing the chorus all around you as beach balls go by your peripheral vision.