In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats Belfast: We tried the award-winning VR experience coming to NI next year

A new award-winning virtual reality experience is set to come to Belfast early next year and I was lucky enough to be given a sneak peek ahead of its arrival.

In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats will take place in Carlisle Memorial Church in February next year as part of Belfast XR Festival 2025.

The experience takes you back in time to the beginning of the Acid House movement and the creation of UK rave culture - so expect glow sticks, dance anthems and some serious overload for your senses.

Read more: UK’s biggest immersive VR experience coming to Belfast Church

Back in August, I was invited to head down to Ulster University to give it a go and I honestly didn’t know what to expect.

Having never tried VR at all before, I couldn’t really comprehend what I was in for when I was telling my colleagues where I was popping off to for an hour.

Myself and three others got a chance to be some of the first people in Belfast to put on the headset and step into the world of ‘In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats’ and I think going in with no expectations just made my whole experience more exciting.

I truly was putting on the mask and going in blind - having never done anything with virtual reality headsets and also having little to no previous knowledge of the acid house scene or the 1980s rave moment.

Do not be put off by that at all - if you are a 90s baby like me, weren’t a fan of raving in your day or have never heard of the movement before, the entire experience is so informative yet entertaining that I almost felt nostalgic at moments (mind you I was never there!)

I was escorted to my own mapped-out section where I would be able to roam within the dimensions of the experience.

My headset and haptic vest were then fitted before I was told how to use my hand controls and begin the experience.

Without giving too much away about how the film unfolds, you and your group of (very realistic) friends set out on the hunt to track down an all-night illegal rave in 1989 and takes you to the heart of the Acid House Movement in Coventry.

Moving between bedroom scenes, police stations, seedy motorway underpasses and some psychedelic sequences, I could not ever over how much detail had been put into the experience and I was blown away by how real it could all feel inside the space of a headset.

Apart from being blown away by VR and the visuals and the vest making me feel every part of the music of In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats, the experience acts almost like a documentary with the stories of the rave culture pioneers at the centre of it woven into the challenge of finding the rave.

I found it such an interesting concept for learning because I took so much in while being able to have fun in a completely unique way.

I’m not sure Belfast has ever seen an event like this before and pairing it with the stunning Carlisle Memorial Church honesty makes me want to go back and do it all again as the venue is set to be decorated to match the experience.

As a first-time VR user and now first-time raver, I highly recommend going down and checking it out - especially if you are like myself and love the opportunity to try something new.

Find out more about it coming to Belfast here: https://www.belfastxrfestival.com

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