In a match made in some kind of geeky heaven, Grimes will become the first ever musician to headline a comic convention.
The world first is happening at The Philadelphia Wizard World Comic Con in June, and is being billed as the New Music Concert Series – aka first ever music concert series to tie in with a comic convention. Grimes (Claire Boucher) will headline the event with support from recent tour mate Hana.
Thinking about the shape of comic cons (much more than simply comics as it turns out, featuring things like television show discussion panels and celebrity meet-and-greets), it is actually kind of a wonder that no one has thought to include live music as part of the experience before. Other promoters must be kicking themselves that they didn’t beat Wizard World to it.
In a statement sent to Billboard, COO of Wizard World Randy Malinoff said that, “Wizard World Comic Con already presents the best in celebrity meet and greets, movies, television, science fiction and comics and we believe that including music is the next logical progression to provide a great experience for our fans… These live music events are a key component to the continued growth of our brand.”
With Boucher already discussing her follow up to 2015’s Art Angels, there are murmurs that Grimes will be road testing new music at the convention. However, it would hardly be unexpected if she also used the opportunity to launch a comic. After all, she as well as being an experimental pop extraordinaire, her self-created Art Angels artwork is just the most recent evidence of the fact that Grimes has some mad visual art skills to.
The tie-in shows are set to continue with New York singer and songwriter Melanie Martinez, though there is not a date or location specified for her performance as of yet. Your move, literally every other convention.
Image: Amy Heycock for Howl & Echoes. See the full gallery here.