I spent much of the weekend watching the live streaming of the Coachella music festival on YouTube. How awesome is technology when it can connect people half the world away, and across multiple timezones, to share the same musical experience simultaneously with thousands (maybe even millions) of other music fans.

It was great to catch some of the bands on show although with three simulcasts, that meant forgoing one great act for another sometimes. Over the three days, I really enjoyed Explosions in the Sky, Miike Snow, Pulp, Arctic Monkeys, Bon Iver, Beirut and many more. I had a few friends who were actually at Coachella, or who are going up next weekend, but the live streams lessened my envy slightly.

The live streaming isn’t new. They did it last year as well, I recall. I remember watching Arcade Fire and the Black Keys last year as well, and enjoying the experience with my friends on Twitter. It is these shared events that make me truly enjoy being on social media; when everyone's commenting on the same things, laughing at the same jokes or soaking in the epicness of the same band. It's like hanging out with your friends even when you're miles apart. 

But this year, Coachella truly took technology to the next level – they brought dead rappers to life! Now, that's not the name of a hip hop group, but they really -- sort of -- brought rapper Tupac Shakur back from the grave. They created a special hologram of Tupac (which was freakily realistic) that performed together with Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. It was crazy enough to be able to watch Dre and Snoop on the same stage after so long, but then *boom* Tupac! Shit just got real, son. The really creepy part was when he asked "What the f*** is up, Coachella?". You can see it at 0:47 in the video below.

My mind is still blown.

(video below is Tupac's cameo at Coachella, and is NSFW for the language)