Welcome to the Worlds Away Experience planet of Nexus. Your transformation will be complete upon entering the Monterey Fair & Event Center this Saturday where you’ll find a new way of experiencing a music festival. Producers of the groundbreaking event want you to realize this is not your everyday concert. This is an immersive, experiential penny arcade of technological innovations offered to attendees, otherwise known as Travelers, while they take in performances by an international array of top name talent in the EDM and techno pop scene. The Chainsmokers, Tiësto, R3HAB, Lauv, Sam Feldt, Lost Kings, Vicetone, Ayokay, Piero Spada and Informal will take the arena stage, renamed for this event as The Portal.

All sounds a bit science fiction like, right? But it’s all very real and all very now. You’ll find a resemblance to rave culture events with incredible light shows and effects blanketing not only the stage but everywhere around you. And the carnival atmosphere of other EDM-style music events will be there, but amplified with art installations, technological scavenger hunts, and a way to move about the fairgrounds without having to actually move. Intrigued? I certainly was and to get up to speed with this new festival model I needed to talk to the founders of this event, Ro Sahebi and Nelson Diaz.

“I wanted to create something that was more than just a music festival, almost like a rebirth of the music festival, because this type of music we’re talking about is very married to technology,” Sahebi said in a joint phone interview with his right hand man Diaz. “I saw the narrative as Monterey is the place where it all started. The Monterey International Pop Festival was the first modern day music festival, and so what better place to have a rebirth than the place where it all started.

“We’re going back to that in some ways. The big part of this idea is the fusion of these international cultures. A lot of our DJs are from all over the world. A lot of European artists are coming in, our tech partners are from Europe, our talent is from Asia, America, the Netherlands and Australia. It’s a multi-cultural celebration. Art and fashion brought together with technology.

“Just to back up a bit. We’re not just trying this out. We are going to build this and develop this over the years to come. We have a multi-year commitment to do this. In order to do this, we have to organically infuse and grow what is working and see what the community response is.”

Based primarily out of the Los Angeles area, the two men in their 50s aren’t exactly new to this business of producing music festivals. Diaz, who has worked in production with iHeart music festivals and said he’s “been a part of producing experiential events from here to Saudi Arabia to Japan to Singapore over the last 15 years,” partnered with Sahebi, who is considered the visionary artist who has created the new concept they’re in the process of building over the next few years here in Monterey.

“Nelson and I are in this endeavor together,” Sahebi said. “I’m good at locating resources for projects, and a bit of a visionary. You need someone to interpret the madness and make it a reality. Sometimes when you come up with these big, crazy ideas, like ‘hey we’re going to go and take over a city and create the world’s first music, art and tech festival in a place where they never had one before. Okay go.’ (I could hear Nelson in the background laughing.) He’s done so much with my madness. He has to fill in some of the blanks, he has to get creative as well, he has to do a lot of the problem solving. I feel bad sometimes because his job is hard and he’s constantly making me look good.”

Historically, many people have come into Monterey from out of town with the dream of building a music festival at the Monterey Fairgrounds because of a groundbreaking event that took place there only once, although inspired by the still alive and kicking Monterey Jazz Festival. But it’s the Monterey Pop Festival that inspires the popular music crowd to come and give it their best try to further that history with an event of their own.

“We are not doing this as outsiders,” Sahebi said. “Yes, Nelson and I are outsiders, but we appreciate the history and the culture. We know Monterey is special and we want to celebrate that. We don’t just want to bring a music festival to town, we want to create a cultural event that celebrates the area and fuses all these things together. There’s so much to cherry pick from, and we couldn’t be happier with the response from the city. It’s been so warm and inviting.”

Hiring Good Vibez, producer of the California Roots Music & Arts Festival at the fairgrounds, to be a consultant producer wasn’t such a bad idea either.

“Working with Dan (Sheehan) and the Good Vibez team has been amazing for a few reasons,” said Diaz. “It’s allowed us to meet a lot of great local folks who are now getting involved with the festival. And it’s also been very helpful because of his relationship with Kelly Violini-Rodoni who runs the fairgrounds. It’s just been so smooth, knock on wood. I’m going to knock on wood right now. (Yep, I heard him knocking.) It’s been very smooth because Ro and I are as laid back as we can be in our position, but it really feels good working with Dan and his team because they’ve been doing events there. So it’s been a great learning experience for both sides.”

The inaugural event’s sponsors, Pendulum and NEFT Vodka, announced they are partnering with Augmented Reality platform Augmento as the key Title Tech Sponsor, along with “Van Gogh Experience” creator Normal Studio, Web3 and NFC Chip experts Endstate. Design firm Vita Motus, a company renowned for their work with Coachella and Electric Daisy Carnival, will create groundbreaking and interactive technology based activations designed to transform how technology is used at festivals, and how crowds interact with it.

Among these interactive installations will be a digital graffiti wall, 3-D maps, virtual merchandise and food vender Portals, and an AR scavenger hunt, all of which are powered by Augmento. Additionally, there will be an immersive experience room created by Normal Studio featuring projection surfaces and LED screens meant to create visual representations of the festival atmosphere.

Wes Pabis, Augmento CEO says, “At Worlds Away, Augmento is revolutionizing the festival experience through Augmented Reality, transforming the entire venue into an interactive Mixed Reality playground where immersion is key—attendees don’t just watch the show, they become an integral part of it.”

To facilitate all these technological wonders Rhythm Wireless is bringing 12 additional Wi-Fi towers to amplify and bring free Wi-Fi to all the Travelers. The evolution of music has continued to dig deeper into the electronic arts, and for the first time in Monterey there’s a chance for local audiences to stay in town to experience not only EDM but other electronic styles of music.

“We have curated a lineup like a chef curates a seven-course meal,” Diaz said. “We have curated it in a way where there is going to be a core set every person is going to love that may be different than the next. Right? And for me, we have surprisingly, a huge demographic between 40 and 55 coming, because they are reliving their 2005. They’re reliving their Tiësto years and the early Chainsmokers era.

“I love the lineup. It’s not all EDM. We have Lauv right before Chainsmokers, that’s electronic pop. We have two electronic pop acts on the lineup. It’s a very eclectic group, very diverse, but all of them reach a demographic that just loves music. It is an all ages show, including parents who want their 4-year-old to have their first experience. But it is a show, right. Parents at their own discretion will bring their own kids. The great part about this is we don’t have any acts that are saying anything vulgar. EDM is very positive and PG/PG13.” Doors open to Worlds Away at 10 a.m., music begins at 10:30 a.m. and ends 11 p.m. For festival information including the do’s and don’t’s, and all the many different ticket packages, with multiple price ranges and availability, visit www.worldsaway.io.

The column is taking a couple weeks off, so here’s a list of events coming up to take a look at.

Sunset Cultural Center has two events this week. Friday is a multi-disciplined production called Momix: Alice, inspired by Alice in Wonderland, 7:30 p.m., tickets $50-$80. And Saturday, the Black Violin — BV20 Tour: Then & Now, 7:30 p.m., a multi-genre sound of classical and hip-hop performed on violin and viola. Tickets are $56-$171. Tickets for both shows can be purchased online at www.sunsetcenter.org or at the box office, Monday-Friday, noon-4 p.m., (831) 620-2048.

Jazz at the Ranch is a live music and dynamic food experience benefitting Rancho Cielo’s Arts and Mental Health Programs, produced in association with the Monterey Jazz Festival. It takes place Friday, October 18 — Sunday, October 20 at the Sally Hughes Church Amphitheater at Rancho Cielo in Salinas. Single-day and three-day passes are available. Los Lobos headlines the event on Sunday with the Latin Jazz Collective with John Nava opening the double bill. Friday has Chris Cain and the Monterey Jazz Festival Regional All-star Combo, and Saturday features Sarah McKenzie with Nicolas Bearde with Full Spectrum Jazz Orchestra. Visit www.ranchocieloyc.org to purchase tickets and for more information.

Live in the Vines, a KRML Radio and Folktale Winery production, presents bluegrass jamband Fruition with Maya de Virtri opening the show, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 5-8:30 p.m. Visit www.folktalewinery.com for band info and pricing.