NBC launches live-action virtual-reality experience for 'The Voice'

"The Voice 360: Be the Coach" uses Oculus Rift technology to allow fans to judge a blind audition

To promote the return of "The Voice," NBC has created "The Voice 360: Be the Coach" fan experience.

Fans will get to sit in the famous coaches' chair while Oculus Rift virtual-reality - a complete 360° immersion - will allow them to physically and virtually experience an entire "blind audition." Fans will sit next to and interact with new season seven coaches Gwen Stefani and Pharrell Williams, as well as returning coaches Adam Levine and Blake Shelton.

With the public encouraged to participate, "The Voice 360" will tour the nation with four real-life coaches' chairs starting in New York on Tuesday, Sept. 9, and will end in Los Angeles Monday, Sept. 22, the day the new season of "The Voice" premieres.

In "The Voice 360," a high-impact, real-world stage is the doorway into virtual reality. While seated in an actual coaches' chair, the Oculus Rift virtual-reality headset takes fans on a four-minute journey inside "The Voice" studio in live-action, 3D imagery. Oculus Rift allows fans to physically motion their heads up, down and side to side to see the entirety of the studio and reach out to the coaches sitting virtually next to them. During the audition, the chair will actually turn 180 degrees, revealing the performer. The experience concludes with audition comments from each coach and the musician choosing his mentor.

The traveling coaches' chair began touring in 2012 to promote the second season of "The Voice" and gave fans a chance to sit in the chairs made famous by the show's success. With the new season approaching, NBC's use of cutting-edge technology with A-list celebrity talent in "The Voice 360: Be the Coach" gives fans an entirely new and intimate way to experience "The Voice."

The tour dates for "The Voice 360: Be the Coach" are as follows:

•New York

Sept. 9: 45 Rockefeller Plaza ("Today" plaza); 6:30-9 a.m.

Sept. 10: 1271 Avenue of the Americas (plaza across from Radio City Music Hall); 11 a.m.-7 p.m.

•Chicago

Sept. 15: 401 N. Michigan Ave. (Pioneer Plaza); 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

•Los Angeles

Sept. 21-22: The Grove; 11 a.m.-7 p.m.

 "The Voice" returns with the strongest vocalists from across the country invited to compete in the hit vocal competition show's seventh season. Carson Daly serves as host.

The show's innovative format features four stages of competition: blind auditions, "Battle" rounds, "Knockouts" and, finally, live performance shows.

For more information about "The Voice," visit http://www.nbc.com/the-voice. The official hashtag for this promotion is #TheVoice360.