Virtuality

Written in 1996 when the World Wide Web was still young, "Virtuality" examines the then-novel phenomenon of internet connectivity — how it links people across vast distances while raising questions about what's real and what's virtual. It was one of the earliest rock songs to engage seriously with the internet as a cultural force.

The heavy arrangement belies the futuristic subject matter, grounding the digital themes in analog power. It was used as a set opener during the second half of the Test for Echo tour, introducing the evening's exploration of new material.

As a time capsule of mid-1990s digital optimism, it's fascinating — written before social media, before smartphones, when the web still felt like a frontier of possibility rather than an established part of daily life.