Verge Aero Partners with T-Mobile and Google Pixel for Lollapalooza Drone Show
by DRONELIFE Staff Writer Ian M Crosby
This past July, Verge Aero deployed 300 of its custom built drones at Chicago’s famous Lollapalooza festival, which performed a drone show above the venue to enhance the event.
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Featuring performances over a four-day period from a diverse set of artists such as Dua Lipa, Metallica and J. Cole, this year’s Lollapalooza was the first to include drones as part of the event. In partnership with T-Mobile and Google Pixel phones, a specially created Verge Aero drone show was staged during Dua Lipa’s Friday night slot.
“We actually launched the drone show over T-Mobile’s 5G network, using a Google Pixel phone,” said Verge Aero’s Mason Hayes, the designer and pilot of the drone show. “We have a Verge Aero-created app that we can load onto smartphones and set the drones off on their pre-programmed flight formations, and it worked perfectly.”
Verge Aero has worked alongside T-Mobile previously, partnering on a New Year’s show featuring Justin Bieber in 2021.
The performance saw the drones take the shape of a variety of messages and graphics, such as an alien UFO, a cassette, the Chicago flag and skyline, and a heart and rainbow. This collection of graphic effects was designed by Hayes using Verge Aero’s visualization and programming software, alongside the Lollapalooza, Google and T-Mobile teams. The show was arranged so as to feature no dead space, with the 300 drones continuously taking on new forms and effects throughout the performance.
“We had a great launch site for the Lollapalooza drone show, just outside the perimeter of the festival fences that was a flat surface and away from the crowds,” added Hayes. “The team was fantastic and it all went smoothly, with great feedback from everyone involved and, crucially, it went down well with the festival goers. My family is from Chicago so it was a privilege to put art in the sky using Verge Aero drones within view of the famous city skyline.”
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Ian attended Dominican University of California, where he received a BA in English in 2019. With a lifelong passion for writing and storytelling and a keen interest in technology, he is now contributing to DroneLife as a staff writer.
Miriam McNabb is the Editor-in-Chief of DRONELIFE and CEO of JobForDrones, a professional drone services marketplace, and a fascinated observer of the emerging drone industry and the regulatory environment for drones. Miriam has penned over 3,000 articles focused on the commercial drone space and is an international speaker and recognized figure in the industry. Miriam has a degree from the University of Chicago and over 20 years of experience in high tech sales and marketing for new technologies.For drone industry consulting or writing, Email Miriam.
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