Lollapalooza returned to Chicago this Summer with more than 170 artists performing over four days with headliners like J-Hope, Metallica, Dua Lipa and Green Day. One of the largest and longest running music festivals in the U.S., Lollapalooza has built its reputation on attracting some of the biggest touring acts in rock, pop and hip-hop. But if fans arrived expecting only great music, they were in for a surprise.
You see, the Un-carrier knows a thing or two about elevating live experiences. This summer, we hosted a concert at T-Mobile headquarters in Bellevue, WA to showcase how 5G can transform the listening experience at live shows with MixHalo. And at Lolla we took it to the next level, teaming up with Google Pixel to showcase 5G experiences that seriously turn up the event experience.
5G is THE Global Stage
While 400,000 fans attended Lollapalooza in-person, the festival has an even larger following around the world. So, what about the fans who couldn’t make it to Chicago? Thanks to the power of 5G, we shared the Lolla experience with fans near and far. With our extensive network of customers, we created the unofficial festival broadcast, through “Fanfluencers”, encouraging in-person attendees to share their festival experiences across social channels.
An event as massive as Lolla requires a wireless network that has the capacity to support thousands of people uploading content simultaneously. The nation’s fastest 5G network was up for the task, bringing the show to fans around the world, practically in real-time.
Beauty is in the Eye of… a 5G Phone?
But we didn’t stop there. We took the fan experience a step further by transforming the history of Lolla into something fans can see. And with the help of Google Pixel’s Pixel 6a and our 5G network, we turned the summer’s biggest festival into a piece of eye-popping art.
Together we built “Posterpalooza,” a Lolla focal point that festival goers flocked to. Posterpalooza used the Google Pixel 6a and Pixel Buds Pro to unlock an immersive AR gallery, bringing history to life through dazzling 3D motion, surrounding users in art.
It’s not quite Wonka Vision, but with the power of 5G, we aren’t too far from it.
Launching into the 5G Era
To wrap up our time at Lollapalooza, we launched 300 drones over 5G into the Chicago sky simultaneously. Our six-minute-long performance, with booming instrumentals, was a mesmerizing example of what’s possible when you have a 5G network as robust as T-Mobile’s.
But we didn’t drop the mic there. For the first time ever, we collaborated with Hulu to showcase the drone show, and the power of 5G, to millions of Hulu subscribers, once again brining 5G to the global stage.
The Show is Just Getting Started
Lolla selected T-Mobile as its 2022 5G partner not only because we have the nation’s largest and fastest 5G network, but also because organizers knew we’d bring the fun, in Un-carrier fashion.
Few who attended the first Lollapalooza in 1991 could have imagined how technology would transform the fan experience into what it is today. 5G has made it possible to transport the entire four-day festival across the globe as it happens and enable fans to share live video and jam with faraway friends as if they were there. Visuals are no longer confined to stage and screens as fans are immersed in interactive experiences through AR.
And the best part? This is just the beginning.