Drone shows for festivals & concerts
The moment the whole field looks up.
A festival drone show gives 100,000 people one shared moment: a story in the sky, timed to the music, flown beside the crowd under an aviation approval. We flew Coachella, EDC Las Vegas, Austin City Limits and 15 shows at Burning Man. Here is what it takes on crowd safety, scale, stage integration and weather.
FORMULA 1 LAS VEGAS GRAND PRIX
Formula 1 · Las Vegas - USA · 1,000 drones
Crowd safety
Big crowd, safe sky
Festival crowds are dense and they move. A drone show is planned around that: drones never fly over people, a safety zone is set with your site manager, and the flight is approved by the aviation authority for that field, that night, that slot. EDC Las Vegas drew 150,000+ people. Coachella, hundreds of thousands. Both flew.
Our pilot on site has the final word on go or no-go. That is not a disclaimer; it is how 15 shows at Burning Man got flown in a desert full of dust.
Scale
Enough drones to read from the back of the field
A festival sky is wide and the audience stands far away. That is a drone-count question. Coachella flew 800, Burning Man 1,000, EDC and Austin City Limits 600, Day Trip LA 200 for 75,000 people. Most festival shows fall between 100 and 1,000+ drones. We size the show to the sightline, not to a package.
One show or a run of them? At Burning Man we flew four designs across 15 shows. At Coachella the show stretched across two hours of programme. Both are possible; both change the crew, the batteries and the permit.
Integration & weather
Stage, pyro, music and the wind
A drone show is best when it belongs to the set, not when it interrupts it. We time to the music, cue with your show caller and combine with fireworks, lasers, water screens or a live act. Spotify x ADE closed a night over the IJ with 600 drones for 20,000 people.
Weather is the honest risk. Drones handle a few drops and wind up to 25 mph (40 km/h). We plan a weather window, agree a hold and a back-up slot in your run-of-show, and tell you the odds before you announce it.
What it takes
Lead time, site, permits, cost
No fixed price list exists. Most shows fall between 100 and 1,000+ drones. The four factors below decide the rest. Read how drone show cost works.
- Lead time
- About a month for a known site; more for a first-time festival ground, an airport exemption or a multi-night run. Get us in when you plan the stage layout, not after.
- Site
- A take-off area outside the crowd, a sightline from the main stage or the campsite, and a spot the show can be seen from without moving 80,000 people. Fields, lakesides and speedways all work.
- Permits
- We file the airspace approval and coordinate with the local authority, your safety officer and any nearby airfield. Multi-night shows are usually one approval with several windows.
- What drives cost
- Number of drones, show length, location and permits, and animation complexity. A run of shows across a weekend costs less per show than one. How cost works.
Festival shows we flew
All showsFORMULA 1 LAS VEGAS GRAND PRIX
Formula 1 · Las Vegas - USA · 1,000 drones
Shakira at Copacabana
Shakira · Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro · 1,500 drones
Björk at Coachella
Björk · Coachella · Indio, California · 864 drones
Burning Man
Burning man · Black Rock City, Nevada · 1,000 drones
Spotify x ADE
SPOTIFY · Above the IJ, Amsterdam · 600 drones
Austin City Limits ACL Festival
ACL Fest, Austin City Limits Festival · Austin, Texas - USA · 600 drones
FAQ
Questions we get asked
Can drones fly over the crowd?
No, not without proper safety measures. We set a safety zone with your site team that the audience does not enter, and the show flies beside or behind the crowd, not above it. That is how EDC Las Vegas, Coachella and Burning Man were done.
How many drones does a festival show need?
It depends on how far the back of the field is. We prefer a minimum of 100 drones. Our festival shows have ranged from 200 (Day Trip LA, 75,000 people) to 1,000 (Burning Man). Most fall between 100 and 1,000+.
Can the show be synced to the headliner or to pyro?
Yes. We time the show to a music track or a live cue, and we combine with fireworks, lasers, water screens and live performers. Tell us early so the design and the run-of-show grow together.
Can you fly more than one show per night, or every night?
Yes. The limits are the airspace approval, the weather, the show length and the drones' charging cycle. At Burning Man we flew 15 shows with four designs; at Coachella the show ran across two hours.
What if it is windy or raining on the night?
Drones fly in wind up to 25 mph (40 km/h) and cope with light rain. Above that, the pilot on site calls a hold or a cancellation. We build a weather window and a back-up slot into your schedule so the decision is planned, not improvised.
Is a drone show the right call for our festival?
If it needs to be a moment the whole site talks about, yes, and we work out with you what it takes. For every other kind of show, at any scale, our partners at Sky Elements are the right call and we will say so.
Not you? Drone shows for
Let’s collaborate
Planning next season? Give the field a reason to look up.
Send us the site, the dates and the crowd. Within a day you'll hear whether a drone show fits your festival, roughly what it takes, and what we'd fly.