# Drone shows for festivals & concerts – Drone Stories

> Drone shows for festivals and concerts: crowd safety, drone count, syncing with stage and pyro, weather. Coachella, EDC, Burning Man, ACL. What it takes.

Source: https://dronestories.com/drone-shows/for/festivals/

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.

[Get a proposal](/proposal/)[What a show costs](/drone-show-cost/)

[### FORMULA 1 LAS VEGAS GRAND PRIX

Formula 1 · Las Vegas - USA · 1,000 drones](/drone-shows/f1-las-vegas-gp-2023/)

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

Our shows start at $50,000; most land between $100,000 and $200,000. Beyond that there is no fixed price list. Most shows fall between 100 and 1,000+ drones. The four factors below decide the rest. [Read how drone show cost works.](/drone-show-cost/)

| | |
|---|---|
| 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 shows](/drone-shows/)

[### FORMULA 1 LAS VEGAS GRAND PRIX

Formula 1 · Las Vegas - USA · 1,000 drones](/drone-shows/f1-las-vegas-gp-2023/)[### Shakira at Copacabana

Shakira · Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro · 1,500 drones](/drone-shows/shakira-copacabana/)[### Björk at Coachella

Björk · Coachella · Indio, California · 864 drones](/drone-shows/coachella-drone-show/)[### Desert Swarm, Noor Riyadh

Noor Riyadh · Noor Riyadh festival, Riyadh · 3,000 drones](/drone-shows/desert-swarm-noor-riyadh/)[### Burning Man

Burning man · Black Rock City, Nevada · 1,000 drones](/drone-shows/burning-man/)[### Spotify x ADE

SPOTIFY · Above the IJ, Amsterdam · 600 drones](/drone-shows/spotify-x-ade-2022/)

Facts at a glance

| | |
|---|---|
| Drones per show | 100 minimum · typically 300 to 1,000 · up to 1,500 |
| Show length | 3 to 12 (longer for art performances; up to 2.5 hours flown at Burning Man) minutes |
| Lead time | About a month for a known site; longer for new airspace or complex designs |
| Weather | Up to 25 mph / 40 km/h; light rain is fine; the pilot on site makes the final call |
| Safety | Drones do not fly over people; a safety zone separates fleet and crowd |
| Airspace | Every show flies under an aviation-authority approval for that site and time; not near airports without exemption |
| Noise | Low noise, no debris, no smoke; rechargeable, renewable-energy fleet |
| Combine with | fireworks, lasers, water screens, live music and performers, pyro on drones |
| Where we fly | Worldwide. Flown so far: Netherlands, USA, France, Italy, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Greece, Mexico, Montenegro |
| Price | Our shows start at $50,000; most land between $100,000 and $200,000. Beyond that, set by number of drones, show length, location and permits, animation complexity |

FAQ

## Questions we get asked

Not you? Drone shows for

* [Brands & agencies](/drone-shows/for/brands/)
* [Cities & institutions](/drone-shows/for/cities/)
* [Weddings & private](/drone-shows/for/private/)
* [Shows by city](/drone-shows/in/)

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.

[Get a proposal](/proposal/)[Talk to a human](/contact/)