Held annually at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, CA, the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival draws music fans from all over the world. And it’s also a great place to spot celebs in the crowd enjoying the music as well.
But this year, drones are stealing the show both on stage and off.
On stage, ODESZA incorporated an incredibly elaborate overhead drone formation that lit up the night sky like living fireworks.
The ODESZA drone formation is made up of 420 plastic and foam drones synchronized to form a colorful painting in the night sky, lasting 5 to 8 minutes.
Prior to Sunday’s ODESZA spectacle, HP and Intel welcomed festival goers with a live performance of choreagraphed drones set against the dark California sky.
Drones are also being used behind the scenes at Coachella as well. In fact, the term being used to describe the drone presence is “army of drones”.
After the tragedy in Las Vegas last October, where dozens where killed attending a country music festival, Coachella organizers have beefed up all aspects of security, which incorporates a significant drone deployment.
For the first time, Coachella organizers have contracted with a third-party company to deploy drones as a new form of security.
“Drones will be flying over watching the perimeters. It takes us a few minutes to get an officer to a perimeter breach, but a drone takes 45 seconds,” Indio Police Sgt. Dan Marshall said.
And while there will be an army of drones working the festival, fans are being told to leave their drones at home.
Marshall says incorporating the drones is an experiment in 2018. “We don’t know if this is the type of event that lends itself to drones. We have to follow all rules. We can’t over-fly cars, we can’t over-fly crowds, we can’t do any of that stuff unless we deem that it’s a public safety issue.”
