All mass events across the world were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020. Zoan wanted to create something new and special on a global scale, and the City of Helsinki wanted to offer an incentive for people to stay at home during the biggest carnival in Finland, May Day (Vappu). 

So, Zoan and Helsinki joined forces and organized a virtual concert – in the digital twin of Helsinki – to celebrate May Day eve safely indoors. JVG, the most popular band in Finland, was the clear artist choice to entertain people from all ages.

A big wide green screen, located in an old industrial space in Helsinki. JVG, the band, was keyed from that green screen into Zoan’s Virtual Helsinki model. Inside the virtual world, four virtual cameras filmed the event. The audience could log in as avatars, of which the 500 most active ones were displayed on the virtual senate square. The avatars could wave, cheer, and dance. Massive digital screens were placed in front of the band, so they could see the audience in realtime and feel like they were really performing for them. All that was combined to make a live broadcast!