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!