The Brief
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.
The Journey
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!
Delivered Features

Green Screen and Artist / Band Audio

Virtual Environment + Virtual Camera

Video Stream

Audience Reactions via App
Delivered Features

Green Screen and Artist / Band Audio

Virtual Environment + Virtual Camera

Video Stream

Audience Reactions via App
The Results
The event made history with an experience combining a live concert, game-engine-based virtual reality and streaming – and on top of that, the audience took part in the gig with their interactive avatars.
The virtual gig reached 1,4 million views, 700 000 live participants, 150 000 created avatars, 10 million avatar interactions and the attention of global media. For example, The Guardian, The Forbes and The Business Insider featured the virtual gig. The concert also received a lot of attention in the VR industry media, since unlike Travis Scott in Fortnite, JVG’s performance was live.
Read More:
The Forbes The Business Insider The Guardian