At the climax of the concert, 10,000 blinking PixMob Helicos were dropped, creating a beautiful surprise for the thousands of lucky fans attending the show. As Chris Martin sang, stars slowly began to descend.
The Helicos, printed with a design inspired by the band's album cover, were dropped from four scissor forklifts placed around the crowd at a height of 20m. They blinked with bright white light, falling at a speed of 1.5 m/s into the hands of the attendees.
The main challenge for PixMob in creating this performance was the weather, specifically the wind. As the Helicos are made of paper, they are very light and can get redirected depending on the wind. PixMob technicians studied the wind probabilities in the area for the past five years and established diverse scenarios to be sure that the wow effect would really happen. They concluded that a wind from south (that would throw the helicos on the stage instead of the crowd) was unlikely.
PixMob also provides a wireless technology that uses infrared to send instructions to pixels worn by audience members, creating colourful light effects across a crowd. PixMob has connected crowds at innovative events such as the 2014 Super Bowl Halftime Show, the Cirque du Soleil Microsoft Kinect launch, and the Eurovision Song Contest.
Until this concert, Coldplay has been known to use interactive lighting at their concerts, with LED wristbands in particular. For this show and the launch of their new album Ghost Stories, they've gone even further and brought a third dimension to the lighting, enhancing the fans' experience.
