Max Gazzè at the Amphitheater of Pompeii. Immersive Event Concert with a tribute to Pink Floyd

Friday 21 October, at 8.30 PM, the Amphitheatre of Pompeii will be the venue of a concertevent capable of offering the participants a unique immersive experience, generating suggestive interactions between the musical performance, the design of the set, and the magical atmosphere of the venue by making use of the most advanced digital technologies. Starring in this riveting show will be Max Gazzè, who, with a group of outstanding players and singers, will be performing in a Tribute to Pink Floyd to pay homage to the concert filmed in Pompeii in 1971, and TIM, which, in collaboration with Qualcomm, will make available to the audience advanced Extended Reality techniques and innovative digital solutions based on 5G millimetre-wave (mmWave) technology. The upshot of this mix of music, light and special images will be a concert-event that, in the magical atmosphere of the Amphitheatre, will project the past into the future by exploiting the most advanced technologies to fuse the real and the virtual and enrich the show with unprecedented forms and content.

The initiative was illustrated today at a press conference in the Auditorium of the excavations of Pompeii in the presence of Gabriel Zuchtriegel, Director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, Claudio Pellegrini, TIM's Head of Sales Local Government, Health & Education Division, and Max Gazzè.

The event, produced with Magister Art handling the artistic and executive direction, OTR Live the concert’s artistic production, and GSNet the technical direction of the live experience, and the TIM Group as Sole Sponsor and technology partner, is part of a format, ‘Pompeii Echoes’, produced by Magister Art and curated by Ernesto Assante, conceived to celebrate the 50th anniversary of 'Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii', the concert film directed by Adrian Maben, which, in 1971, saw the historic English band perform in the Pompeii Amphitheatre in a memorable closed-door concert. With this initiative, the Pompeii Archaeological Park and the TIM Group – by virtue of a private-public partnership agreement – intend to propose innovative cultural heritage valorisation forms making use of new fruition models based on immersive applications that can offer the spectators highly engaging cultural and entertainment experiences live, with augmented and virtual reality services that exploit the potential of 5G mmWave technology. The event will be enjoyable both in presence, with mandatory advance booking on the www.ticketone.it platform (from Tuesday 18 October), and live streamed for free on ITsART, the platform dedicated to Italian art and culture promoted by the Italian Ministry of Culture, available on Smart TV, PC, Smartphone and Tablet.

The concert-event will be a reconstruction of a dreamlike journey conducted on the notes of the 14 songs reinterpreted by the musicians; at the same time, 14 virtual spaces in augmented reality, based on some of Pompeii's most iconic symbols and architectural elements, will become an active part of the set, serving as background scenery for the stage and recreating an unprecedented dimension of the historical and cultural context of the Amphitheatre. Thanks to TIM’s technology, the people present will be able to listen to the music pieces enriched with 3D digital content in augmented reality simply by framing the stage with their smartphones, benefiting from an experience that cannot be enjoyed with the naked eye. Moreover, from a dedicated area and through the 5G mmWave technology, it will be possible to enjoy the show with even better performance and quality levels. Thanks to low latency and high bandwidth capacity, in fact, 5G mmWave technology can create unique immersive experiences even during events with a high concentration of participants.

Even those viewing the concert from home in live streaming via the ITsART platform will be treated to a special show: during the concert, a camera equipped with specific augmented reality sensors will establish a correlation between digital content and real elements.

“With this event, Pompeii concludes a series of initiatives caried out throughout the year to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Pink Floyd's closed-door concert at the Amphitheatre. It has been an opportunity to underscore that Pompeii historical sites are timeless, living on through various art forms, including music. Above all, it has enabled us to test out different forms of fruition and immersive technology with a view to heightening the cultural experience and reaching a diverse audience,' says the Director of the Archaeological Park, Gabriel Zuchtriegel”.

“This event is yet another major milestone for TIM: it enables us to strengthen our leadership in next-generation Smart City solutions, providing citizens with immersive experiences at live cultural and entertainment events – points out Claudio Pellegrini, TIM's Head of Sales Local Government, Health & Education Division – In the national and European markets we are the first to design and realise a concert open to the public in which 5G millimetre-wave technology is the enabler for unique and immersive experiences. The power of TIM's connections will transform the Amphitheatre of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii into a unique venue where form, evocative images and colours will combine with music to offer the participants an unforgettable experience. Our commitment is to put the Group's expertise at the service of the valorisation of Italy's immense cultural and artistic heritage by making use of digital technologies. We want to further strengthen our presence in the sector and become the benchmark operator to accompany public and private organisations in this direction”.

Fabio Iaione, Senior Director, Business Development, Qualcomm Europe Inc., states: “The Pompei Echos concert will be an extraordinary showcase for demonstrating the potential of 5G mmWave technology, and the participants will experience an event that like never before will add a new dimension to the experience of going to a concert. It is an exciting project and we are proud to be part of it, we can't wait to see the results.”