The company behind some of the world’s most spectacular drone light shows is to collaborate on a major new Christmas event that will bring its innovation and creativity back to its West Country roots.
Celestial, based in Frome, has teamed up with Bristol-based local experiences company Yuup on Evolution, an epic drone light show to be staged in the city’s Seat Unique Stadium, home of Gloucestershire County Cricket Club.
Celestial is best known for the super-premium shows it has staged for some of the biggest brand and events and which often feature hundreds of drones flying in formation.
These have included Eurovision, Amazon Prime’s Lord of the Rings, London’s New Year’s Eve celebrations and events with Manchester City Football Club.
Evolution will feature the latest in creative entertainment for all ages in what the firm describes as a spellbinding celebration of the living world.
The artist-led firm was formed in 2020 with just 20 drones. It has since attracted external investment, opened an office in Los Angeles and increased its drone fleet to more than 1,000, which have been deployed in live shows across the UK and in Australia.
Its shows incorporate music and imagery to create an unparalleled audio-visual experience.
Evolution will take the audience through a narrated story that starts with the Big Bang and journeys into the emergence of the sun, the solar system and the planets that inhabit it.
It will be accompanied by an original cinematic soundtrack aimed at fully immersing attendees in a unique theatrical event that, according to Celestial, fuses cutting-edge technology and creativity to spark the imagination.
The event is suitable for the whole family and there will also be fairground rides, music and a food village with local traders.
Celestial co-founder and chief creative officer John Hopkins said the show had been three years in the making.
“This is so much more than a drone light show, it’s an experience with stadium scale, created to bring audiences together using a new medium to tell the story of time,” he added.
Yuup founder & CEO Dominic Mills said: “We’re hugely excited to be partnering with Celestial and the Seat Unique Stadium to bring this unique show to Bristol.
“It is the biggest event we have brought to the city since we launched here two years ago and being able to do so with our innovative partners is truly something to be excited about.
“This kind of show will offer a new source of winter entertainment unlike anything anyone has ever seen, encouraging people to look up and reconnect with the world.”
Evolution will be staged twice nightly on 20 and 21 December. As the stadium has a seated capacity of nearly 6,000, up to 24,000 people could get to experience it.
Adult tickets are £21 each and £14 for concessions and children.
Last year Celestial teamed up with academics from Bath Spa University on a world-leading project to develop spectacular tech-driven displays.
Called Celestial Live, the scheme created light shows that responded to performers in real-time, enabling them to express their music or dance through an immersive fusion of colour, scale and movement.
Celestial is founded on strong ethical values balancing people, the planet and profit, with the belief that drone art has enormous potential as a force for good in the world.
As well as bringing the stars to life in the form of show-stopping digital art, it also offers a safe and carbon-neutral alternative to traditional fireworks.
