Drones Perform With Drake on Tour

Verity Studios AG, a Switzerland-based provider of indoor drone shows, says its Lucie micro drones are performing with Drake in his 2018 Aubrey & the Three Migos Tour.

Elevate, a song on Drake’s new album Scorpion, opens with the micro drones flying onto the stage to surround Drake in a cloud of lights. In another appearance, the drones create a glittering wave in the song “Look Alive” before forming a red cross that rotates around Drake.

Raffaello D’Andrea, founder of Verity and co-founder of Amazon Robotics, notes that the drones are operated by the Drake tour staff and perform their choreography autonomously.

“People often describe things they’ve never seen before as ‘magic.’ This is also how people talk about our drones when they see them live for the first time,” D’Andrea says. “By bringing robotics and AI to live events, we are creating magic. It’s spectacular to see a swarm of drones performing a perfectly synchronized aerial ballet without a single drone pilot in sight. Of course, what’s powering this performance is advanced technology, but when you sit in the audience, all you see is magic.”

The drone choreography came from conversations with Drake’s creative team, the company says.

“When the Drake team approached us, they said they wanted something that had never been seen before,” D’Andrea explains. “Our drone choreographers worked in partnership with Drake’s creative team to come up with various concepts for the show, like geometric shapes and drone tornadoes, before deciding on the final choreographies. What the teams created together is visually stunning. We relish pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with our technology when pursuing our clients’ creative visions.”

Since it was founded in 2014, Verity’s autonomous drones have performed in more than 20 countries and in a variety of venues, including on Broadway in Cirque du Soleil’s Paramour and at the New York Knicks’ pre-game shows at Madison Square Garden. The company recently raised $18 million in a Series A funding round, led by Fontinalis Partners, a venture capital firm based out of Detroit and Boston.