Turning the whole town into one big dance floor
Challenge
In 2024, Leiden celebrated the 450th anniversary of the city’s liberation, with a historic event they hold annually, called Leidens Ontzet. This year’s festivities were headlined by Armin van Buuren, but with 50,000 people wanting to join the party, we had a big challenge on our hands: how do you safely accommodate such a huge crowd when the largest square can only hold 12,000?
With innovative tech solutions and a whole lot of creativity, we made it happen, while ensured that everyone—whether in Leiden or across the globe—could join the party.
Departments
Play ARMIN VAN BUUREN'S SET
01. Brief
As the lead production and livestream partner, our goal was to make sure this celebration reached and made the entire town dance. The tasks were set:
Create an event that could bring together thousands of people across multiple locations while delivering the same energy and excitement as a single massive concert
Design a world-class stage in a hidden location that fits Armin van Buuren’s unmatched style, which also suits a big media team for the perfect coverage
Set up a livestream that allowed people to experience Armin van Buuren's set, ensure that 10 different locations across Leiden felt connected, creating a seamless, shared experience for everyone. And let’s not forget—this also needed to reach viewers online around the world.
02. Designer insights
"As we were faced with the safety challenge, we pushed with our team to ensure the distribution was seamlessly synced with the actual live performance, and everyone can enjoy the music at the same time."
- Kevin Wetzels
03. Research
Before jumping into the production, we dove deep into understanding the city’s layout and potential bottlenecks. We worked closely with local authorities to explore all the options how could we manage such a large crowd without sacrificing the atmosphere of the celebration.
On the tech side, we looked into solutions to keep the livestream smooth and uninterrupted across all locations. In the end, we chose a completely wireless setup to make sure we could broadcast in real-time with almost no delay. This flexibility allowed us to cover key parts of the city, without being restricted by cables and infrastructure.
04. Concept
Make the whole city feel like one big party. Sounds like a simple concept, however, it needed several months of planning to avoid cramming the whole city into one spot. We settled on spreading the event across Leiden, we set up 10 screens around town, allowing fans to enjoy Armin van Buuren’s set no matter where they were.
Armin performed in a hidden location to avoid overcrowding, but thanks to our real-time livestream setup, his music reached every corner of the city. From the epic drops to the crowd’s reactions, everything synced perfectly across all locations.
We even captured the celebration from every angle, from drone shots to crowd reactions and close-ups, so that whether you were watching from a square in Leiden or a screen halfway across the world, you didn’t miss a moment.
The stage itself was reminiscing Armin's Breathe-era and his Pillars of Creation concept, with a compact, intimate setup, including a walkable circle LED-floor at its core.
05. Results