EE hosts a ‘hybrid club night' somehow powered by 5G

UK MNO EE put on a livestreamed clubbing event in Leeds which was supposed to showcase the capabilities of its 5G network.

The number of DJs and locations involved in ‘the ultimate clubbing experience using 5G’ is at first glance a bit confusing, but the crux of it seems to be that there was an open air concert at Temple Arches in Leeds featuring performances which were livestreamed by 5G ‘for the first time’ (whatever that means) to Millennium Square nightclub in Leeds.

A roster of DJs – namely Rudimental, Arielle Free, Babyschon, Manami, Junior Simba – performed sets either at Temple Arches or from ‘secret locations’, as if they were some sort of hostages.

EE apparently ran two livestreams, one of which it called the ‘mainstream’ and the second was the 4k 360 VR headset experience – because it appears to be inevitable that 5G showcase things include a VR headset in some way. EE teamed up with an organisation called Beatport which is apparently ‘a global leader of music for DJs and producers’ (again, whatever that means) to put on the whole event, which it called Parallel 5G.

“We saw huge success last year with Parallel 5G in Liverpool and Manchester, and this year in Leeds was no different,” said Pete Jeavons, Marketing Communications Director at EE. “Using the power of our 5G network, we provided an epic evening of entertainment that gave dance music fans a night to remember. We have shown again what our 5G network can unlock and so we are excited to continue this innovative and forward-thinking approach and discover how else we can make an impact in the world of entertainment.”

Ed Hill, VP of Beatport Media Group added: “It’s been a pleasure to collaborate with EE again to deliver another innovative and high-quality experience. As DJs make the leap from using downloads to streaming services like Beatport LINK for their performances, it’s essential that service providers deliver fast and secure enough networks so DJs can feel totally comfortable relying on them. The fact that we ran another full event over 5G will give further confidence to DJs performing via streaming that EE’s network is more than capable of handling it.”

As has been apparent for a while, telcos are clearly happy dropping pots of marketing spend on ventures like this, however on occasion they can border on the absurd. Not only does it seem like a thin pretence to drum up some sort of interest in 5G services, but its not actually clear why you’d even specifically need 5G in order to run live streams between a number of fixed locations. Ultimately, sentences like: “the epic night of dance harnessed the power of EE’s award-winning 5G network, which offered the low latency and superfast speeds that are required to mix sets without missing a beat” don’t really mean very much as far as we can tell.

On one hand you could just call it a bit of harmless fun, on the other you could call promos like these a bit confusing, and question how they are ever really going to explain to customers what 5G actually is, what it can do, and why they they might want it in their lives.