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Reliving 150 years of music: Gooii’s Augmented Reality experience set to transform Cambridge’s Corn Exchange

31st January 2025

New Augmented Reality experience in Cambridge brings historic music performances back to life

Gooii has developed a new immersive Augmented Reality concert experience for Cambridge’s Corn Exchange, one of the UK’s most historic music venues. 

The Corn Exchange has hosted thousands of concerts over its 150 year history. Using the power of AR, we’re enabling the public to relive these iconic performances.

As well as watching legendary performances from the past come to life before their very eyes, visitors can also expect vintage car time machines, an interactive wall of vortexes and a collaborative brick wall. 

We’ll be using Cambridge’s new 5G Open Ran network, which is being set up to bring better connectivity to the city. Gooii’s part of the project focuses on Cambridge’s Corn Exchange, where we’re adding a visual, immersive and interactive layer to the venue and its past music performances.

What to expect from the AR experience at Cambridge’s Corn Exchange

Historic music performances

Cambridge’s new Augmented Reality experience will show artists who have passed away or are no longer touring and bring them back to life. This creates a magical performance that can technically be viewed anywhere in the world. It’ll also be a shared experience, so all audience members will see the same performer on stage.

How we developed the AR concert experience

It all started in the studio with a green screen. We filmed real-life artists who acted out classic shows from the Corn Exchange’s back catalogue. Imagine Dave Grohl performing Learn to Fly,  the late Amy Winehouse singing Back to Black and David Bowie as Star Man. 

Gooii's Augmented Reality experience at Cambridge Corn Exchange - Dave Grohl performance

And the beauty of AR is that we’re not limited to two-dimensional film. Using our 3D technology, we can further enhance the realism. We can also add CGI to do things that aren’t possible with any other live event. This enables us to do things that previously were only possible in music videos.

Watch the footage through an AR headset

Our expert coders turned the footage into an immersive experience. An AR headset is then used to view the footage, such as the Meta Quest 3 or Apple Vision. The audience puts on the headset at the Corn Exchange and a hologram of the concert appears on the stage. This transports the audience back in time. Events from history are recreated in the exact same place they happened many years ago. Sitting in a room amongst fellow fans experiencing this concert, it feels as though the artists are performing to you. It has the potential to create a real emotional connection. 

Augmented Reality experience - using headsets

It enables us to show fans what it was really like to sit in the venue and watch the performance unfold. We’re blurring the lines between technology and live events. 

There’ll also be a live-streaming AR concert where we’ll broadcast bands playing at the Corn Exchange live to another location. At the second location, people will watch the gig as though it’s happening in front of them. Gooii developed these innovative bespoke technologies to make live 3D AR streaming possible.

Interactive collaborative wall

The Collaborative Wall will allow visitors to place a virtual brick to build a wall at the Corn Exchange. This is inspired by when members of the public helped build the venue. There’ll be 150 bricks to represent the venue’s 150th anniversary. Visitors will tag the brick with their name, which others can view. The completed wall will then form a mural that celebrates the venue for many years to come. 

Vortex portals

Two walls of vortexes make up the portal. When a person puts their hand in a vortex they will see their hand come out of a different corresponding vortex. Visitors move their hands and wiggle their fingers, which is mirrored in the other portal. 

Interactive car show and time machine

The AR car show will feature classic vehicles associated with Cambridge over the years. These include the Austin Cambridge, the Sinclair C5 and a DeLorean Time Machine. Not to mention all the bicycles associated with Cambridge. This will be an interactive feature that allows people walking around to look inside the vehicles.

People interacting with the virtual car show.

Influencing the future of live music and performance art

These AR experiences will enable the venue to celebrate and truly immerse the audience in its incredible music legacy and history.

We’re hoping to create a brand new fan experience. Watching a hologram of David Bowie, Adele, Freddie Mercury or Diana Ross play a unique performance at such an intimate venue could bring in avid fans from across the world. It will create audience experiences that preserve the venue’s heritage, by documenting and digitising its cultural events for future generations. 

This is one of the many innovative ways we’re using the new 5G Open Ran network.

People wearing headsets and interacting with the AR experience

Gooii’s groundbreaking Augmented Reality experience at Cambridge Corn Exchange marks a transformative milestone in how we celebrate music and cultural heritage. By blending cutting-edge AR technology with the venue’s rich 150 year history, this project brings iconic performances to life in vivid, immersive detail. 

From holographic concerts to interactive installations, each feature is designed to engage audiences while preserving the spirit of the Corn Exchange for future generations. This fusion of art, history and technology not only redefines fan experiences but also showcases the incredible potential of 5G connectivity to enhance live entertainment. Gooii is proud to be at the forefront of this exciting evolution in performance art and audience engagement.


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