The Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ upcoming gig at Knebworth on 23 June will mark the first time the technology has been used by an artist anywhere in Europe. This will be followed by music and wakeboarding festival Wakestock, which is set to become Europe's most technologically advanced festival after deploying the technology.
Special RFID wristbands are being issued which will be read on arrival to validate visitors’ entry. At the wearer’s discretion, the bands can be linked to their social media profiles or used to enter competitions associated with both events.
Festival goers can head to the Samsung Galaxy Note experiential stand, on site at both events, where they will be able to personalise their wristband to check in on Facebook and share their experience with their friends online, upgrade to VIP simply by flashing their wristband, and sample both the Galaxy Note and recently released Galaxy S III. Samsung is also preparing the way for any festival goers with an NFC enabled mobile phone to be able to use that as their ticket at future events.
Simon Stanford, Vice President, Telecommunications & Networks Division, Samsung UK and Ireland said: “We’re delighted to announce our involvement in the first rollout of ticketless technology this country has seen. In future, everyone will be able to use their mobile phone as their ticket, whether they are music fans going to a gig, or a commuters travelling to work. So we’re excited to be aligning ourselves with that technology and to be bringing a new experience to both our customers and to music fans across the country.”
Denzil Thomas, Business Director, Billington Cartmell Music who conceived the association, commented: “NFC is still not widely understood, so we wanted to create a groundbreaking way to demonstrate the power of Samsung’s leading NFC-enabled devices to consumers. Pretty soon NFC will be ubiquitous in ticketing, it’s been great to have Samsung kick it all off in the UK.”