Fireplay, PRG, and Clair Global Team Up For ‘Virtual Crowd’ COVID-era Audience Solution

Virtual Crowd
Donny Evans
– Virtual Crowd

Three major concert production companies have teamed up to provide a live-crowd solution for virtual events, as Fireplay, Production Resource Group (PRG) and Clair Global have announced the launch of Virtual Crowd, designed to help audiences connect and interact with performers in real time. 

Virtual Crowd claims to be the most advanced, fully customizable, and scalable multimedia technology that allows artists, speakers, and performers to interact with their fans, employees, or clients in real time while seamlessly showcasing high-quality production value and design within the online and hybrid experiences. 
 
“Fireplay has been working continuously since the shutdowns to find a solution to allow real, meaningful, and interactive concerts and events to happen safely whilst being unable to gather in large groups,” Fireplay CEO Nick Whitehouse says in a statement. “Nothing will ever replace the experience of an in-person live show, but I believe Virtual Crowd is a fantastic way for artists, live events, concerts and streams to re-engage their audiences who are getting tired of watching virtual events. I am really proud of the team here at Fireplay and excited that the two biggest and most respected companies in the industry have partnered with us to support our vision with their equipment, tech, and most importantly, creating jobs to put crew back to work.”
Virtual Crowd’s aesthetics are customizable to suit different types of events, brands or business environments, such as concerts, esports events, TV shows and business meetings and conferences, even allowing “Interview Mode,” which allows the production team to choose individual guests to interact with, allowing for exclusive moments.   
The platform is powered by Clair Global’s Virtual Live Audience proprietary platform.
“The fact that our team was able to come together to develop a technology tailored to experiencing live events during these unfamiliar times is exciting,” said Matt Clair, Chief Information Officer at Clair Global. “Clair’s pivot towards packaged data services allowed us to utilize our experience in production audio/IT and be back at the table working alongside PRG and Fireplay in a new way. The prospect of getting our road crew – and the entire live events industry – back to work with the deployment of each and every Virtual Crowd system is the biggest win from our vantage point.”
PRG, a leading production and technology provider, will help take the tech worldwide.  
“PRG is excited to collaborate with two well respected companies in entertainment to bring to market a vital missing piece of live shows,” said Randy Hutson, CEO of PRG’s Music Group. “This solution, while creating jobs for our crews, will create an environment of live enhancement to support an artist’s interaction with their audiences. Further, with PRG’s unsurpassed inventory of technology, clients can easily activate Virtual Crowd on any scale, anywhere around the world.”