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14th May 2021

Ireland’s first music festival demonstration of the Covid era has taken place

James Fenton

We’re all looking forward to getting back to music festivals and the first demonstration has taken place as to how that will be possible in Ireland.

On Friday, organisers of the Wild Roots festival, which is due to take place in Sligo during August, brought members of the media and key industry stakeholders on the first look at their new festival site on the shores of Lough Gill.

During the site visit, live bands played on the festival’s “Wild West Stage” and industry experts gave a demonstration of the world’s first AI-powered Rapid Antigen technology for live events. It marks the first time that this new technology has been used in Ireland.

Speaking about the event and what what festival patrons can expect in August, Niall O’Dowd from InnovateOut, the festival’s testing partner said: “The system that we are using is the world’s first AI-Powered Covid-19 antigen test. It scans for the virus using a simple nasal swab and gives us back results within about five minutes and with around 97% accuracy.

“Festival patrons download an app and a QR code day pass is issued to their phone to gain access to the festival site. Although there is privacy built-in for the user the app is designed to plug straight into the HSE’s reporting system. What we are looking at here is the future of Live events in the era of Covid-19. This is the first time this technology has been demonstrated in Ireland.”

Wild Roots will take place from August 13 to 15 and will feature performances from Kaiser Chiefs, Damien Dempsey, Tolü Makay and more. Find out more here.

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