Girls staying in the car participated in the new music festival "Drive In Festival" in the new normal era that can be enjoyed in the car

My name is Kaori Sakai and I enjoy van life and sleeping in my car on the weekends. With the recent spread of the new coronavirus infection, a new normal event has been born that takes social distancing into consideration and is suitable for the COVID-19 era. The name is " Drive-in Festival ".

Drive-in festival VOL.1 was held in Chiba Prefecture for two days on August 22nd and 23rd, 2020, and I was able to experience a music festival in the car. I participated in the race on the first day.

©️Drive Infest by Afro&Co.

The project was created by Afromance , a company that has created a variety of new event styles such as foam parties. While various offline events have been canceled one after another due to the coronavirus pandemic, there was a new normal style of event that is unique to the With the COVID-19 era . What is the reality of the next generation event "Drive-in Festival" that people are excited about...

We are also running a limited-time campaign from January 26, 2024 (Friday) to February 29, 2024 (Thursday).

Details are listed at the bottom of the page, so please read until the end. Those eligible will receive an Amazon gift card worth 5,000 yen.

Departure edition: The "drive-in festival" begins from the moment you start the engine.

When I checked my event reservation email, I received a notification that I needed to register on my official LINE account . When you add friends on LINE, event information is organized into an easy-to-understand list . Apparently, people will be able to enjoy the content of the Drive In Festival mainly on LINE.

Here is the actual LINE screen

Scroll through the information and you'll find a campaign for free instax rentals (first-come, first-served) and a free service that lets you play the best music while driving . You can download Spotify and listen to music from this URL . When you actually play the music, the long drive to get to the venue feels like a festival . The festival has started since I left the house...! You can see the service spirit and ingenuity of the organizer to make the participants happy♪

Excitement is already at its peak at Chiba Fornia on the way to the venue.

Arrival edition: Event management system with full measures against the new coronavirus

When you arrive at the venue, you will first have your temperature checked. Once you clear this, you can enter the venue. Staff wore face shields, and participants were required to wear masks when leaving their vehicles .

The venue is a large parking lot that can accommodate several hundred vehicles. The stage, photo booth, food truck, etc. have already been set up, and the excitement can't be contained. I have some time before the event starts, so I thought I'd take a look at the venue.

First of all, there was a rule that each car had to be parked with space between each other. In addition, inside the parking space and in the one parking space to the right of your car, you were allowed to go outside and listen to music.

By the way, in order to participate in this event, I rented this Hiace camper through the camper car sharing service " Carstay ".

Decorate your car to make it look like a van life while you wait! Designed to be enjoyed both inside and outside the car

Also, the LINE service I mentioned earlier was designed to let you know in real time how crowded the restrooms are . If you visit during a busy time, there will be signs to remind you to wait at intervals in anticipation of the busy times. I went to the restroom several times throughout the event, and it never seemed crowded . I could see that the measures to prevent the COVID-19 were being taken to the fullest.

And so that you could enjoy your time while waiting, a commemorative photo booth was set up where you could take photos with the cars . Certainly, if you can take a photo with your beloved car, it will remain as a souvenir. I had already decorated it to make it look like a van life, so I decided to take some photos and feel like a star instead.

Event edition: A new type of immersive festival in your car

As I was doing this, the time turned to the starting time of 18:00. When the number of cars increased and more than 100 cars occupied most of the large parking lot, the event started with the shouts of MC Masashi!

©️Drive Infest by Afro&Co.

The DJs on the first day of the drive-in festival were popular DJs such as Maika Loubté, YonYon, Reiji Okamoto, Tomoyuki Tanaka, and Shinnichi Osawa. As the sun goes down, the volume of the music increases and the voltage of the venue increases!

©️Drive Infest by Afro&Co.

And at this event, a groundbreaking attempt was prepared. It means that you can order food and drinks from inside your car using LINE from your smartphone .

©️Drive Infest by Afro&Co.

A so-called " roller skating delivery service " was provided, in which event staff ran across the large parking lot on roller skates and delivered the items to participants in their cars. At music festivals, there are usually long lines in front of the food trucks, but with this service, attendees can purchase food while avoiding the 3 Cs .

©️Drive Infest by Afro&Co.

There are many different types of food on the menu, including curry, fried food, rice bowls, and the current trendy lemon lemonade . I was already hungry right after the event started, so I ended up ordering two roast beef bowls and a curry.

By the way, the highlight of this event is that live music will be broadcast over FM radio waves and can be enjoyed on your car stereo . Therefore, you can listen to immersive music in your car without having to step out of your car . In order to appeal not only to the auditory senses but also to the visual senses, special lighting and flames were used to create an impressive space so that you could experience the realism of the festival even inside the car .

In addition, by broadcasting the DJ's play on Instagram Live , people were able to enjoy the music even when they were in the car or from a distance. This is another innovative idea of ​​merging online and offline.

In addition, participants let the DJ know they're on to the music by flashing the light sticks handed out or turning on their car's hazard lights . The official merchandise displayed inside the car, which is unique to a drive-in, also enhances the space inside the car, creating a sense of unity inside and outside the car .

©️Drive Infest by Afro&Co.

Participants enjoyed eating and drinking in the parking space, chatting, dancing, and enjoying their time to their heart's content. It was exactly like an event where we could feel the connection between people, which is what we were looking for during the COVID-19 pandemic .

©️Drive Infest by Afro&Co.

The first day of the four-hour drive-in festival ended with Bon Odori music mixed by Shinnichi Osawa and voices saying "Good night!" It seems that there were fireworks on the second day. From beginning to end, it was a music event where you could feel the essence of summer in Japan .

©️Drive Infest by Afro&Co.

Impressions after participating in the event

Instead of the traditional idea of ​​``staying in the car, '' the event was an opportunity to experience a new concept: ``It's safe and fun to be inside the car.''

I also felt that the event took various ingenuity and detailed design into consideration in order to allow the participants to make memories of the summer while being very careful about the spread of the new coronavirus. Many participants must have experienced that even in the face of limitations and constraints, new styles of entertainment can be created through positive thinking .

I have a feeling that the music scene and event industry will undergo major changes in the future due to the new coronavirus infection !

©️Drive Infest by Afro&Co.

[Drive Infest VOL.1 Overview]

Date: Saturday, August 22, 2020, Sunday, August 23, 2020

Performers: 10 groups in total

- 8/22 (Sat) Shinichi Osawa/ Tomoyuki Tanaka (FPM)/ Okamoto Reiji (OKAMOTOʼS)/YonYon/ Maika Loubté/ MC too much

- 8/23 (Sun) ☆TakuTakahashi (m-flo) / Kan Sano / DÉ DÉ MOUSE / 80KIDZ -DJ Set-/okadada/ TJO / MC Too

“Carstay camper car festival participation campaign 2024” is underway!

From January 26, 2024 (Friday) to February 29, 2024 (Thursday), all users who reserve a campervan on Carstay for the purpose of participating in an outdoor festival and spend a total of 80,000 yen or more will receive an Amazon gift card. We are holding a `` Carstay Camper Car Festival Participation Campaign 2024 '' to give away.

Please click here for details!

Click here for the campaign