The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Drone Show at Trent Bridge!

I recently attended my first event at Trent Bridge, Nottinghamshire's cricket ground. Whilst a sporting stadium, this was actually a drone show which is something I'd never heard before. I thought it sounded really exciting and interesting so jumped at the opportunity when I found out I would actually have someone to go with as well. 

The booking process was quick and easy. The company organising the ticket sales was Yuup who I hadn't heard of before, but nevertheless seemed very thorough. To be honest, it was a little too thorough. They sent out emails and texts far too often in the build up and the week before, it was every singe day as a countdown! It was too much. 

In terms of the event itself. It was well organised and smooth to get in. There was a short line on arrival, but they quickly scanned the tickets on my phone. Despite the NHS discount, they didn't check our NHS IDs, nor did they have a security process to check bags which I felt was a little off putting as I've not been to any event recently without bag checks. 

There was only a small number of areas opened once inside and the seated areas were quite close. I had thought this would be beneficial for body warmth, but the show was icy and freezing cold. We were shivering away and I was so thankful to start the show with some warm garlic bread. I think it would have been better to have an outdoor event in more so later spring or summer, where it was warmer. Alternatively, to have outdoor heaters at the stadium would have been great! It didn't help that we were pretty much seated alone, because there were people sat in our seats. Volunteers weren't much help and instead just sat us in a VIP section which was empty and unallocated.

In terms of the show itself, it was a show with a difference for sure. It was fascinating to watch and it was crazy clever. I loved seeing the images come to life, but it was very different to that which I expected. Half the time, it was difficult to make out what the drone images actually were. My friend and I discussed with each other to be able to interpret them better. They also rotated which I understood so everyone in the audience could see them, however unless they were facing you directly, you couldn't tell what they were, especially from the back view.

It was advertised as a 45 minute show, and even then it was a little shorter. It started 2 minutes late and finished 5 minutes early, whilst it also had 2 pauses in between to allow for the drone sections to swap over. It also said there was "pre-show stadium entertainment" and there absolutely wasn't! There was nothing on the theoretical stage area so I'm not sure why this was advertised. With this, it is incredibly expensive for what it is. We paid a discounted price of £18 but RRP was £23, plus a booking fee, per person. 

The show itself also wasn't quite what I had been expecting. The story was told through a voiceover via an American accent, and of course a British accent would have been better. The story was more so this verbal medium, with an image shown on the drones per scene. There was also a lack of music which is what we thought would be a leading feature. Instead, just a quiet backing instrumental throughout. 

Overall, it was defintely a fun one-off experience, however not one I would rush to do again. I think it was a nice idea, but just didn't quite live up to expectations or promotions.