In the Round: The First Mood on the Roof Nights

The cinematic rooftop series went live for the first time on June 18. Winston Surfshirt and Cody Jon, full sets, a robotic arm filming in 360.

On June 18, Mood on the Roof went live for the first time. A suspended robotic arm moved over the crowd in slow 360s, rising and falling around the artists while the audience watched in the round. No live concert has been filmed like this.

The series has always worked the same way: a live set shot like cinema. One artist, one song, one take, on a rooftop garden, nobody in the room but the camera. It built a quiet reputation for putting artists on the roof just before the rest of the world found them. Benson Boone played it before 'Beautiful Things' became the most-streamed song on earth. Griff, Vacations, Nick Mulvey, dodie, grentperez, all up there before the algorithm caught up.

This time the format changed. A crowd on the roof. Full sets instead of single songs. And the arm overhead, turning a gig into a film set.

Winston Surfshirt headlined. A decade into funk, soul and west-coast hip-hop that sounds like no one else, double-platinum, with Elton John in their corner (he played their 'Ice Cream' on his show and called them his favourite band of the moment). The set was built for one night and won't surface anywhere else.

Cody Jon opened. Sydney, making 2000s-leaning pop and R&B out of his bedroom, already through SXSW and BIGSOUND, with ELLE Japan filing him next to PinkPantheress and Tate McRae. He won't be playing rooms this size much longer.

Presented by DistroKid. Supported by Vodafone. Papa Salt on drinks. Footage to follow.

The first one. More coming.