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Festival season is now well under way, and the annual Wireless Festival is due to hit London’s Hyde Park next weekend, bringing with it the likes of Drake, Rihanna and Deadmau5.
Since relinquishing its sponsorship with the festival, O2 has been replaced by Barclaycard. While this might make you think the tech theme may be lost, Barclaycard is in fact keen to push forward with things like contactless payment and NFC.
Festival goers are invited to apply for a Barclaycard Payband – a simple rubber band that contains an NFC chip which allows for cash-free payments. As we reported earlier in the year, Barclaycard hopes to make Wireless 2012 the first cash-free festival with the new scheme.
The bands are free, and come with a pretty sweet package. You’ll get a Wireless Festival 2012 tote bag, lanyard, map of the site and of course, the Payband itself. All you need to do is head to barclaycardpayband.com and register the unique code that’s attached to the band when you take it out of the box.
Once registered, you can top-up your band using a credit or debit card, and as a thankyou Barclaycard will stick a fiver on for free. Wearing the band to the festival next weekend will gain you a number of perks, including fast-track entry, a free gift and entry to the Barclaycard ‘Perk Park’ and even access to luxury loos – a reserve usually for artists only at UK festivals.
The Payband itself is your wallet for the festival, so when buying a drink or some grub you simply touch your wrist against one of the wireless terminals to make a payment. No PIN number or signature is needed, meaning that queues should be kept to a minimum thanks to time saved.
They’re secure too – if you lose your band or it gets stolen you can head to a special tent to report it and have the band cancelled and replaced for you.
If you haven’t already applied there’s still time, so head over to barclaycardpayband.com to request yours!
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