Sustainability and the saviour complex
Saving the planet, one event at a time
There’s a reason why event sustainability experts are evangelical about their work. We have to believe that we’re saving the planet to propel ourselves through a process that is often mind-numbingly dull.
It is noble to want to be greener, but many baulk at the details. Who knows how much diesel they used on last year’s event, average power in KWh or the tonnage of waste processed for re-cycling? If you need to prove that you’re improving, then baseline measurements are required. If you want to be certified by UK specialists, A Greener Festival, or abide by the standards of Julie’s Bicycle, it’s the tip of an iceberg of data that will be needed.
In the UK, promoters and organisers often stick to the visible impacts like banning single-use plastics, providing water for refills, and encouraging use of public transport whilst offsetting as much responsibility as possible onto suppliers. Any steps are admirable, of course, particularly considering that they were not much of a consideration until recently – and that there’s often a cost involved that only they will absorb.
It is often said that public transport is the hardest to manage as it involves interacting with numerous third parties who are not minded to interrupt their existing schedule, even when it can be enormously profitable for them to do so. Given that the transportation of large numbers of attendees is generally understood to be the biggest source of carbon emissions for events, this becomes an issue and one that is too vital to be ignored. Sadly, we often see – as in the case of this year’s FA Cup semi-final between two teams from the north-west played in London on a date when parts of the rail network were closed – that it is too frequently overlooked.
When it comes to sites, organisers tend to work outwards from the space and location to logistics and facilities. Very few festivals are located at the centre of convenient transport hubs, although arenas and outdoor shows have made strides to be closer to city centres of late. There are many competing factors for both the timing and location of shows, most of which revolve around viability and availability, everything else is a work-around.
As we’re based in Coventry, it is appropriate to take the upcoming weekend of May 28/29 as an example. On Saturday 28th the city welcomes over 50,000 gig-goers due to a re-scheduled Killers gig at CBS Arena (stadium) and Radio 1 Big Weekend in a major park. Local media has made much of people’s inability to get home (by train) from Big Weekend whilst not mentioning sustainability issues and the more serious problems facing those at the Killers gig which is a far greater distance from the train station.
It transpires that there’s little panic or outrage to be had here since trains from Coventry to most destinations are pretty good. The greater indignation could have been reserved for the paucity of travel information communicated by the host websites. For Killers you might note that car parking is the most vital issue and find out very little else other than planning ahead is vital (who knew?). Big Weekend does a bit better with help from Visit Coventry but falls down on failing to link to national rail or the train services that serve Coventry, nor does it recommend public transport as the preferred option, which is absolutely essential.
Of course, both events may be doing a better job of communicating directly with ticket holders via email or social media. On the face of it though you’d struggle to know that your impacts as an attendee can be modified and managed better. It seems to be a peripheral issue when we all know much better. People are still not sustainably minded: witness the abandoned tents and other ecological impacts of festival goers generally. As event organisers we have a lot more to achieve and much of it will be in comms.
Bizarrely, there is one easy step that would make public transport more accessible to all those attending big events, unfortunately it is one that artists might consider would ‘compromise’ the show. If shows finished earlier and made a point of publicising event timings (subject to changes), the choices available to the public would be greatly improved. The simple solutions can often be the hardest to achieve, but we can all do much better.
We can help with your communications and advise on sustainability issues.
What do you want from live?
I have been unashamedly emotional about the return of live music. I was weeping at my first gig post-lockdown, the marvellous Arlo Parks at the incredible hmv Empire Coventry, actual tears. I then got an overly passionate response to Nova Twins at Godiva Festival, it felt so good to be in the presence of raucous energy and creativity.
It probably shouldn’t be a surprise. On average I’ve been at two gigs per month for the last 40 years and have earned a living (directly/indirectly) from live music for most of the last 30. Being without live music has been a wrench. At the same time, it provided an opportunity to reflect on what the live experience actually is. No amount of exclusive streamed performances or intimate shows came close to replacing it, they filled a gap but they weren’t the same.
I’m prepared to accept that this may be a generational thing. My offspring (in their 20s) can watch TV and Tik Tok simultaneously and think nothing of live tweeting stuff I think they would need to concentrate upon. Furthermore, I suspect that a streaming option should be on offer for most gigs and may be in the future, it’s potentially a solution to the carbon intensive industry of touring and opens up gigs for all – more of which in the next post.
For me though, live is live, it’s irreplaceable. There is nothing to compete with the visceral energy of a live show, the communal experience of being amongst your peers in that moment. Live is the anticipation, the expectation, the surprises and the glory of a gig, not to mention the afterglow when all you want to do is hear it again and reflect upon it with friends.
Unless you have the best technology, all the kit, streaming is simply a version of music TV, and we know how poor that can be. This is not to say that I didn’t appreciate Radiohead releasing full concert videos on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq19-LqvG35A-30oyAiPiqA during the pandemic, I even watched bits of Pink Floyd at Pompeii and revelled in Fontaines DC doing A Hero’s Death in Dublin. The main thing that these three had in common was high production values, which not all can afford – it favours the already famous. In real live situations, the smallest grungiest gig can give the most pleasure. Live confounds as often as it succeeds, the unpredictability is part of the package.
As live returned, so did the spectre of Abba’s animatronics – the Abbatars and their London-based ‘concert’ project. It is hard to criticise something that provides work to legions of my fellow event professionals and great musicians but I’m not sure it’s a great leap forward for music. You could argue that it’s a live experience rather than being a concert, but will it potentially take money out of the market, away from other shows? I think it might, for most of us there is only a finite amount.
Of course, I’m not suggesting that people are choosing between Abba and Amyl and the Sniffers but people already go to too few shows. The bulk of concert goers are attending one to two per year. It is bad enough that, thanks to streaming, the recordings of new artists already compete with all the greatest bands that ever recorded – to bring that to the live market feels selfish. Is it live or a digitised facsimile of the live experience with no glitches, string breaks or surprises and where all the solos are perfect? We need to fight for live like never before – it’s too precious to risk losing it all again.
The future’s so bright…..
Events at the end of the pandemic
By mid-February I’d read so many contradictory reports and surveys about how to resume live events and concerts that I’d begun to doubt if we’d ever be able to open a venue again.
An example of the conflict is summed up in two German studies – one claimed that the transmission risk at indoor concerts was negligible, provided that good ventilation, social distancing and face masks were in use
At the same time the Germans were celebrating this ‘win’, another report suggested that the risk of aerosol spread was reckoned to be higher if you sing in certain languages, like, er, German.
Promoters and venues were already well aware that the risk factors are hugely dependent on a number of issues, from type of venue to genre/style of show. A seated, socially distanced performance in an airy, high-ceilinged hall would be entirely different to a standing gig in a sweaty basement. The trouble was that governments and licensing bodies were insistent upon treating everything the same.
So, whilst we could have some hope that cultural events were safer than schools there was little public clamour to test that proposition. Yet in the UK, after months of barely acknowledging that the sector exists, we were finally given a glimmer of hope and, astonishingly, actual dates. It looked like a plan, which was astounding for all those who had been asking for evidence of one since before Christmas.
Naturally the dates came with caveats, but they were enough for some festivals to go on-sale and sell out, almost before the PM had stopped speaking. The following week produced future amazement as industry experts like the Music Venue Trust noted that the plan looked to be based on data rather than guesswork. The predicted roll out of the vaccine and continuing expected fall in infection rates make these dates likely to become a reality.
Whilst I see few people clamouring to hit the May deadline for restricted capacities, July and beyond look like reasonable expectations. The industry will have its own caveats of course, the most notable being insurance. Where EU governments and some others have stepped into the void where commercial firms fear not tread, UK authorities are more tight-lipped. Perhaps the upcoming budget will give us a better steer, but I fear the chancellor is keener to tighten the purse strings than keep the coffers open.
Talent may be another thorny issue in 2021. The UK may relax but that possibility seems unlikely across Europe. If you’re an international artist and dependent on the economies of scale that multiple shows offer, flying in for one or two UK shows might not cut it. That’s if you’re even able to escape your own country’s restrictions.
On that basis the future looks more optimistic, as long as you like British artists. Frankly, since everyone seems to be straining at the leash to be released, this looks to be less of an issue than it normally would be. New UK acts may thrive on those festival slots that may previously not have been available and, as Brexit & Covid restrict their ambitions, popularity may well have to start at home. Bring it on.
Evolution Festival
Shots from the yearly music festival which is held in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Gateshead.