If you’re a regular reader, you know I’m a music lover. Sometimes it’s hard to reconcile my love of live music with my desire to be sustainable. A recent concert experience prompted me to do some research on sustainable concert tours, and I learned there are artists and tour companies who are doing this successfully.  

As I continue my journey to declutter and simplify my life, I always favour experiences over things. However, as I shared in 6 ways to reduce the environmental cost of experiences, sporting events, concerts and other experiences also come with an environmental cost.

Refillable water bottles not welcome

This was brought home to me late last year when my daughter and I attended a Jonas Brothers concert at Rogers Arena in Vancouver. Before leaving for the concert, I checked the arena website which clearly said empty clear plastic refillable water bottles were permitted at the arena for regular sporting events. When I passed through security, I was told I couldn’t take my empty clear plastic water bottle in. My argument that the website said otherwise got me nowhere, so I begrudgingly left my water bottle behind.

This annoyed me! Clearly this is a policy of the Jonas Brothers and their tour company, and not the venue.

This made me stop and think about the impact of live music on the environment. Today’s concert tours are big productions, transporting dozens of tractor-trailers full of equipment and hundreds of people from city to city, and country to country. Private jets. Crew catering. Stage lighting. Fan travel. It all adds up to a big impact.

It made me wonder if any artist has found a way to reduce the impact of their tours.

Kudos to Coldplay for getting it right!  

My daughter told me about the Coldplay concert she had attended in Vancouver a few weeks earlier. Coldplay is clearly setting the standard for sustainable concert tours.

In 2019, the band announced they would not tour again until they could do so in an environmentally beneficial way. Then they got to work and made it happen.

Coldplay’s website reveals they pledged to cut CO2 emissions by at least 50% on their current Music of the Spheres World Tour, compared to their previous tour. And they’re delivering on that pledge! Their sustainability policy is based on three key principles of Reduce, Reinvent and Restore. Some examples of things they’re doing include:

• Cutting transportation impact by mostly taking commercial flights and supporting Sustainable Aviation Fuel. For ground transportation, they use electric vehicles or vehicles powered by biofuel where possible.
• Using renewable, low emission energy to power their stage set.
• Collecting, cleaning and reusing 86% of the LED wristbands fans wear during their shows.
• Using biodegradable confetti.
• Working with venues to offer free water refill stations and encouraging fans to bring their own refillable water bottles. Take note Jonas Brothers!
• Sourcing local food for crew catering—and donating excess food and toiletries to local food banks. In the first year of the tour, this initiative provided close to 4,000 meals to those in need.
• Selling tour merchandise that’s sustainable and ethically sourced.
• Last but not least, planting one tree for every ticket sold. That added up to 5 million trees over the first year of their tour.

Full details of the positive impact from the first year of the tour are available on the Sustainability page on Coldplay’s website. Check out out. It’s inspiring!

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Other artists are also doing their part

Dave Matthews Band is another artist with a track record of sustainability going back 20 years. The band’s website boasts a climate positive tour.

And through a partnership with REVERB, artists Pink, Paramore, Billie Eilish, and others are taking steps to green their tours. REVERB works with musicians, festivals and events to reduce their footprint. They also engage fans face-to-face at events to encourage them to take environmental action.

What about the Eras tour?

It’s clear that some artists are successfully greening their concert tours. But what about the biggest tour on the planet right now? Yes, I’m talking about Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.  

A quick look at the tour website turned up information on tour dates and merchandise sales, but nothing on sustainability. One can only assume from the silence that sustainability isn’t on Taylor Swift’s agenda. That’s unfortunate for someone with the potential to set an example for other artists and her fans.

As consumers, let’s do our homework and hold artists accountable for their impact by supporting those with positive sustainability track records.

And let’s not stop at concerts. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if sporting events, theatre performances, and all public events could be climate neutral or even climate positive? Artists like Coldplay have proven it can be done. There’s really no excuse!