Mass attack slams music industry over climate inaction: 'We don’t have to speak up’ to act’ | Massive attack

AWith pop stars flying private jets and hall stage sets around the world, their fans collectively generating significant emissions from their own shows, Massive Attack’s Robert Del Naja said „it’s time to act”. Music.

A home-town Bristol show on Sunday titled Act 1.5 – a reference to the 2015 UN climate agreement, which called on countries to limit global warming to 1.5C – powered by 100% renewable energy, the band says is a „world first” for an event of its scale. Thirty thousand fans will attend the one-day event, which will also feature American rapper Killer Mike, Irish folk group Langham and a solo performance by actress Samantha Morton.

Del Naja describes Act 1.5 as a “climate action accelerator,” and adds, “Some people think the whole point of our department is to tell people. [the climate crisis]It is not one of the most widely reported global issues of our time. We don’t need to talk about it – we need to act on it.

The environmentally-focused show was created in 2018 and announced for 2021 – a planned show in Liverpool was pulled due to the venue’s connection to an arms exhibition. Later, due to ill health in the band, plans for the revamp were shelved.

“It’s been a long journey; I was a teenager once,” quips Mark Doan, the show’s lead producer. He found in Massive Attack an „intense frustration with their field,” which he says was „a kind of intransigent attitude toward anything other than decorative or superficial. Our plans came to fruition very quickly.

Massive Attack, who formed in 1988 and defined the UK’s trip-hop scene with hits such as Unfinished Sympathy and Teardrop, commissioned a report by decarbonisation experts. Tyndall Center For climate change research, the team shared a Publicly available road map For very low carbon live music.

Act 1.5 enacts the recommendations of the Festival Report, and will address key emission areas such as transport, food, energy and waste. Like creating a tour of concertgoers Very high rate In one event’s emissions, locals were given priority pre-sale access to tickets, and free electric shuttles would serve transport hubs – deliberately, no car park. Ticket holders are encouraged to travel on the train – with a VIP („very important procedure”) bar and toilets – some rented for a special event.

The band’s own touring schedule has been drastically reduced. „It was at the blueprint level: How do you design an amazing show that doesn’t take 25 trucks to move from place to place?” Del Naja says. „Now our traffic is down to two trucks, and I feel the show is more confrontational, provocative and visually dynamic. It hasn’t lost anything — it’s gained more.” Teaming up with documentary filmmaker Adam Curtis and lighting/staging collective United Visual Artists, the band called the show „a radical leap” from their previous work with those collaborators.

Unlike many outdoor shows of its size, the stages are not powered by diesel generators, but Large rechargeable batteries. “I’d like to think that next year all the big stages at all the big festivals will be powered by batteries, because it is appearanceDel Naja says.

On-site vendors — many from local zip codes — will sell only plant-based food and bars encourage fans to bring their own reusable cups. No waste from the festival will go to landfill, and a new forest of 19,000 native oak trees will be planted 40 miles from the festival site.

Massive Attack isn’t just about artists performing on their tour. At the request of Billie Eilish, only the O2 Arena in London Vegetarian food served During the singer’s 2022 residency, he has announced a lineup of climate acts for his next tour. In June, Coldplay announced that 12 pts Sustainability Plan This resulted in a 59% reduction in carbon emissions compared to their previous global tour.

“It’s important to keep reminding ourselves… of you can Tour, and travel by train if you can,” says Del Naja.

Local and national government may play their own part in the future – to be licensed, a UK festival must operate within a framework set by the local authority, and those guidelines may include conditions relating to renewable electricity or green transport.

Still, Del Naja said, concert promoters shouldn’t wait for regional, national or international authorities to update their policies — and therefore be told what to do about emissions. He argues that the technology and strategies to decarbonize a live music event already exist and should be used.

„It’s not like we’re trying to point the finger at consumers,” he says. “It is about the promoters who hold the power in this sector and they need to do more. They are capable of creating change; Finance. What is disappointing is knowing that people are waiting for the law to be passed.

Don insists Act 1.5 will be profitable and hopes it will be an experiment but a model for other parts of the music industry. “We will be transparent; Record where things don’t work,” he says. „[This is about] Shows how far you can go quickly – If You choose.” Del Naja said it will show “what a massive offensive, working with other advertisers at home and abroad, can do.”

Writing on Instagram, the group said Act 1.5 „could be the last time we play in Bristol” – and Del Naja was not so emphatic today. „There’s a sense that once we do this, we’ll never work on this scale again in this city,” he says. „It’s huge for us, and whatever we do next will be different.”