"I'm in love with my future," pop superstar
Billie Eilish sang to a crowd of over 17,000 people. Throughout the arena, elated fans raised their voices.
They joined in, never missing a beat.
There's nothing like a concert to bring the power of music alive.
But artists' tours can have considerable
A crowd cheers at a concert. Credit: Aleksandar Kamasi/Shutterstock
environmental effects.
Eilish and other musicians, including Harry Styles, Drake, and Coldplay, are taking measures to change how tours are run. They want concerts to be in harmony with the planet. Green Goods
At a Harry Styles concert, music lovers may see the pop star perform his top-ten singles. What's something they won't see there? Single-use plastics. People fill reusable bottles at water stations. In 2021, Styles's ban kept about 34,000 disposable plastic bottles from being tossed in the trash. Several other artists have prohibited them at their shows, too.
For many concertgoers, taking home a souvenirelps the good memories last. At Drake's shows, eco-conscious fans of the megastar rapper can buy merchandise made from sustainable materials.
Positive Energy
Music tours crisscross countries or even the globe. They consume enormous amounts of energy. Transporting the musicians, crew, and equipment requires buses, trucks, and planes.
Power is also needed to run the sound and lighting systems at shows.
Using energy often gives off air pollution.
Every tour has a carbon footprint, which is the total
By dancing on this high-tech floor at a Coldplay concert, fans
amount of greenhouse help power the show. Credit Rick Scuteri/Invision/AR gases it emits. Some
artists, including Billie Eilish, want to do something about that. They collect money from selling tickets. Some money is given to projects that reduce greenhouse gases in the air. Eilish's 2022 world tour was said to be "climate positive. That means the projects it supported cleaned up more carbon dioxide than the tour emitted.
Coldplay's 2022-23 tour will also be climate positive. In fact, the British rock band's entire trip around the planet will be a masterpiece of eco-friendly design. One of the artists' many bright ideas is to install solar panels before shows. A tree is planted for every ticket sold. Perhaps best of all, the concerts have two features that are truly electrifying: high-tech dance floors and bikes. As some fans jump and groove on the dance floors and others pedal stationary bikes to the beat, their motion generates electricity to run the show.
"It does what we always want to do with our audiences...make them feel really included," band member Will Champion told NBC. "They're indispensable now..
.. We rely on them for power.!
Spreading the Word
These aren't the only musicians who spotlight environmental concerns. Other superstars, including Megan Thee Stallion, Lorde,
SZA, Bomb Estéreo, and Childish Gambino also spread the word and get listeners involved.
Eilish is fired up about the prospect of making a difference. "I'm thrilled to...make climate action part of my tour and everything I do,' she wrote. And it's not a solo effort. She's part of a chorus of people raising their voices. To those who care about the future of music and the planet, eco-friendly concerts hit all the right notes.