For years, when people talked about festival culture in LA, they were talking about Coachella. Though, admittedly, many Angelenos do make the two-plus hour, 120 mile trip out into the desert each spring for the long-running festival, Palm Springs is still not Los Angeles. And while the city has supported a number of pop-up and one-off festivals over the years, for a city as bustling and robust as it is, it hasn’t managed to sustain as robust a festival marketplace as a city like New York or Chicago.
That could all be changing, though, thanks in part to Goldenvoice. Best known nationally for putting on the Coachella and Stagecoach festivals, Goldenvoice has been producing concerts in the LA area for over 40 years. They were purchased by events behemoth AEG in 2001, but have somehow managed to still maintain an air of corporate separation and indie cred.
Coming out of the pandemic, Goldenvoice has gone all-in on festivals in the LA area, putting on five in the area immediately surrounding the Rose Bowl. There was Cruel World, which took place in mid-May and highlighted ‘80s and ‘90s goth and mod powerhouses like Bauhaus, Morrissey, and Devo. The following weekend, the company popped up Just Like Heaven, which focused on what it called “era-defining” indie rock, like The Shins, Modest Mouse, M.I.A., Bloc Party, and more. Palomino launches July 9, bringing the vibe of LA’s legendary country music haven the Palomino Club to the region with acts like Willie Nelson and Kacey Musgraves, and in August, the Rose Bowl will host both the returning Head In The Clouds festival, which self-describes as a fest focused on “amplifying Asian art and culture,” and This Ain’t No Picnic, which revisits the feel and vibe of an indie rock fest Goldenvoice first threw back in the late ‘90s.
To get a better handle on what these fests could mean for Los Angeles and for the festival marketplace at large, Uproxx talked to three Goldenvoice festival bookers about the company’s push into what seems to be a more niche festival space: Stacey Vee, who snags acts for Stagecoach and Palomino, Jenn Yacoubian, who co-books This Ain’t No Picnic with Vee, and Ellen Lu, who puts together Head In The Clouds.
Vee says that Goldenvoice’s sudden expansion into LA festivals came in part because of the company’s reaction to the pandemic. When staffers at the company would meet to chat about the company’s future, they’d always end up circling back to the company’s past and present, as well. She says the group was attracted to “recognizing some of the company’s big wins and the special things that we’ve done in the past,” including festivals like This Ain’t No Picnic.
The pandemic helped launch the expansion in other ways, too. Yacoubian says that, during lockdown, she and Vee would go on semi-weekly runs around the Rose Bowl just to catch up. They ended up falling in love with the site, which Goldenvoice had used before, but hadn’t really latched onto wholeheartedly. “It feels very unique for a festival setting in LA, because those have typically been a bit more urban, like in parking lots or in other areas,” she says. “This one’s totally grass, which I haven’t really seen in LA before — especially with shade — and there are all these really wonderful views and amenities.”
That setting, the Brookside Golf Club, also helped determine the fests the company decided to pursue, in a way. “This Ain’t No Picnic was a precursor to the early days of Coachella, and it was really edgy and innovative,” says Vee, who called the original fest “a beautiful day in a beautiful park.”
Pasadena is also part of the San Gabriel Valley, which holds one of the largest concentrations of Asian communities in the States. Goldenvoice teamed with 88rising to put Head In The Clouds at the Golf Club in 2021, and the fest was such a success they decided to bring it back again, all while pushing even more into where they think the event’s strengths are. The fest is once again teaming up with the 626 Night Market to curate its food. “It felt like it would be a miss to not bring” the Night Market back, Lu says, noting that treats from all over the Asian diaspora will be available, from Japanese food to Balinese fare.
It’s not just food, either, Lu says. “Last year, we made the mistake of only having one boba stand out in the GA section, and that was probably the longest line at the fest,” she explains. “This year, we said, ‘let’s talk about maybe having a boba world separate from the 626 where it’s actually just a ton of different boba stands where people can choose from different types of drinks.” She says it’s a natural evolution of the festival, which isn’t just about music, but also about culture as a whole. If this year goes well, she says, then maybe next year they bring in comedy. “There’s so much more for us to celebrate,” she says,” and that’s what we intend to do.”
In a way, each of Goldenvoice’s festivals is a celebration of a unique culture and sphere. While Head In The Clouds is certainly the most massive and defined, Palomino pays tribute to Los Angeles’ country music heritage, which is quite often forgotten. “The Palomino club in North Hollywood was such a big part of the outlaw, extracurricular, ‘what is and isn’t country music’ kind of vibe,” says Vee. The club inspired the Palomino Stage at the Stagecoach festival, and it’s always hosted artists she says “you wouldn’t think belong at a country festival,” like Smokey Robinson and Tom Jones. For the Palomino Festival this year, she booked from the near fringes of the country world, tapping acts that push the boundaries of what modern country can be, like Old Crow Medicine Show and Orville Peck.
This Ain’t No Picnic is less of a statement than a celebration, according to Yacoubian. She says, “That was one where we just thought, ‘I’m from LA and I know that people in LA love to celebrate summer and love to be outside. It felt like that fest hadn’t existed in the market for a minute and we wanted to bring back that wonderful feeling of celebrating summer.”
Booking a festival like Picnic, Yacoubian says, does have some science behind it, in terms of making sure it’s a financial success, but really “it’s totally a gut feeling.” Snagging and reuniting an act like Le Tigre can help the fest draw fans from outside the LA area and intrigue people who either never got a chance to see them during their first go-around. Creating the rest of the lineup felt natural to Vee and Yacoubian, with the latter saying “it was truly like we were booking our friends.”
“The Strokes and LCD [Soundsystem] and Mac DeMarco have all been in the Goldenvoice family for so long that it felt fun and exciting to be able to create this awesome show with our friends again,” Yacoubian says. “Stacey lives in Highland Park. I live in Glassell Park. This show is for us, and it’s for the other people who are at Walt’s Bar.”
To look at it another way, This Ain’t No Picnic is a fest by Angelenos for Angelenos, with all the diversity of life, experience, and circumstance that indicates. All five of Goldenvoice’s summer festivals could fit that same bill, a move that Vee says is far from coincidental. “We want to have something for everybody,” she says. “We want every fan to feel like it’s their festival, so whatever experience they’re looking for, we’ve got that for them.”
88rising’s Head in the Clouds Forever showcase at Coachella remains one of the biggest nights for Asian representation this year. For two consecutive weekends in mid-April, 88rising took over Coachella with a lineup spanning across past, present, and future that had unexpected surprises from 2NE1 reuniting to debut performances that made history. Jackson Wang, a Hong Kong born multi-hyphenate based in South Korea, enthralled fans with his 10-minute performance that previewed his upcoming album Magic Man with “Blow” and an unreleased song, featured tight choreography, and brought honor to the Chinese entertainment industry by shining on an international stage.
To fans outside of America, Wang is known for being a member of the South Korean boy band Got7, his charming appearances on Chinese variety shows, and a fashion entrepreneur through Team Wang design. But Wang has been quickly making his mark in the States as an artist with massive crossover appeal through his English language pop songs (“100 Ways,” “LMLY”) and hip-hop features (“Different Game,” “Bad Back”), focused on introducing a new persona known as the Magic Man. The concept of Magic Man came from a particular low point in his life, where the now 28-year-old artist sees that as part of his journey of finding the new him.
K-pop idols tend to be bulletproof brands who are easily commercialized and marketable with a clean aesthetic. Wang is taking a risk with Magic Man by using his solo music to portray a more raw and honest version of himself, one that feels true to his current moment. He hints Magic Man will have a mix of grunge, rock, and pop, which are rougher edges to the songs his fans are accustomed to. More importantly, it sounds like the music he wants to make, hoping Team Wang supporters have faith in his capabilities to brighten his star power and to enjoy the effort he’s putting into the Magic Man experience every time he performs.
Calling from South Korea, Wang spoke to Uproxx about his Coachella performance and what that meant to him, why Magic Man is an essential listen for the summer, and how more people should understand themselves first before chasing their dreams. This is Jackson Wang pulling the curtain, and it is as real as it gets.
Your Coachella performance this year was an important moment for you. You specifically told the crowd, “This is a moment in history. This is Magic Man. This is Jackson Wang from China.” So as the first Chinese solo artist to make their debut at Coachella, what did that performance personally mean to you?
That meant everything, you know, like me coming from my hometown. And I just want to rep my people out there. Coachella is big for my career and as an artist, you know, that’s just crazy. And honestly, before that performance, I literally thought in my mind that after this performance, I can die. Like, you know what? I’m going to kill it like it is my last performance.
I wanted to give everything that I had, for my hometown, for Chinese [people] at the same time, and for Asians. I just wanted to kill it to the limit that I could. When I look back and after 50 years, 40 years, I don’t even know if I’m going to live that long. But when I look back and tell my grandkids, like, “Yo, your grandpa did everything. He did everything he could.”
Coachella is always a big moment for artists, and I’m glad that 88rising was able to do that type of showcase. And during that set, you performed a song that fans caught on that was new and it hasn’t been released yet. What can you tell me about that song?
My new album is Magic Man and honestly, it’s probably going to be [out] in September. I just think that because I’ll be having a lot more performances throughout the year, in every performance, I’m just going to perform maybe most of the songs on the album. Because as an artist right now, I’m still building. I’m not a well-known artist that everybody knows around the world. I’m at a stage where I need to build. I’m just taking every opportunity I could to perform my music around the world. To deliver it, to showcase it to everybody that watches the show.
You’re looking to drop a new single in July. What are some ideas you’ve been thinking about as you begin to roll this single out?
Oh my God. This music video, this visual, and everything. Usually, when I film a music video, I have my really core team set up the production and stuff. Maybe I’ll just hop in for like three days before the shoot and I’ll prep everything cause everything is communicated beforehand. But this time, everything is from scratch. I gotta be there to create the treatment, I have to direct it, I have to set up every single bit of detail. You know how production works. All this artwork, set, lighting, choreo, movement, camera angles, like all this specific sh*t that I have to go through. But that’s okay. Two-three weeks before the shoot, I’m there to create everything from scratch. It was crazy but me and my team that came with me, we crushed everything in two weeks from scratch. From nothing. It was a hard moment, but in some ways, I think it turned out dope. I think it turned out not bad and I’m really satisfied with what we came up with.We are in the process of post-production right now. Cutting the scenes and adjusting the frame. Coloring. Visual effects and all that stuff right now.
In each of these songs, are you going to try and make them into mini universes or a multiverse type of thing? Is that still true that you want to do that?
Yeah, that’s still true. You know like in an album, everything is in one universe. But at the same time, every song is from different regions in this universe. I wanted to showcase that. That’s why I’ve been shooting a lot of visualizers so you can connect each song. But there are some songs that without visuals, just by the song that you hear, it feels in the same universe but different territories already. That’s why I wanted to emphasize videos to come along with it.
This album, Magic Man, it’s more about the tone of it and the attitude of it. Like me really breaking through my negative moments. I understand that a lot of people think, “Oh, he came from this life. He did this and he did that. He did a lot of variety shows.” I understand that, I really respect that, and I love it. But at the same time, there’s sides like the super raw me, the 100 percent honest that people don’t see. The attitude and the approach, I don’t think people see that. I really want to make that approach [clear], I really don’t give a sh*t.
When you like me and support my music as an artist through my image, people like me for different reasons. And they support me for different reasons and I understand that. I think that’s something that I really appreciate and something that motivates me in every moment. At the same time, I just want to be true to the people that supported me. I’m not a perfect person. I have that vision to grow. I will do whatever it takes. No matter what it is, I want to be better and better. Because a lot of times, I feel sorry for my fans. They supported me since day one even though my music and all the stuff I was putting out in the past was wack. I feel that and I know that every time because I’m strict to myself and my team. I know it was wack but it’s okay. What’s more important is that I’m growing, I’m evolving, and I have that attitude that I’m never satisfied with myself because I feel like I should be better in everything that I do.
Whether it’s music or a talk show, whether it’s a movie or whatever, I just need to be better. That’s the only reason that pisses me off. Why can’t I be better? That’s all I care about every day when I wake up. Before I go to sleep. That’s all I care about. How do I work harder to be a better artist that can convince myself to think, “Oh, this is it.” But I am doing it to my limit currently, but you never know. Every time I try to exceed it, some other gates, some other windows open. I just go through that.
You gotta shatter the glass ceiling and break through. This journey of finding the new you, it sounds incredible.
It’s not. I’m just in the process. I don’t know. In two-three years, four-five years, I’ll make it. And people be like, “Damn, he’s good.” What they have not seen is how I came up. But all my supporters know how he came from wack to okay to not bad to like “Damn, he can do this, he can do that.” I think it’s about the journey.
That’s what I mean. Incredible as in it is inspiring. You have this drive that not a lot of artists have. I get the sense you are a lot happier with your music right now.
Honestly, I’m never happy. It’s not there yet. I just know this is the limit that I can go right now. How can I sharpen my weapons to go to the next level? That’s some sh*t that I need to take on my own. My team is great. They’re very professional, they know what they want, and they are very organized. I love them. At the same time, I just think that product-wise, me as an artist, I just have to take it and I have to be better. That’s it. They can’t perform for me. I need to do it. I need to kill it. Not even that I’m sorry to my fans and my supporters, sometimes, I’m even sorry to my team. Like f*ck, if I can be a better artist. If I can be better, then I can make them proud. I’m not good enough, that’s why I’m trying to be better every single day, even on the little stuff that I’m caring about every day.
Is there someone you look up to? Are you trying to be among certain idols or is it just all on your own?
To me, my ultimate goal in life is to leave something behind before I die. Because life, you never know what happens. You can die tomorrow, right? But I just want to live to the fullest every day. I can produce some stuff. I can do some stuff that makes my supporters or even my team, my family proud. Whatever it is culturally or even just as an artist, I want to leave something behind. Growing up, I’ve always been really into respecting people like Jackie Chan, Donnie Yen, Jet Li, Yao Ming, Jeremy Lin. They did something for the culture and the world like “Damn, they can do that?” That’s been my dream and that’s all I’m going for because you only live once.
Can you tell me what led to Magic Man? Your last album was Mirrors in 2019. What inspired the title?
Because I was in my lows a year and a half ago. For the entire year back home by myself, I was in negative moments. I’ve been in this industry for eight, nine years and everything felt like a loop. Schedules after schedules. I have to do this, do that. But I was thinking, “You know what? I can’t have everything in the world but what is something that I really want? What is my goal in my life? Like I said, what is something that I want to leave behind? Is there something I should approach instead of doing something else that has nothing related to that?” So, I’m like, “You know what? Screw it. Let’s do it.” I know it’s a risk. I know I might not be making a living off it, but it’s okay. I’m just going to do it. If I do it and if I fail, I fail on my own hands. If not, if I don’t do it right, it’s something that I am going to regret for life. So I’m like, “You know what? Screw this sh*t.” I just want to do something that I believe in. Let’s see if it goes well. And if it goes well, I’ll admit it. I’ll do everything that supports the next generation. I’ll believe it, but let me do it first before I’m too old for it.
A lot of people say, “Yeah, you can still dance when you’re 30, 40, 50.” But it’s a different vibe. If I’m at my prime in my stamina and my youth with two-three years left, I’m just going to do everything to that extent. Let me try first. And I really, really want to try and do anything that I can do.
So I was in my lows back home for a year and I got drunk every day by myself. Just thinking: “What am I doing right now?” I see no future. I’m stuck. I’m not inspired. What is it that I’m doing every day? I’m not a person, I’m a workaholic. I’m not a person that wants to communicate with people when I go through stuff. The only thing that I want is to solve the problem. If I’m stressed, there must be a problem so I must solve it. That’s all in my head for many, many years.
But there’s one time where I was in a session and I was cutting a song for the Magic Man album. At that time, I didn’t even have the title for the album, I was just creating songs for the tone and color I was going for. Like grunge, rock, pop melodies and stuff. I was going for that. I wasn’t delivering. I was having a hard time. I was literally crying in the session but then my producer was like, “What’s wrong with you?” He actually shut down the session. He’s like, “Screw this session. It’s not about work anymore. Let’s talk it out.” I was like, “Yo, we are not being efficient. We need to cut this song right now. I’m wasting my time. I need that time right now.” And then he’s like, “Yo, we gotta talk.” For the first time in my life, I actually feel like words mean something. Words are so powerful.
Later that week, I started to talk with my stylist in America, the director in America. They told me the same stuff. We were drinking. They were saying some sh*t that really hit my heart. Like damn, it is real. I never thought that conversation would have such a powerful effect on me.
It hit you differently.
Yeah, it hit me different. I’m like, “Damn it is real.” And from that point on, I just want to do whatever I want, be honest to my fans. Be honest to my supporters, my family, my crew. This is what I want to do. If you believe in me, I believe in it. Let’s just go. If we fail, we fail together. If we succeed, we succeed together. We’re going to conquer. That’s all in my head right now.
You’ve been talking about in your interviews how you want to be a bridge. I think it’s interesting that you want to be a bridge between the East and the West. A bunch of artists have done something similar where they use their platform to connect the East to West, but this is something you truly believe in, and it extends beyond the music industry. Why do you want to be a bridge?
It’s important to connect. When I say bridge, it’s not the only bridge. I’m talking about one of the bridges. More opportunities and more windows to connect. And for me, it’s important to me because I think the East and the West have their own community. What happens in the East stays in the East. What happens in the West, the majority stays in the West. But lifestyle is so interesting that people don’t know. People don’t know or they are not interested. The problem is they are not interested. I think the first step is because they are not interested. What can make them interested? If we have good content, then people would be like, “Oh, what’s happening over there?” This is the real stuff that I want to deliver. How we grew up. How we eat. How we got our education. How we live, what’s the lifestyle like? How is it right now? People don’t know. People can judge it through the media. They don’t know, know. I feel like I want to connect to that.
I want to end on the Team Wang design philosophy of “Know Yourself, Make Your Own History.” I think it relates to more than just fashion, but also for your current career trajectory. You’ve had to overcome obstacles to release your solo music, whether on your own label or through 88rising. With everything you’ve said, do you have a better understanding of yourself now?
I’ve been knowing about myself. Everyone realizes when it’s the outcome, when it’s the result. But what I’m looking for is who is here in the process of building together. That’s the memorable part. Everybody is gonna see you make it, but when you don’t people don’t care. I think 88Rising, Team Wang Records, Team Wang design, everyone in our community right now, even the audience. They believe in that vision.
And everybody is in different industries. Some can be a doctor, some can be working at companies, some could be this, some could be that. All I want my audience to do is think about themselves. What is your dream? Do you know yourself enough or do you like thinking too much about people looking at you that’s why you lose your focus on what you really want in life? You know, you could be paid a lot of salary every month to do something that you don’t really enjoy. But what is something that has always been in your dream that you really want? When you are working and you are doing something that you really love and you have so much inspiration and motivation for it and you’re so dedicated to it, you wouldn’t even think it is a job. It’s that vision that I really want to tell people. Know yourself first.
It felt like you were just talking directly to me. I needed that. I’ve had my own dreams and aspirations but I’m always sitting on my hands.
Nobody knows you. Nobody knows what you want and that exact picture more than yourself. If you don’t know yourself, you can never make it happen. Everyone is different. Everyone has a different personality, different vision, and a different standard of happiness. How can you expect people to know exactly what you want when they have a family too? They have friends too. They have their own lives too. You just gotta make that and explain it very in detail. And just get it. Just get it and it’s done. The product is out the way you want it, then it’s done. If you have that, everyone around you can do what they do. They can do it to support it. They can’t help you draw. If you’re an artist or painter, they can’t help you to draw. You gotta do it. You gotta brief them well. And tell them so they are excited too. And then it is going to work. It’s not going to work when it is like, “Hey, do everything for me. Get a director. Help me to direct this.” This sh*t is never going to work. You might get lucky. There’s luck, too. You might make it, but I’m telling you, all these artists that are successful right now, I look up to them, too. I feel like they have something different in them. It’s not the team, it’s them.
Jackson Wang is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
It is bonkers to think that we’ve only gotten halfway through the year, yet we’ve already gotten an absolutely massive collection of new albums from some of the biggest names in hip-hop. Those names have included Gunna, Cordae, Earl Sweatshirt, Saba, Kanye West, Lil Durk, Denzel Curry, Latto, Vince Staples, Pusha T, Future, Black Star, Jack Harlow, Kendrick Lamar, and Post Malone… and I’ve skipped more than a few of our favorites.
With all that, you’d think we’d be all out of new music to discuss for at least the next six months, but you know what they say about hip-hop parties and stopping. As the weather heats up, you can expect the pace to pick up as well, with even more established stars and rising newcomers staking their claims on our cookouts, pool parties, picnics, and summer basketball leagues. With that said, here are our picks for the ones you should be keeping an ear out for this summer.
Mount Westmore — Bad MFs
Mount Westmore
Although technically, this album has already been released via the Gala Music platform, fans who aren’t sold on blockchain quite yet can still look forward to enjoying this album from the California supergroup on DSPs sometime soon. With Bay Area pioneers E-40 and Too Short teaming up with their SoCal counterparts Ice Cube and Snoop Dogg, this one is the latest proof in the growing body of evidence that California still knows how to party.
Erica Banks — Diary Of The Flow Queen — Due June 17
Erica Banks
Despite the obvious similarities between 1501 Certified’s more recent signing and her immediate predecessor, Erica Banks has managed to distinguish herself thanks to the viral TikTok trend based on her breakout hit “Buss It” and a string of strong performances that show she can more than hold her own and bring something new to the table. It should be fun to see how she continues to set herself apart on her debut project.
Logic — Vinyl Days — Due June 17
Logic
For a guy who’s two years past his “retirement,” Logic sure has been busy. His seventh studio album will be his last under his Def Jam contract, and he apparently wants to go out with a bang. Vinyl Days is expected to boast a 30-song tracklist with features from all corners of the hip-hop world. Action Bronson, Blu & Exile, Curren$y, Royce Da 5’9”, Russ, RZA, and more all contribute.
Kevin Gates — Khaza — Due June 17
Kevin Gates
Gates’ last album, I’m Him, dropped in 2019 — you know, a whole lifetime ago. The intervening years should have given the 36-year-old Baton Rouge rap vet plenty to talk about and lots of time to sharpen up his pen. Plenty of his peers had similar gaps before their 2022 releases and have impressed; can he keep up the trend?
Duke Deuce — Crunkstar — Due June 17
Duke Deuce
Regular Uproxx readers will know that this site has been following the Quality Control Music artist from Memphis since just about the beginning of his rise to stardom. His 2021 debut Duke Nukem certainly paid off that early support in quality, and we’re looking forward to seeing how he improves on the formula while capitalizing on his No. 3 Heatseekers chart placement with his sophomore effort.
Westside Boogie — More Black Superheroes — Due June 17
Westside Boogie
Boogie made an impressive entry to the rap game with his mixtapes Thirst 48, The Reach, and Thirst 48, Pt. II. Since then he seemingly slowed down the pace of his releases, taking another three years to drop his Shady Records debut Everythings For Sale. Three years later, he’s back with another serving of his unique, Compton-bred perspective. His low-and-slow approach to the last album paid off, and we fully expect it to do so again.
Joey Badass — 2000 — Due June 17
A rapper’s rapper, the 27-year-old Brooklynite has 10 years in the business, but only two full-length albums to his name. That should be enough to tell you why his new album is one of our more anticipated releases of the year; the quality with which he’s approached every project beginning with his breakthrough mixtape 1999 at just 17 years old bodes well — especially considering 2000‘s title appears very much to evoke a spiritual successor that exciting introduction.
Black Thought & Danger Mouse — Cheat Codes — Due August 12
Let’s keep it a buck. There are few rappers better at rapping than Black Thought. He’s hands-down one of the illest spitters to ever pick up a microphone, and three decades of releases are all the proof he needs to support this claim. Anyone who disagrees should get their ears examined. Meanwhile, Danger Mouse is one of indie music’s most respected producers, even though his output has slowed down a bunch in the last few years. However, during his most prolific era, he produced some of the most groundbreaking, genre-blurring projects in popular music, from the Gorillaz album Demon Days to the MF Doom Adult Swim experiment The Mouse and the Mask to projects with ASAP Rocky, Norah Jones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Karen O. Basically, this one is as close to a must-listen as it gets.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
As the music industry adapts to the new era of streaming and TikTok trends, there is another shift that has to be made: making the industry more economically sustainable.
With summer tours kicking off this month, many artists have spent a substantial amount of time working towards curating an exciting show experience, with minimal waste and lower CO2 emissions. Most, if not all, concertgoers aren’t generally thinking about the impact that their favorite artist is making on the environment, but they should: a tour like Coldplay’s “Music Of The Spheres” tour can bring in over 50K eager fans per show, each with their own unique carbon footprint.
Artists like Coldplay have teamed up with various organizations to help encourage their fans to educate themselves about their individual impact on the environment and provide resources for them to reduce said impact. Coldplay’s tour aims to be as waste-free as possible, with a focus on recycling and reusing. Before the show, the band introduces a short film with different ways their tour has worked with venues across the world to ensure a cleaner show. Single-use plastics have been discouraged from their tours, being replaced with special edition Ball Aluminum Cups, which can be taken and re-used, or recycled at the venue. The band also sells custom water bottles, with proceeds going directly to ClientEarth. Their popular LED wristbands are also made of plant-based, compostable material. These little steps make a larger impact when they are being promoted to thousands of fans every night. It also helps when they make it fun– fans are invited to dance on kinetic floors and use stationary bikes to help power the stages. Just one night on the bike can generate 11kWh which can power their c-stage performances.
“Artists and music have always been at the forefront of social change and advocacy.” Live Nation’s Director of Global Sustainability Lucy August-Perna said, explaining that big artists have the power to inspire action from an individual level. August-Perna notes that Coldplay worked for over a year in order to make sure every aspect of the tour was addressed in order to see where they could improve their sustainability efforts. One aspect that was often overlooked was fan transportation to and from the show.
“Our Green Nation rep worked together with Coldplay management and local public transport authorities to help incentivize and subsidize public transportation to and from the shows,” August-Perna explains. For their MetLife tour stop, fans were encouraged to purchase railway tickets instead of driving, which were discounted in partnership with NJ Transit. Other fans can log their commitment to sustainability on the World Tour App to receive discount codes. “It has been a win-win for everyone involved, bringing awareness to an important solution to climate change – public transportation infrastructure. It also helps reduce traffic congestion, which is good for the venue, fans, and the local community. These kinds of high impact, focused executions are what we’re looking to accomplish.”
While Coldplay has been actively working on its suitability effort for many years, other big-name artists have been following in their footsteps. Billie Eilish and Shawn Mendes, who are both embarking on worldwide tours this year, have teamed up with REVERB, an organization that has been educating fans and artists alike about the environmental impact of their tours.
REVERB brings initiatives like free water stations and battery recycling to various tour stops, with some stops offering donation boxes and bringing in local organizations for community outreach. REVERB manager of communications Chris Spinato says that fan outreach is a major component when it comes to making an impact. “Much like a guitar tech or sound engineer, our ‘on-site coordinator’ acts as a green tech, making sure that all sustainability measures for the tour are in place,” Spinato says. “Those measures can include waste diversion including recycling, composting, reusable service ware, and water refill stations backstage, in catering, and on buses, collection of batteries for proper disposal (or donation to local shelters if they are still useable), coordinating local food for catering, and much more.”
For Harry Styles’ sold-out 2021 tour, REVERB helped eliminate over 30,000 single-use plastic bottles over nearly 100 tour dates. The practice has been trickling down to merch creation as well — Eilish partnered with REVERB to create a sustainable edition of her album on vinyl, created with vegetable-based inks, a recycled sleeve and jacket, and bio-wrap “plastic” that is made from sugar cane. Lorde, who has been actively promoting sustainable practices by not physically releasing Solar Power cds, also worked with REVERB to create her eco-friendly merch.
Despite the big-name acts being at the forefront of the sustainability movement, these practices can easily be transmitted to smaller bands without a sustainability team. Encouraging fans to take the necessary steps to even just be aware of their impact can help trigger a widespread movement. “It would have been great if it had been happening decades ago, but that’s true of the environmental issues in every industry,” Spinato adds. “What’s unique about the music industry is it not only has a real opportunity to meaningfully reduce its environmental impacts, but also an outsized ability to influence change. Music has always had immense cultural power to change hearts and minds. If we can unleash that power to combat the climate crisis and other environmental issues, big things will happen. It’s already starting.”
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
