As the climate changes, music stars and their fans are really feeling the heat.
In July, Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder’s voice was so affected by heat, dust and wildfire smoke from performing at an outdoor concert in Paris that the band had to cancel three subsequent shows. The week prior, Jason Aldean collapsed onstage from heat stroke during a performance in Hartford, Conn. And later that month, Disturbed cancelled a Phoenix gig because their equipment wouldn’t turn on in the 117-degree heat.
Fans, meanwhile, have been forced to evacuate to tents, cars and venue bathrooms amidst storms, and risked overheating both at Ed Sheeran’s Pittsburgh show in July and Las Vegas concert in September.
So far in 2023, which is on track to be the hottest year on record, around the world, extreme weather has affected at least 30 major concerts, including evacuations, cancellations and postponements, based on Billboard’s running tally, while the total number of affected music events worldwide is surely far higher.
So to help protect the planet and its music community in the face of these troubling trends, Billboard is launching “The Green Note” – a newsletter that will highlight ways that music’s leaders are working to create more sustainable future – and reduce the massive carbon footprint left by music’s global tours. (Travel to and from shows by fans, artists and their crews is the biggest contributor to the live music sector’s emissions, with fan travel making up the vast majority, according to industry environmental nonprofit Reverb.)
We hope “The Green Note” will inspire readers to take action and work together to innovate new solutions that we can amplify on our platform, so please share your ideas and stories with us at sustainability@billboard.com.
For now, we hope the following list of music events that have been impacted by climate change and extreme weather so far this year will provide enough inspiration to get the conversation started.
