Massive Attack, the legendary Bristol-based trip hop band, have announced a three-night concert series in Liverpool this November meant to exemplify a carbon-conscious model of live music entertainment. The headlining acts include Massive Attack, IDLES, and Nile Rodgers and Chic. 

Massive Attack has been actively involved in promoting the damaging effects of music touring on the climate for 25 years and after a successful “low-carbon” show in Bristol this past August, the band is ready to take their performance model mainstream.

Act 1.5 Phase 2 will expand upon the environmentally conscious precedent they established at their Phase 1 show in August. The show, running November 28 to 30, will run on 100% renewable energy, feature a plug and play audio system to reduce equipment transport, and prioritize ticket sales to Liverpool locals before becoming accessible to the wider public. 

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The band’s first attempt at implementing these changes was at their ACT 1.5 Phase 1 show in Bristol on August 25. The concert production featured 25 new climate-conscious production measures including 100% renewable energy to power the festival, no private vehicle parking, 100% vegan food outlets, and a reusable cup system. 

In addition, the band teamed up with Network Rail, Britain’s railway system, to increase train operations for attendees, as well as the booking platform Train Hugger, which donates a quarter of its revenue to planting trees; the organization planted 20,000 trees outside of Bristol due to the event.

The root of this concert series took hold in 2019 when Robert “3D” Del Naja, the most consistent member of the band, wrote an op-ed for The Guardian decrying the negative impact of touring on the environment and calling for the live music industry to make sweeping changes to format, infrastructure, and traveling practices that had high-carbon emissions. “We’ve also discussed ending touring altogether,” Del Naja said in his op-ed, “however, an entire international roster of acts would need to stop touring to achieve the required impact. In a major employment industry with hundreds of acts, this isn't about to happen.” 

In order to find an effective way of decreasing carbon emissions from touring, the band helped commission the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research to map the carbon footprint of typical UK tour cycles and locate where in the process that the most CO2 emissions are generated. The findings of this report were released in 2021, suggesting that the best ways to “rapidly accelerate” progress toward decreasing carbon emissions were to immediately eliminate the use of private jets, switch to electric transportation for artists and attendees, and to phase out diesel generators at festivals. 

The report has also suggested standardizing industry equipment to allow artists to employ a “plug and play” model at venues, in order to decrease the amount of equipment transportation, and that it should be implemented collaboratively with small venues. The report also notes the importance of management planning tours with emissions in mind from the outset, decisions such as, “routing, venues, set, audio and visual design, staffing and promotion.”