Pioneering a greener future for live music

The live events industry is facing increasing scrutiny for its environmental footprint. Large-scale events with massive crowds, complex logistics, and extensive energy consumption, can contribute significantly to carbon emissions and waste generation. However, new opportunities are emerging to rethink the way live music events are staged.

M&S Bank Arena Liverpool is at the forefront of this revolution. In collaboration with Massive Attack, Act 1.5 and SJM Concerts, the venue is hosting a series of groundbreaking shows headlined by Massive Attack, IDLES and Nile Rodgers & Chic, and designed to test ways to minimise environmental impact. Building upon the success of Act 1.5’s Bristol accelerator, these events aim to showcase innovative decarbonisation strategies that can be replicated across the industry.

The unique series of shows is being staged to celebrate the recent announcement that Liverpool is the world’s first ‘UN Accelerator City’ for climate action – an accolade to recognise the city’s commitment to innovation and smart regulation to rapidly decarbonise the live music and TV/film production sectors.

Building on the methods first trialled in Bristol, and continuing their partnership with clean energy provider Ecotricity, ‘Act 1.5 presents…’ has a variety of incentives in place to dramatically reduce the level of carbon emissions that would usually be produced at an event of this scale. These include:

• A localised presale period for anyone living in the Liverpool City Region
• An entire event site powered by 100% renewable energy.
• A public transport incentive initiative in partnership with Merseytravel and Avanti West Coast .that will generate a vital reduction in audience travel emissions (where up to 80% of emissions for major live music events are generated)
• Single technical set up shared by each act
• Show to end at 22:00 to allow audiences to use public transport to get home
• A meat free arena
• 100% zero to landfill waste removal
• Zero Single-Use Plastics

“The success of this initiative has the potential to inspire other venues and artists to adopt similar practices”

The majority of carbon emissions and air pollution for major live events comes from how the audience travel. To try and tackle this issue, tickets for this unique event were released in two blocks.

The first block release was available to those that live in the Liverpool City region, with an exclusive 48-hour regional presale taking place. For these ticket buyers, an additional small but fixed fee was added to gig tickets to cover public transport to the event. This will mean that on the day of the show, attendees can enjoy unlimited travel on any train, any bus or any ferry on the Merseytravel network – all day – getting them to and from the show.

In the second block release of tickets, all fans were able to purchase tickets. Offers and incentives on public transport from outside the region – especially rail travel – were shared with buyers via their ticketing agent.

Alongside the live concerts, a headline industry event, called Expedition 1, will be taking place in the arena’s sister venue, Exhibition Centre Liverpool, from 29-30 November to test and showcase eight cross-sectoral pilot projects for rapid decarbonisation across live music, TV and film productions scheduled in 2025.

The success of this initiative has the potential to inspire other venues and artists to adopt similar practices. By demonstrating that it is possible to stage large-scale events in a sustainable manner, ‘Act 1.5 Presents…’ is paving the way for a greener future for the music industry.

As Robert Del Naja of Massive Attack commented, “The talking stage is over, it’s time to act.” By taking bold steps to reduce its environmental footprint, M&S Bank Arena is leading the charge towards a more sustainable and responsible future for live music.

More info on ‘Act 1.5 Presents…’ can be found here. Sign up for updates about Expedition 1 Industry Event here.

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