'We need to act' Massive Attack stage ultra-low emission gig

As pop stars fly on private jets and haul stage sets around the world, with fans generating significant emissions via their own travel to gigs, Massive Attack's Robert Del Naja has said "it's time to act" and address the environmental damage wreaked by live music.

- Greg Cochrane

A home-town Bristol show last Sunday, titled Act 1.5 - a reference to the 2015 UN climate treaty that asked countries to keep global heating to under a 1.5C threshold - was 100% powered by renewable energy, in what the band said was a "world first" for an event of its scale. Around 30,000 fans attended the one-day festival, which also featured the US rapper Killer Mike, the Irish folk group Lankum and the actor Samantha Morton's solo music.

Del Naja described Act 1.5 as a "climate action accelerator". Of the climate crisis, he said: "We don't need to talk about it - we need to act on it."

The show was conceived in 2018, and announced in 2021 - a performance in Liverpool was pulled owing to the venue's links to an arms fair. Then rearranged plans were shelved because of ill-health in the band.