Music Festivals in the Time of Extreme Weather

Introduction

As a lifelong U2 fan, Beth Nabi had always wanted to see a concert at Red Rocks, the outdoor venue made famous by the 1983 concert film Under a Blood Red Sky. So when Louis Tomlinson played the Colorado amphitheater in June, the One Direction die-hard jumped at the chance. The skies over Red Rocks were iffy that night; venue staff issued weather alerts and paused the show several times, leaving concertgoers to seek shelter under awnings, huddle under raincoats in their seats, or wait it out in their cars. Finally, it looked like the show would go forward, so Nabi made a quick bathroom stop in anticipation of Tomlinson taking the stage. But when she emerged from the stall, she found the women’s restroom “crammed” with people packed shoulder to shoulder, and more streaming in.

Impact of Extreme Weather

“It was mind-boggling,” the 44-year-old college professor says over Zoom from her home in Jacksonville, Florida. She wondered, “Do I need to panic?” Then she glimpsed the sky outside and realized what was happening: Hail the size of golf balls—one person reported seeing stones the size of apples—was pummeling down, pelting concertgoers, and sending thousands scurrying for cover wherever they could find it.

When the storm finally passed, Nabi gingerly made her way outside. “It was so white, the ground looked like snow,” she says. “But it was incredibly slick—essentially, icy ball bearings.” She clambered onstage for a moment to let the crowds thin, before heading to the parking lot. “I was seeking shelter, but I was also like: Bono! Red Rocks! It was a little demented, but my brain was in a million different directions at the moment.”

Nabi was lucky. Although she sustained $17,500 in damage on a rented SUV (“There were expletives when I pulled up” to the rental office, she says), her insurance will likely pay the bill. But among those who were without a roof over their heads when the skies opened up, nearly 100 injuries—bruises, cuts, even broken bones—were reported, including seven hospitalizations.

Increasing Frequency of Extreme Weather Events

The Red Rocks debacle was a particularly dramatic example of how extreme weather is wreaking havoc on outdoor events. This summer alone, Primavera Sound Madrid, Tennessee’s Bonnaroo, German metal festival Wacken Open Air, Scottish folk festival Tiree, Michigan rave Electric Forest, and our own Pitchfork Music Festival were either paused, preempted, or aborted due to inclement weather. Unexpected rains turned Burning Man’s Mad Max desert cosplay into a mud-caked hellscape that forced the cancellation of events and the closure of roads (even Diplo and Chris Rock had to hitch a ride home). In Australia, heavy rains stoked by La Niña, a periodic weather phenomenon that climatologists say is exacerbated by ocean warming, recently forced the cancellation of more than a dozen music festivals. British Columbia’s Under the Stars was halted and evacuated last month after wildfires flared up nearby. Meanwhile, South Korea’s World Scout Jamboree suffered a heat wave that sickened hundreds, followed by a typhoon that forced its evacuation.

Impact on Festivals and Organizers

Scientists agree that global warming is triggering increasingly unstable and unpredictable weather around the globe. And that has left festival organizers scrambling to grapple with their new normal. Such events can be deadly: Last summer, high winds killed one and injured 40 when a stage and other structures came down at the Medusa festival in Valencia, Spain. But even small incidents can put a festival’s entire future at risk. After Australia’s Splendour in the Grass festival flooded its campground locale last year, some local government officials called for organizers to find a new location.

Uganda’s Nyege Nyege Festival changed its dates from September to November, to be closer to the beginning of the dry season, and is shifting to an outdoor space within Jinja, a town on the shore of Lake Victoria, at the source of the Nile. “Global warming is dramatically affecting different parts of the world in different ways,” says Arlen Dilsizian, co-founder of Nyege Nyege. In the 12 years he’s lived in the country, the Greek-Armenian musicologist has seen Uganda’s wet and dry seasons become increasingly erratic. Last year, a month of rain leading up to the festival turned access roads into mud pits, exacerbating the already difficult logistics of the site’s remote forest location. “If it rains, we’re much better prepared now, and everyone can rush off to their hotel,” adds Dilsizian.

For many festivals, of course, neither rainmakers nor changing locations are feasible options. Coachella’s identity is synonymous with the grounds of the Empire Polo Club; Electric Daisy Carnival Las Vegas would be unthinkable anywhere but the Nevada desert. Germany’s Wacken Open Air, one of the biggest heavy-metal festivals in the world, takes its name from a rural municipality in the far northwest of the country. This year, after heavy rains battered the site while attendees set up camp, the festival cut off further entry at just two-thirds capacity. Cars and RVs stuck in the mud led to hours-long traffic jams; local farmers were enlisted to haul vehicles out of the muck with their tractors. If the festival continued to let people in, organizers reasoned, the logjam would last until

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

• SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
• SDG 13: Climate Action
• SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

The article discusses how extreme weather events are impacting outdoor events and festivals. This is connected to SDG 11, which focuses on creating sustainable cities and communities. The article highlights the need for festival organizers to adjust to the new reality of extreme weather through increased infrastructure and drainage systems.

The article also mentions the role of climate change in triggering increasingly unstable and unpredictable weather. This is directly related to SDG 13, which aims to take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

Additionally, the article emphasizes the importance of partnerships and collaboration between festival organizers, meteorologists, and insurance companies to mitigate the risks associated with extreme weather events. This aligns with SDG 17, which promotes partnerships for the goals.

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

• SDG 11.5: By 2030, significantly reduce the number of deaths and the number of people affected and substantially decrease the direct economic losses relative to global gross domestic product caused by disasters, including water-related disasters, with a focus on protecting the poor and people in vulnerable situations.
• SDG 13.1: Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries.
• SDG 17.17: Encourage and promote effective public, public-private, and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships.

Based on the article’s content, the specific targets that can be identified are reducing the number of deaths, people affected, and economic losses caused by disasters (SDG 11.5), strengthening resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters (SDG 13.1), and promoting effective partnerships between different stakeholders (SDG 17.17).

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

Yes, there are indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets. These indicators include:

• Number of deaths and injuries caused by extreme weather events during outdoor events and festivals.
• Number of people affected by extreme weather events during outdoor events and festivals.
• Economic losses incurred due to extreme weather events during outdoor events and festivals.
• Number of festivals and events that have implemented infrastructure improvements to mitigate the risks of extreme weather.
• Number of partnerships established between festival organizers, meteorologists, and insurance companies to address the risks associated with extreme weather events.

These indicators can be used to track progress towards reducing the impact of extreme weather events on outdoor events and festivals, strengthening resilience and adaptive capacity, and promoting effective partnerships.

Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

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Source: pitchfork.com

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