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 [email protected].
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.
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January
Image Credit: Lynn Grieveson/Getty Images 1/27, Auckland, New Zealand – Elton John’s concert at Go Media Stadium Mt Smart was canceled as torrential rains caused flooding throughout the city. Many attendees of the show were already in the venue when the cancellation was announced.
1/27, Auckland, New Zealand – The same weather event that caused John’s concert cancellation also forced the cancellation of the three-day Laneway Festival, which had been scheduled to host sets from Haim, Joji, Phoebe Bridgers and more.
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February
Image Credit: NELSON ALMEIDA/AFP via Getty Images 2/20, Brazil – Carnival celebrations were canceled in the Brazilian cities of São Sebastião, Ubatuba, Ilhabela and Bertioga after torrential rain caused flooding and landslides.
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March
Image Credit: Stephen Olker/Getty Images for SXSW 3/16, Austin, Texas – A performance by Lil Yachty, Armani White and Lola Brooke at Billboard’s own Billboard Stage at the Moody Amphitheatre during South by Southwest was cut short due to severe weather. All other outdoor SXSW venues were also paused for the night.
3/30, Belvidere, Illinois – One person was killed and nearly 50 were injured when the roof of the Apollo Theatre collapsed due to a category 1 tornado that happened during a show by metal bands Morbid Angel, Skeletal Remains and Revocation.
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April
Image Credit: Kristen Zeis/For The Washington Post via Getty Images 4/30, Virginia Beach, Virginia — The final day of Pharrell’s Something in the Water 2023 festival in Virginia Beach was canceled due to severe weather, including sets by Grace Jones, Clipse, Wu-Tang Clan, Nile Rodgers & Chic, Lil Uzi Vert, 100 Gecs, Aminé, Flo Milli and Lil Durk.
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May
Image Credit: Harmony Gerber/Getty Images 5/20, Los Angeles, Calif. — The Cruel World festival, happening at Brookside at the Rose Bowl, was evacuated due to severe weather, forcing Iggy Pop’s set to end early and a headlining set by Siouxsie Sioux to be rescheduled for the following day.
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June
Image Credit: Mariano Regidor/Redferns 6/7, Bridgeport, Conn. — A Young the Giant show at the Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater was rescheduled due to poor air quality related to the Canadian wildfires.
6/8, Madrid, Spain – Day one of Primavera Sound Madrid 2023 was canceled due to, organizers announced, “the persistent severe weather experienced in recent weeks that have affected the pre-production of the festival and in view of the adverse forecast that is expected for Thursday 8th June, with heavy storms during the afternoon.”
6/9, New York City, N.Y. – Governor’s Ball 2023 took place as scheduled, even though smoke from the Canadian wildfires had made the local air quality the worst in the world in the days before the festival.
6/15, Manchester, Tenn. — Bonnaroo organizers issued an evacuation order due to lightning and heavy rain and requested attendees return to their campsites until a severe weather system passed.
6/21, Morrison, Col. — Louis Tomlinson’s show at Red Rocks Amphitheatre was interrupted by a hailstorm. Seven people were transported to a local hospital for injuries and dozens more were treated at the scene when hail up to the size of tennis balls rained down on the crowd at the open-air venue.
6/25, Rothbury, Mich. — Electric Forest 2023 temporarily evacuated attendees from the festival site due to severe weather, including lightning.
6/28, Fayetteville, Ark. — Organizers of the local music event Gulley Park Summer Concert Series moved the June 29 event to July due to “extreme heat conditions.”
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July
Image Credit: Jim Bennett/Getty Images 7/6, Island of Tiree, Scotland — The Tiree Music Festival, a three-day folk music event scheduled for July 7-9, canceled entirely due to what organizers called “extreme weather conditions.”
7/9, Pittsburgh, Penn. — At an Ed Sheeran concert at Acrisure Stadium, the Pittsburgh Bureau of EMS personnel working the concert received 37 calls for service, with 17 transports to the hospital. A press release from the City of Pittsburgh reported that the transports were for “heat-related issues,” along with a few falls, one seizure and two cardiac arrests.
7/9, Amsterdam, Netherlands – The electronic music festival Awakenings canceled its third day, including sets by dozens of producers including TSHA, Amelie Lens and Tale of Us, due to severe weather.
7/15, Hartford, Conn. — Jason Aldean ended a concert at Xfinity Theatre early after experiencing heat stroke while onstage. Temperatures reached nearly 90 degrees that day.
7/19-25, Europe – Pearl Jam canceled shows in Vienna, Prague and Amsterdam after Eddie Vedder suffered throat damage during an outdoor show at Lollapalooza Paris due to heat, along with dust and smoke from wildfires throughout Europe.
7/22, Chicago, Ill. — Pitchfork Music Festival asked attendees to evacuate the festival site in the city’s Union Park, with the event resuming after a severe thunderstorm had passed.
7/25, Phoenix, Ariz. — Disturbed canceled its show at Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre because the band’s equipment would not turn on in the heat, which reached 117 degrees that day.
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August
Image Credit: ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images 8/16, Bend, Ore. – A My Morning Jacket concert at the Hayden Homes Amphitheater was canceled due to poor air quality from wildfires in Oregon and Washington.
8/19, Bend, Ore. – Noah Kahan canceled his show at the Hayden Homes Amphitheater over poor air quality due to nearby wildfires. “Unfortunately this seems like the most responsible move,” Kahan wrote in an announcement.
8/19-20, Los Angeles, Calif. — Insomniac Events canceled its debut Interstellar Festival due to Hurricane Hilary, a rare West Coast hurricane. Producers including Sasha & John Digweed, Lane 8 and Bob Moses had been scheduled to play.
8/20, Los Angeles, Calif. – A concert by My Morning Jacket at The Hollywood Bowl was postponed due to Hurricane Hilary.
8/20, British Columbia, Canada – The electronic music festival Thumptown announced that “due to the ongoing and increasing threat posed by a growing wildfire in the vicinity of our festival grounds, we have had to make the difficult decision to postpone ThumpTown 2023.”
8/28, Phoenix, Ariz. — 50 Cent canceled a show at Phoenix’s Talking Stick Amphitheatre due to extreme heat, writing on X (formerly Twitter), “I’ll be back in Arizona soon! 116 degrees is dangerous for everyone.”
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September
Image Credit: JULIE JAMMOT/AFP via Getty Images 9/2, Black Rock Desert, Nev. — Attendees at Burning Man 2023 were temporarily confined to the event, and driving through the site was temporarily banned, after a rare September rain turned the event’s dry, hardpacked desert ground into thick mud.
9/3, Houston, Texas – Danzig canceled a show at Houston’s White Oak Music Hall due to extreme heat, writing on social media that “out of concern for our crew and fans, we are forced to cancel our outdoor show.”
9/9, Las Vegas, Nevada – Fans waiting to enter Allegiant Stadium for an Ed Sheeran show are treated for heat exhaustion, with the temperature rising to more than 90 degrees. Sheeran canceled the show an hour before it was meant to start, with an announcement citing “technical issues.”
9/29, New York City, New York – Pretty Lights postponed a performance at the Brooklyn Mirage amid torrential rainfall that caused New York Governor Kathy Hochul to declare a state of emergency.
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October
Image Credit: Gustavo Granado/AFP via Getty Images 10/13, São Paulo, Brazil — Tomorrowland Brazil canceled the second day of its three day festival, which was meant to feature sets from Steve Aoki, Sebastian Ingrosso and Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, due to heavy rain and mud. “Due to the extreme rain of yesterday,” event organizers post on social media, “the festival areas, parking lots and access roads are badly damaged and need to be restored properly.”
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November
Image Credit: Marcelo Endelli/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management 11/10, Buenos Aires, Argentina — Taylor Swift postponed a concert at the Estadio River Plate hours before the performance was set to begin due to storms moving through the area. “I love a rain show but I’m never going to endanger my fans or my fellow performers and crew,” Swift began her written message in an Instagram Stories post. “We’ve rescheduled tonight’s Buenos Aires show for Sunday due to the weather being so truly chaotic it would be unsafe to try and put on this concert. Good news is I get to stay in Argentina later!”
11/17, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil — A 23-year-old fan died of cardiac arrest at a Taylor Swift concert in Rio de Janeiro amid a record heatwave. Many other fans fainted during the show, with Swift postponing the next day’s concert due to extreme temperatures in the city.