City to stage landmark climate action concerts

Liverpool is to host a landmark series of concerts in celebration of being named the world’s first ‘UN Accelerator City’ for climate action.

‘Act 1.5 presents…’ will see a weekend of live music and events, from 28th – 30th November, at Liverpool’s M&S Bank Arena, featuring Massive Attack, IDLES and Nile Rodgers.

This unique series of shows are being staged to mark today’s announcement at UN Headquarters in New York that Liverpool is the world’s first ‘UN Accelerator City’ for climate action.

This accolade recognises the city’s commitment to technical 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…’ will test, operate & adapt a range of measures to dramatically reduce the level of carbon emissions & air pollution 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 from 12.00 Wednesday 25th September.

– An entire event site powered entirely by 100% renewable energy.

– A public transport incentive initiative in partnership with Merseytravel, Avanti West Coast and Trans Pennine Express that will generate a vital reduction in audience travel emissions (where up to 80% of emissions for major live music events are generated)

– A meat free arena

– 100% zero to landfill waste removal

– “Plug & Play” Single Technical set Up shared by each act

– Show to end earlier than standard at 22:00 to allow audiences to use public transport to get home

Robert Del Naja of 3D – Massive Attack, said: “Our recent Bristol show demonstrated beyond question that major live music events can be Paris 1.5 compatible, and that audiences will embrace change enthusiastically.

“The vast scope of work in Liverpool and UN recognition means we can now concentrate more dynamic pilots and experiments to rapidly phase out fossil fuels. This idea and this insistence are not going back in any box. We’re delighted to see artists like Coldplay testing elements like localised ticket pre-sales as recommended in the Tyndall Centre Paris 1.5 decarbonisation road map and encourage other artists to do so freely. The talking stage is over, it’s time to act.”

Nile Rodgers said: “Some of the greatest CHIC shows have taken place in Liverpool so I’m thrilled that we are bringing our funk back to the city. We love the people and it’s always a night to remember. However, the circumstances this time are special, as we’re joining forces with our friends in Massive Attack to launch Liverpool’s UN climate action programme across music and film.

“Our We Are Family Foundation community of global youth changemakers have been sounding the alarm and working in the climate change space for years, as have Massive Attack, and now it’s time for all of the music and film communities to get onboard. Yes, we’re going to have a party at Liverpool Arena, but we’re also going to act!”

Ticketing

We know that the majority of both 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 will be released in two blocks.

The first block release will be available to those that live in the Liverpool City Region, with an exclusive 48-hour regional presale taking place between 12:00 on Wednesday 25th September and 12:00 on Friday 27 September.

For these ticket buyers, an additional small but fixed fee will be added to your gig ticket to cover your public transport to the event. This will mean that on the day of your show, you can enjoy unlimited travel on any train, any bus or any ferry on the Merseytravel network – all day – getting you to and from the show.

It’s estimated that 500 cars = 1 train so this unique TAG ticket (Travel and Gig) is a vital part of the experimental nature of these shows: participating in this experiment will keep Merseyside air cleaner for the people that live here, and significantly draw down dangerous greenhouse gases.

If you live within the Liverpool City region, then get tickets here: https://www.mandsbankarena.com/act-1-5-presents/

In the second block release of tickets, all fans will be able to purchase tickets from 12.00 on Friday 27th September. Offers and incentives on public transport from outside the region – especially rail travel – will be shared with buyers via their ticketing agent.

For general sales (opening at 12:00 on Friday 27th) please visit: https://tix.to/ACT1.5PRESENTS