Radiohead Asks the Impossible of D.C. Fans
Today, Radiohead kicks off its In Rainbows world tour in West Palm Beach, Florida, which means that D.C.-area fans are mere days away from getting their fix.
The boys from Oxfordshire dispatched a press release today, announcing the launch of a new section on their website: The Most Gigantic Flying Mouth For Sometime. Die hards will undoubtedly note the allusion to the Hail to the Thief-era video series, but this particular announcement has far less to do with warped videos of marionettes and Thom Yorke talking about “petrol” in a pitch-shifted voice. Oh wait — maybe it does have something to do with petrol after all: it’s a website about what Radiohead is doing to help combat climate change while on tour.
According to the release, the band commissioned a report by carbon footprint analysts Best Foot Forward on the environmental impact of its two previous tours. Unsurprisingly, fans driving to the venues was found to account for the greatest amount of carbon generated.
“After the Radiohead commissioned report by Best Foot Forward was published, a lot of questions were asked about the way that we tour,” Radiohead tour production manager Richard Young wrote on the Flying Mouth blog. “The main issue is how the audience moves to and from the show. With the location and public transport links now a more significant factor when choosing venues, fans are being encouraged to think about alternative ways of traveling.” To further encourage fans to take public transit, the band has even launched a carbon calculator, which allows show goers to calculate the amount of carbon they will generate on the way to the show, depending on their chosen mode of transport.
This is all fairly ironic, however, if you consider the fact that there’s really no eco-friendly route to the Nissan Pavilion in Bristow, Va. There's no Metrorail or Metrobus routes that go to the venue whatsoever, as far as we can tell. Driving is just about the only way to get to the Pavilion, which means that the band’s D.C. date is bound to generate a whole lot of carbon despite Yorke and Co’s urgings.
Just how much carbon, you ask? Well, considering that Nissan is just about 35 miles outside of D.C. proper, and assuming that the average showgoer rides with one other person and considering that there are 25,000 ticket holders for the sold-out gig, we arrive at a rough figure of 34.98 kg of carbon dioxide per person, according to Radiohead’s calculator. That’s an estimated 874,500 kg of CO2 that will be generated just by fans traveling to one show.
Admittedly, the band didn’t have a whole lot of choice in picking a D.C. venue. As we’ve noted before, Nissan is an odd choice for Radiohead. Yet, it’s hard to think of another venue in the area that could accommodate a band of Radiohead’s popularity. Merriweather only holds 16,500; Wolf Trap a mere 7,000. Even the gargantuan “Phone Booth” holds just over 20,000 at maximum capacity—and probably wouldn’t be an ideal place to see Radiohead anyway.
To the band’s credit, they’ve advocated that those who cannot travel via public transit make use of a “full car." Still, it seems like there must be some other way that Radiohead could make this show a little greener. Perhaps they could have lobbied Metro for a rainbow line out to Bristow, or at least, a special one-day-only bus route? Or have forgone one night at Nissan for a month-long residency at the 9:30? More realistically, the band could probably afford to donate a portion of the profit from each ticket to a carbon offset program or environmental organization. Got your own idea? Put on your thinking cap and let us know in the comments, we’re all ears. And feel free to organize those ride shares here in the comment section.
Radiohead photo by Colin Greenwood, courtesy of Nasty Little Man