Coldplay lower the carbon footprint of their global tour by getting fans to power shows through kinetic dance floors and stationary electric bikes
- The rock band are trying to make their tours as environmentally friendly as possible through a number of green initiatives
- These include inviting fans to power shows using energy-storing bikes and kinetic dance floors, and travelling by train or electric vehicle where possible
It’s often said that fans at live concerts give the band a jolt of electricity. Coldplay wants to literally harness that. The pop superstars have added kinetic dance floors and energy-storing stationary bikes to their latest world tour, encouraging fans to help power the show as they dance or spin.
It’s part of a larger push to make the tour more environmentally friendly. The band – whose songs include the appropriately titled Higher Power – has pledged to be as sustainable and low-carbon as possible, hoping to cut their CO2 emissions by 50 per cent.
“You don’t want to come across as being too earnest. This stuff is really good fun as well,” says bassist Guy Berryman.
“That’s the way it will bed in, if people see it less as a sort of onerous responsibility and more as a kind of opportunity to do something fun and it’s a benefit to the environment and to the whole concert experience.”
Each kinetic dance floor can hold dozens of people, with electricity created when movement is made on them. The band has pre-show contests to see which group of fans can generate the most power, fuelled by Jump Around by House of Pain.
And each of the bikes – a minimum of 15 but the number can be scaled up depending on the venue size – can generate an average of 200 watts of energy, captured in batteries that run elements of the show.