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Radiohead's 'eco-friendly' tour secrets revealed

The backstage set-up of the current jaunt explained

May 23, 2008 | 24 Comments
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Liars, who recently supported Radiohead on the first leg of their US tour, have praised the band for taking measures to reduce their carbon footprint as they travel and perform.

The band revealed the lengths to which Radiohead go to to minimise emissions and waste created by the process of touring.

Writing on the Liars MySpace blog, the band revealed that they were given tour water flasks to drink from, rather than use disposable cups which are bad for the environment.

They also explained that all the tour buses and trucks used on the tour run on biofuel, and that air freight is banned.

In a gushing blog the band wrote: "In a world full of fear and ripe with insincerity it's such a relief to have met Radiohead. They are purveyors of truth, beauty and a moral responsibility to the planet.

"We've been welcomed with literal open ams and thoroughly schooled on how to function as a band – not just musically, but ethically, too.

"The important thing for us to make clear is just how awe inspiring this production is. We're not sure if there's any information made public about the efforts Radiohead go to to reduce their environmental impact, but there should be."

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Comments (24)

Add a comment

iharkis

May 23, 2008

Am I the only one who's becoming just a tiny bit bored of Radioheads 'Holier than thou' attitude to single handedly saving the envirnoment. I'm not for a minute saying that I think its a bad thing, but I'm becoming bored of being told at every opportunity that I'm killing the planet and that Thom Yorke is the new messiah who is going to save all of mankind.

fiepind

May 23, 2008

iharkis - think that might just be your conscience trying to give you a hint... :)

paulsimonscat

May 23, 2008

Nice one Radiohead - using biofuels which although environmentally friendly, tend to be grown on land in third world countries which would be better served growing crops to actually feed people.

falcozappa

May 23, 2008

Its easy to criticise, but what would you suggest, paulsimonscat?

jteramsden

May 23, 2008

Yeah I agree with paulsimonscat....much better for them to use an energy resource that has caused countless wars and cost countless lives for decades, destroying the environment in the process - those Radiohead boys are just plain selfish aren't they?

mgmt21

May 24, 2008

hippies

Zuhzuh

May 24, 2008

I was at the Radiohead show in suburban Washington, DC a few weeks ago and think Radiohead's "eco-friendly tour" is a bunch of shit. Why not hold their concerts in cities where the majority of concert-goers could arrive on foot, train, or public transit? Instead they held the concert miles from anywhere at an "eco-friendly" venue. So the band's carbon footprint is neutral - mine carbon footprint was not. I drove 9 hours (in a 100 mile roundtrip journey) because of traffic james associated with the concert. Thom, Colin, and the boys should realize the carbon footprints of their fans are just as important as their own.

DaveIndieBoy

May 24, 2008

Now this is a proper debate...none of this Kooks versus Arctic Monkeys versus the Enemy bobbins...There have been some massively important issues raised (bar iharkis) and I can see both sides of the argument. What Radiohead have done is said, "look, the current situation is simply unsustainable so we're gonna practise what we preach...besides, if we're calling on our fans to think about how they get to gigs, we've got to do the same". Yes, the alternatives are difficult, but not impossible (more biofuels grown in this country for instance). There are no short-term answers but the long-term solutions will be hugely important.

lordliam

May 24, 2008

Thom york should just stop talking out of his arse that will lower his carbon footprint!!

GavinW

May 24, 2008

anyoe else getting kind of sick of people jumping on the global warming bandwagon, to get in the news or whatever. And by that i don't just mean radiohead

paulsimonscat

May 24, 2008

If they feel that strongly then they shouldn't tour at all is all I'm saying.

skistar123

May 24, 2008

ah but iharkis this isn't Radiohead's attitude, it's Liars' "Radiohead are holier than thou" attitude.At least they're trying which is more than can be said for most other people.

AdamShanklyUK

May 24, 2008

Falcozappa... criticise? It's a fact, biofuel should be avoided because it deprives people of food. You've got one field full of wheat... it can either go to feeding one hundred people or fill up ten cars... what about the gas emitted from the production of bio-fuels, huh?I'm aiming to reduce my carbon emissions by laughing slightly less at fat children.

merkinman

May 24, 2008

It's not exactly Radiohead blowing their own trumpet though is it, iharkis? It's another band on their MySpace blog passing comment. They're narcissistic, ego-driven nutters these Radiohead enviro-loons.

cardinalsmurf

May 24, 2008

Their attitude can only be described as "Holier Than Thou" if they tout themselves as such. As it is, it was necessary for a 3rd party to expose this element of Radiohead's truth. I suspect Thom and Co. would have been much happier continuing to do good to the enviro without it becoming a political discussion. Alas, Liars felt the need to place Radiohead on a pedestal.Rather than judge, perhaps you'd like to simply ask them yourself?

im not edwould

May 24, 2008

iharkis- i agree, all well and good they're doing their bit but i'd rather hear more about Scarlett Johansson's new single.

ragoo88

May 24, 2008

i praise radiohead, their tour has been amazing, and seeing them live was a life changing experience..but u know what is the most annoying thing about all of this, it's not that thom yorke is so obsessive about climate change, it's the people who constantly complain about it...if u don't like what he says, don't read about it, just ignore it and get on with ur lives, he doesn't go on tv all the time or flaunt his mission like, lets say...BONO or MADONNA, he didn't even rant about this, the liars were the ones who gave out this info.people, just stfu about ur problems with mr. yorke please, it's enough! he makes good music, he's worked hard to be able to speak his mind this clearly.

andyg1983

May 24, 2008

The only way to really reduce there footprint is to stop touring!! Please for gods sake stop touring, for all our sakes!!

03short1

May 24, 2008

iharkis- Radiohead dont boast about their eco-friendliness, its the media picking up on it. Thom Yorke's clearly a genuine guy who would avoid flying regardless of other people so dont criticize him criticizethe media who seem determined to pick up on anything but the music when it comes to bands

SydAjax

May 24, 2008

Uhhh, anyone hear anything about the debacle at Nissan Pavillion on May 11th? Not only is that venue completely unavailable by public transit, which means that all howevermany thousands of fans have to drive there, but to make things worse, there was major flooding around the venue that night and the local police detoured thousands of fans miles away from the venue. I was one of those thousands of fans (many of which never made the show). I and thousands of other people were sitting in traffic for about 4 hours. Talk about a carbon footprint! Radiohead should have done a little more research before they agreed to play there.

Petebaldwin

May 24, 2008

iharkis, notice how Radiohead have never said anything about this? They are trying to do good and are not bothered about people knowing yet you still have a go??And, whilst I agree with paulsimonscat, biofules aren't usually grown in places where food is scarce. They are just another source of income for lots of people who otherwise would be screwed.

gergbot

May 24, 2008

For a start SydAjax, I don't think you can blame radiohead for the weather.Secondly, Will everyone shut up about Radiohead actually doing something to protect the environment. At least they're doing something about it rather than most bands who don't put a thought into it.

stevemorrissey1959

May 24, 2008

i love zuhzuh complaining that radiohead had the audacity not to perform anywhere closer and then claiming radiohead are being hypocrites because of it.here's an idea: don't go to the show. if it's such as ordeal and takes you nine hours to get to the show, that's on you not the band. stop crying because of the choices you made.

falcozappa

May 25, 2008

AdamShanklyUK - I appreciate your point, but people are not going hungry because of a lack of food, but of how its distributed - in places of plenty there is so much waste. Perhaps less space should be dedicated to farming for meat, as livestock also eats crops. As for biofuels being burnt, that's true, but they grow by absorbing the same amount of carbon as they'll release when burnt - they're not adding to the problem like fossil fuels are.