Trip-hop group Massive Attack revealed they turned down a performance slot at the 2025 Coachella Festival due to concerns about the desert event’s environmental impact.
Coachella is held in April at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, Calif. and is one of the largest and most profitable music festivals in the United States. Next year’s iteration will be headlined by Lady Gaga, Travis Scott, Green Day and Post Malone.
After a five-year hiatus, Massive Attack recently began performing — the group’s first gigs since the death of guitarist Angelo Bruschini in 2019 — shows across their native U.K. The group recently held a climate action event in Liverpool, or “Act 1.5,” aiming to showcase a sustainable live music production model by incorporating environmentally friendly practices like renewable energy, reduced carbon footprint transportation, and plant-based food options.
In conversation with NME, Massive Attack’s Robert Del Naja revealed they “said no to Coachella for next year” due to the festival’s lack of sustainability. “Because again, we’ve been there once, and once was enough,” said Del Naja. He continued, “It’s in Palm Springs. It’s a golf resort built on a desert, run on a sprinkler system, using public water supplies. Mental. If you want to see something that’s the most ludicrous bit of human behavior – it’s right there.” (It’s worth noting that Coachella is held in Indio, around 20 miles away from Palm Springs.)
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NME also interviewed Mark Donne, a producer on the Act 1.5 initiative, who showered praise on Maggie Baird, Billie Eilish’s mother, for her interest in applying the approach of “Act 1.5” to Eilish’s upcoming European tour.
“I think where we’re going to get the breakthrough with Billie’s European tour [July 2025] is on rail – we’re working out a deal at the moment with Trainline,” said Donne. “Where all across Europe we say, ‘How about a nice hum-dinging discount?’ Billie can say, ‘If you’ve got a ticket to my gig, you get this discount code and you travel by rail.’”