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So it starts...

Dublin, Paris and Barcelona

So it starts...

With the best of intentions to write this after each gig, my feet (and the volunteers) haven’t really touched the ground, so here I am, three venues in and very happy with how it’s going, if somewhat bleary eyed with an ongoing feeling of jetlag..should that read tourbuslag?

We have now taken The Big Ask with the Radiohead crew, to Dublin, Paris and Barcelona - all very different venues but all with equally receptive audiences.

Dublin saw us in the beautiful grounds of Malahide castle with an audience of 20,000 happy people.

No-one minded the drizzle on Friday when they saw a perfect end to end rainbow appear as Radiohead’s set started.  Rumour has it fans were witnessed wandering around looking for the solar powered rainbow maker.. To top it off, the sun came out for us again on Saturday and the Friends of the Earth Ireland campaigners were fantastic and kept pushing on.  They signed up near on 2000 people to petition their TD Brian Owen and really got people talking and thinking.

You can see them in action here; http://www.flickr.com/photos/27474282@N05/

If you didn't get to Dublin, you can still sign the online version here at http://www.actforclimate.ie/signup/

And take a look at the environmental summary at http://www.radiohead.com/tourdates/6jun_dublin.html

This is where Radiohead’s IT and Eco coordinator Katie Friesema details public transport links and other useful venue information before the gig and also writes up an environmental summary after every gig so they can keep an eye on how they’re doing - revisit the tour dates page to see how it’s going in each location.

Also worth checking out http://www.radiohead.com/themostgiganticflyingmouthforsometime/ lots of good stuff about greening the tour from Radiohead’s Production manager, a carbon calculator and forums to exchange travel info to and from gigs.

So Paris on the 9th/10th June was quite different,  an indoor stadium in the city with an
audience of 16,000.  Again a great success for us and being an indoor event, Radiohead’s energy efficient LED lighting rig was even more amazing.  Les Amis del la Terre said that the general feel from the audience was that they wanted to see action being taken to combat climate change and the audience were approaching the campaigners to sign their support without any hesitation. Again over 2000 postcards were signed – we’re well on our way to reach the target of 25,000 sign ups by the end of the European leg of the world tour.
 
We've just left Barcelona, where Radiohead played at the Daydream festival on the 12th June, along with their very cool support band Bat for Lashes.  Los Amigos de la Tierra signed 2500 cards, again, with a great response from the audience – at a time when some people can feel a bit overwhelmed with the subject of climate change, to see everyone getting positive and empowered across this tour is exciting. People are realising that something that just takes a minute or so to do,  can really impact the way governments are approaching the reduction of climate changing emissions.
 
Have a look at the guys in action at Daydream here http://www.flickr.com/groups/768851@N20/pool/
 
All the volunteers have done a fantastic job and worked so hard, a big hats off to them.  And the Radiohead fans have been  really receptive and just well, rather nice really. Leaving the concerts with thousands of people wandering around with the www.thebigask.eu badges, has left us all smiling.

Big thanks goes out to Radiohead for giving us space on the tour and to the crew for looking after us so well. A real effort has gone into making sure we have everything we need for the groups to do the campaigning. Above and beyond the call of duty. So enough rambling from me – all in all a great start to the European leg of the tour – both for Radiohead (the audiences have gone crazy each and every time) and for Friends of the Earth. More from Nimes and photos from Paris and Barcelona coming soon.
 

Hannah Wylie, Friends of the Earth Europe Tour Coordinator.

 

 
 
Friends of the Earth © 2008