Beyoncé Cardiff: Weighing up the climate cost of worldwide tours

On Wednesday about 60,000 fans descended on Cardiff, with some having travelled there from across the globe

Beyoncé-fever gripped Cardiff on Wednesday where the singer kicked off the UK leg of her world tour.

But the extravaganza has left some mulling over the damage the event and others like it have on the environment.

Beyoncé's Formation tour in 2016 took seven air freighters and 70 trucks to get her stage set and other gear to the venues across the UK.

And that didn't include the backstage staff, musicians, performers - or even Beyoncé herself.

About 60 production trucks were outside Cardiff City Stadium ahead of Beyoncé's concert

On Wednesday about 60,000 fans descended on Cardiff, with some having travelled there from across the globe.

The superstar herself arrived by private jet at Cardiff Airport just after 15:00 BST and was flown back to London at 23:00.

Meanwhile about 60 production trucks and 18 coaches lined up outside Cardiff City Stadium.

One onlooker tweeted: "I worry about my recycling and here are all of #Beyoncé set trucks parked up in Cardiff... For one night! #ClimateEmergency #Carbon".

Eighteen coaches were lined up outside Cardiff City Stadium on Wednesday

Music business journalist Eamonn Forde said an act like Beyoncé would travel with a sizeable entourage including production staff, a full band, dancers, which represented "hundreds of people potentially on the roads".

"You've got to put on a spectacular show, and that involves a lot stage and a lot of screens... all of the staging will be taken up in lots and lots of articulate lorries," he said.

Beyoncé has sold 200 million records worldwide

"And then there's the people having to travel there.

"Obviously [it] comes with an environmental impact."

With many young people feeling deep anxiety about climate change, does any of this matter to Beyoncé's fans?

"She will have an audience that is expecting her productions to be as green as possible but then you're also talking about one of the biggest artists in the world, and she can just kind of do whenever she wants in the sense that the demand will be there," Eamonn said.

"Lots of fans will on one hand say 'I hope the show is as environmentally friendly as possible', but they will also perhaps be a bit more flexible when they realise this might be their only chance to see Beyoncé for the next five, 10 or however long years.

"They might kind of put their ethics and their morals to the side."

For the past 15 years charity Julie's Bicycle has been working to mobilise the industry into taking action on the climate and ecological crisis.

Beyoncé's chart-topping singles include Check on It, Irreplaceable, Single Ladies and Break My Soul

"We know that we have to get to a fossil fuel free world, and so reimagining touring in that context is one of the hardest challenges that the music industry faces," said the charity's music lead Chiara Badiali.

She wants to see the environment considered at the conception of worldwide tours.

"Eighty percent of the environmental impacts of anything are locked in at the design stage," she said.

The charity champions many green initiatives such as green riders and carbon calculators.

Eamonn said he thinks real change is unlikely to come from the superstars themselves.

"[Beyoncé's] not going to be answering tweets or making a TikTok video in response to that, because she's quite a private person," he said.

Beyoncé has 32 Grammy Awards

"It's not like people will vote with their wallets and boycott a Beyoncé show. She's too big to have a boycott like that really.

"Where the real change will happen will be the people who put these productions together guiding artists."

Chiara said she believes stars hold a lot of power to make change.

"When high-profile artists speak out and they ask to do things differently, then that does and will change the dial of what the whole industry feels as possible," she said.