Throw it all away- Recycling and outdoor concerts

Yesterday I attended KFMA radio station's annual Fall Ball festival at Tucson Electric Park. The show was headlined by a reunited (sort of) Smashing Pumpkins, and also featured Cypress Hill, Against Me!, Paramore, Operator, Silverstein, and Scary Kids Scaring Kids. Besides being very excited about seeing the Smashing Pumpkins, I also realized that it would be a good opportunity to scope out what (if any) recycling options there were at a large event like this.

I'm terrible at estimating crowd sizes, but I would guess there was at least 10,000 people in attendance. Since venue rules dictated that each guest could only bring one sealed bottle of water, that means there are are tons of people who will need to buy water, beer, and other beverages throughout the course of the event, which lasted from 1 PM to almost 11 PM. Mercifully, the temperature only got up into the low 90's at the most, so hydration wasn't as big an issue as it could have been, but sweaty mosh-pitters still need something to cool down with after the band finishes playing. It was hard not to notice that the ground was almost completely covered with trash, and you could almost walk across the field without touching the grass.



I managed to grab a spot on the front row for Against Me!'s set (I'm a huge fan, and this was my third time seeing them live), and I immediately noticed that at the foot of the stage was a large mound of trash that had been thrown towards the stage. All the beer bottles sold at the concert were plastic, both to protect the fans from broken bottles and, more importantly, to make them less dangerous projectiles should they be thrown at the stage. All this plastic littering the ground made me wonder if there were any recycling bins around, but after wandering around for a little bit, I couldn't find a single one. Now, I know it's expecting a bit much to think that a crowd of drunken rock fans would think to recycle their beer bottles instead of just throwing them on the ground, but if the option was there, I'm sure some people would take advantage of it. Of course, some people still need those bottles to hurl thoughtlessly at the performers, and there was a constant barrage aimed at the stage. Most took it in stride, though. Tom Gabel, Against Me!'s lead vocalist and guitarist, just grinned and said "Oh please, we've had much worse than this."

It's a sad state of affairs that in this Earth-friendly eco-movement that is going on, we can't even seem to do something as simple as putting recycling bins at a concert that produces tons upon tons of plastic trash. Perhaps Mother Nature had this in mind when she exacted retribution with a 10-minute downpour in the middle of the Smashing Pumpkins' set, which soaked the crowd and the band, and threatened to end the show.


Here's a quick and dirty slide show of some pictures I took at the show. Please excuse the quality, since I only had a disposable camera. Enjoy! Oh, and if you want to hear more about the concert itself, check out my just-for-fun blog, The Liberation Frequency.