Sorina and her three friends arrived yesterday from Romania for the Coldplay concert. And for Barcelona, ​​to spend a few days there, because the band already saw it last year in London, they say about to enter the Olympic Stadium, with the sun on their faces. They flew, of course, there was no other way. “The train takes hours, it’s not cheap and you have to go back to work…”, say these medical professionals who have not calculated the carbon footprint of their flight. Because although Chris Martin’s band spends several days in the city to minimize the environmental impact of their tour, the public continues to arrive from everywhere… Especially from the rest of the peninsula, which could have a more railway network good, now that it is being reminded at every moment that it is the best eco-transport, and even France bans short regional flights with an alternative by train.
Two young people from Sant Sebastià indicate that they would have liked to take him, but “it’s just that there is no connection with Barcelona”, says Telmo looking at his younger brother Mikel, who will ring the school bell. “There are three of us and my father pays, I couldn’t tell you if it would be cheaper to come by train.” And a Camino de Sant Jaume through the north of the peninsula? “Well, we should study it”, says the minor, convinced.
Coldplay is the classic intergenerational meeting of teenagers with parents who in their youth moved their skeletons to the sound of Viva la vida. “My daughter won’t like my answer, but I don’t believe anything: Coldplay are paid to give a speech about environmental fear,” says a Salvadoran resident in Barcelona. She and young Nicole are fans of the band. “His music speaks to me; for me, who suffer from anxiety, it makes me feel relaxed…” The daughter explains it.
An hour and a half before the start of the concert, the kinetic carpet that has been set up on the stadium track is activated. A group of attendees jump on it and, on the large circular screens, you can appreciate the volume of energy they generate. It is part of the plan to self-supply the concert with electricity. Next to it, about twenty stationary bikes are for the public to push the energy pedal.
Coldplay, who arrived on Monday night and stayed at Soho House, come in peace, in good spirits, ready to hear what the local teams have to say. Solar panels? There is none to be seen. It will have been the complicated made in Spain. Of course, everyone is wearing the recyclable Xyloband bracelet made of compostable material (to be returned at the exit) which will reflect colored infrared and adorn the show for free and with extraordinary effects when the mass is choreographed by Martin.
“I don’t know what environmental impact my flight from Gran Canaria has had, but my daughter and I were very excited about this concert,” says Analaya. “Exactly, enough to criminalize us and let the responsibility fall on the population”, the defense in the row in front of a local, L’Oriol. “That they stop packaging food with plastics instead of asking us to recycle. Here, people have flown out of necessity… should they feel bad while pleasure boats are plying the Costa Brava?”.
Unlike Bruce Springsteen, who had a lavish entourage with the Obamas and Spielbergs, Coldplay have been keeping a low profile in town these days. Nor has Dakota Johnson been added to them. Although last night they coincided under the same Olympic sky with Elton John, they tested sound and, next to it, the other made his last call.
Yes, Coldplay’s environmental performance is more possibilistic than radical, but it doesn’t fall flat. “There is a certain ecological stress: you either do it very well or you don’t do anything, but it’s about optimizing what everyone can do. And Coldplay are trying to optimize their value chain to provide the most sustainable alternative possible”, points out B Corp multiplier Gemma Mestre, sustainability mentor at IESE. “I am betting on the settlement – he concludes -. Barcelona has a mass of Coldplay fans above other cities because of the Guardiola phenomenon and these concerts have not generated more flights.”
