Live music season is in full swing. From stadium-filling pop stars to indie festival favorites, artists are back on the road performing for millions of fans. And people are loving it: Mastercard’s Experience Economy 2025 Report found that consumers are increasingly prioritizing spending on experiences.

But behind the scenes, another shift is underway: Tours are quietly examining their impact on the environment and how to mitigate it. Technology can transform how concerts are powered, staged and experienced, helping the music industry swap diesel fumes for cleaner energy. With climate concerns top of mind, particularly among younger generations, audiences are dancing their way toward a lower-carbon future.

For decades, large-scale tours relied on fleets of diesel generators to power lights, speakers and screens. Now battery technology is taking center stage. Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres tour used recycled BMW i3 batteries, charged via solar and wind, to run entire shows. The system also stores renewable energy collected on-site, ensuring that even cloudy gigs can be powered more sustainably.

And in some cases, fans themselves have been a part of the power supply. Kinetic dance floors and stationary “power bikes” in select venues during Coldplay’s tour enabled concertgoers to generate electricity simply by moving — feeding it back into the show’s grid in real time.

The push for cleaner energy goes beyond individual concerts. Festivals are turning renewable energy into a full-scale interactive experience. England’s Glastonbury Festival has run stages entirely on solar, wind and battery storage, even converting cow manure into electricity through anaerobic digestion. In recent years, Coachella’s “energy playgrounds” have featured pedal-powered and seesaw installations where attendees generate electricity while learning about how much energy is required to power everyday items. 

Touring isn’t just about the energy on stage — it’s also about moving massive amounts of gear, crew and merch around the world. That’s where smart logistics come in. The European leg of Metallica’s M72 World Tour showcased a commitment to sustainability by utilizing a fleet of vehicles powered by renewable energy sources. In partnership with Iveco, the band employed trucks fueled by biomethane, vegetable oil, electricity and hydrogen fuel cells to transport equipment across nine countries. These rigs had the ability to travel almost 1,000 miles between refueling stops, covering a total of 7,200 miles during the tour.

From solar-powered stages to electric tour trucks and people-powered dance floors, tech is turning concerts into planet-preserving powerhouses. With these innovations, artists and festivals aren’t just cutting emissions — they’re showing that sustainability can be part of the show too.