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Forest Live festival organisers say the music industry is making “one of the most concerted efforts” to fight the climate crisis but there is “more to do”.
Forest Live Festival is a series of outdoor concerts held in some of England's most beautiful natural locations, organised by Forestry England.
This year, The Independent has teamed up with the event as the exclusive news partner, providing news and updates ahead of performances from stars including Nile Rodgers, Sting, Bryan Adams, Paloma Faith, Van Morrison and Tom Jones.
National events programme manager Rhodri Jones explains that the festival started “on a much smaller scale” in 2001, with just a few artists playing in different locations around the forest – the first acts scheduled to perform included Ed Sheeran, Motörhead, Massive Attack and Blondie.
“It all started as a way to bring people together in the woods, but now it's about getting as many people as possible to experience the areas we manage for the first time, building lifelong relationships with them, and raising funds for our work,” Jones says.
“Forestry England looks after more than 1,500 woodlands across England, but we also do a lot of research, protecting endangered species and figuring out which tree species we need to invest in in the UK to protect our future from climate change.”
“[The festival] “We've grown dramatically since that first year,” Jones continues, “so the number of venues we play in and the caliber of artists we work with have grown so that this year we'll be doing 23 concerts, each with a capacity of 10,000.”
Forest Live Festival Night (Press)
One of Forest Live’s biggest commitments is sustainability, and Forestry England is committed to nurturing and protecting the country’s more than 1,500 woodlands for current and future generations.
“Every major industry has a responsibility to do the best they can,” Jones said. “There are artists out there doing really great things. There's a lot of work to be done, but I think the music industry is one of the industries that is speaking out the most about this. It's an industry that is coming together and making a concerted effort to do better.”
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Paloma Faith is among the artists performing at this year's Forest Live. (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
He highlights the fact that these places are places that visitors can discover and enjoy all year round, with mountain bike trails, assault courses, treetop adventures, horse riding, wellbeing trails and sensory walks.
“It's the perfect place to escape the stresses of modern life,” he says.
Forest Live Festival 2024 will take place from June 13th, and tickets are on sale now.