Three-day music festival in support of the climate movement heads to Forest Hills next month

A three-day music festival that aims to raise awareness about the current climate crisis will take place in Queens next month. From September 16-18, the inaugural Big Climate Thing festival will be held at Forest Hills Stadium, the nearly century-old tennis stadium-turned-venue, with performances by world-class acts, including Haim, The Roots, The War on Drugs, Sheryl Crow, Courtney Barnett, and The Flaming Lips, among others.

Festival organizers say the concert is also an opportunity to help frontline activists and organizations reach new audiences and build a community around climate activism. The Big Climate Thing is presented by Climate Control Projects.

Due to the fact that large-scale events of this kind affect the climate through their carbon emission, the festival’s promoters have laid out a sustainability plan to ensure that the concert does all it can to be environmentally friendly.

The promoters are encouraging all patrons to take public transportation to and from the stadium to reduce carbon emissions from vehicles. Luckily, Forest Hills Stadium is easily accessible by the city’s public transit, with the E, F, M, and R subway trains, as well as the Long Island Rail Road. Forest Hills Stadium is also accessible by several city buses.

The stadium is encouraging guests to bring their own refillable water bottles which can be filled at free filling stations they will provide. This will reduce the amount of plastic waste produced by plastic water bottles. The stadium also offers compost and recycling throughout the venue.

The full lineup for the festival is listed below:

Friday, September 16:

• Khruangbin
• The Flaming Lips
• Gary Clark Jr.
• Valerie June
• Antibalas

Saturday, September 17:

• The War on Drugs
• Sheryl Crow
• Courtney Barnett
• The Weather Station
• Guster
• Sunflower Bean
• Pom Pom Squad
• Mykki Blanco
• Joe Sumner & Friends
• Rozzi

Sunday, September 18:

• The Roots
• Haim
• Princess Nokia
• Xiuhtezcatl
• Seun Kuti & Egypt 80
• Bonny Light Horseman
• Seratones
• Ayoni

Beyond the festival, The Big Climate Thing is launching Innovation Studio, a not-for-profit network of technology companies that will work together and compete to generate new solutions for reducing the carbon footprint of tours and music festivals. They hope to integrate their findings into the event’s second go-around next year.

Tickets are on sale on the festival’s website, with three-day and single-day passes available for purchase.

Editors note 9/12/22: The Big Climate Thing festival has been postponed until 2023.