Although most shows on the July and August run would be indoors, a few would take place outside.
But before the 25-city trek even began, producers started hearing from worried ticket buyers.
They were sending us Instagram messages like, Can you post set times?
Concertgoers endure the rain at a festival in Belgium in 2022.VIRGINIE LEFOUR/BELGA MAG/AFP/Getty Images
Its going to be too hot.
The Summer School heads didnt disagree with the concerns.
Now, its 110 in the same market 15 or 20 years later.
How can you put kids outside?
(The star herselfshelled out $100,000to keep the citys trains running after an hours-long delay.)
Dating back at least to Woodstock in 1969, inclement weather has had an effect on outdoor live music.
Now pretty much every artist we work with has a weather incident.
The increase and severity is increasing.
But as he admits, All around the world, were seeing increasing frequency and impact of extreme heat.
You may have people outside celebrating for hours before a show even begins.
They may be consuming beverages other than water, which increases their risk for heat-related illness.
So, this has a major impact on outdoor venues.
At minimum there is certainly a perception that weather issues at concerts are getting worse.
This summer, indie-pop band AJR went on their first-ever headlining arena tour.
We didnt know what kind of power situation was happening with people getting to and from the venue.
And then you have enough time that the floor starts to cool off.
It sounds weird, but you just kind of hope and pray.
And nature doesnt give a shit who you are or if you have 100 million Twitter followers.
But Leabody can only recall a handful of times when a show was canceled or shut down.
Climate change is also impacting in ways that few would have expected.
But thanks to a major drought last year, water levels at the canal dropped drastically.
Wanting to save time, he chose the latter.
This is something thats going to affect a lot of tours, says Weldon.
Its a big issue for everybody.
Once the gear arrived, however, there were more weather issues to surmount.
It was literally a tornado that came through parts of Belgium, he says.
You dont get tornadoes in Europe.
The artists say, We physically cant do that.
The crew are waking up at six in the morning and working until 10 p.m., outdoors every day.
That is unsustainable from a human being perspective.
Perhaps the most tangible shift in prices amid increased severe weather are the costs of a cancellation and insurance.
All the brokers who spoke withRolling Stonesaid those premium costs have at least doubled over the past decade.
Theres rarely a good year in the music festival market from an insurance perspective, he says.
Its just a matter of how much youre going to be paying out.
Still, as with cancellations, its hard to say if weather is the chief culprit.
He says theyve gotten more rigid.
When the festival launched 16 years ago, extreme weather wasnt on Faiths radar.
Didnt even think about it, he says.
Just worried about rain.
I cant even remember worrying about it for 15 years.
Id never seen that before, Faith says.
When it gets hot for a couple of days straight, people just stay in their houses.
They dont want to come out.
It was so overbearing that the festival agreed to refund tickets to some concertgoers.
It just seems like theres more lightning and more storms, Faith says.
Founder Zach Tetreault says he would also rather not compete with springtime festivals like Coachella.
But the changing climate played into his decision.
How hot it will get in May was definitely one factor, Tetreault says.
Im moving it to a much more predictable and nicer month in Arizona.
It will be much, much cooler at night.
Whenever youre going outdoors, youre dealing with elements, sometimes elements you cant control.
Its not something we want to do, but its definitely getting worse, he sighs.
But this is gorgeous.
This is what its supposed to be like.
