One of the biggest music events of the year, Kendal Calling, has launched a brand new game to help promote environmental awareness ahead of the upcoming festival: it’s called ‘Flappy Tent’.
I wonder where they came up with that one…
On a more serious note, Kendal Calling 2023 runs from Thursday, 27 July and until Sunday, 30 July and while we love gig-goers and the festival culture, in general — it’s something we’ve all grown up privileged enough to be a part of — we all know they can have some bad habits.
Unfortunately, one of the biggest problems festivals face every single year is waste; in particular, tent wastage which seems to be a prevailing bug-bear for most big music events where camping is involved. That’s where ‘Flappy Tent’ comes in.
Obviously based on the old, retro-style and highly-addictive mobile game Flappy Bird from 2013 (yes, a whole decade ago), Kendal Calling’s spin on it is essentially the same premise, only you get points for picking your rubbish as well doing obstacles.
The idea was drummed up after the festival organisers and staff helping clean up the day after last year’s festival counted 284 tents left behind, many more of which could have simply come loose and blown away to litter the surrounding area.
However, not only does the game help promote environmental awareness and remind people to tidy up after themselves, but there’s also an added incentive for one lucky sod: Kendal Calling is offering a £200 bar tab at this year’s festival to the first person who reaches a score of 50,000 on Flappy Tent.
If only there was this added incentive at festivals in real life, they’d be left spotless every single time!
Flappy Tent might be a fun little game, but it’s also a reminder that we have a duty to look after the North West and Cumbria’s landscape.
The average festival tent ends typically ends up in landfill and will take up to 500 years to decompose and even though the number left behind was a staggering 91.4% decrease on the amount abandoned in 2019, Kendal Calling is rightly looking to eradicate this problem altogether.
Helping lead the charge to make festivals greener and eco-conscious, Kendal Calling has come up with a straightforward pledge they’re asking everyone to stick to as best they can:
LEAVE NOTHING BUT MEMORIES — Leave your camp tidy and take your tent home!
PROTECT THE WILDLIFE — Throw your rubbish in the bin
CONSIDER YOUR TRAVEL — Use public transport where possible!
ONLY BRING WHAT YOU NEED — Use resources consciously
MAKE ECO-CONSCIOUS CHOICES — Keep your green impact in mind when at the festival
To help those attending, the organisers themselves have also installed a number of new measures to try and reduce carbon footprint, wastage and improve the Kendal Calling experience:
Festival-goers will be encouraged to tidy their camps before heading into the arena and new Campsite Crew on hand to help festivalgoers keep the Campsites as clean as possible.
Waste and recycling points have increased by 200% to make it even easier to recycle and reduce the amount of waste taken to landfill this year.
The decor team are reusing and recycling prior festival materials rather than using brand-new products; where new materials are required, goods are rented as close to the festival site as possible, utilising local artisans and sustainable materials wherever possible.
The festival has an overall goal of reducing fuel usage from 2022 by 15-20%, using a Power Manager to actively work with stakeholders in advance and onsite to ensure they are being as efficient as possible with energy use.
Increased use of solar, battery and load-on-demand solutions, especially during longer build and break periods, as well as LED lighting solutions wherever possible across the site.
Single-use plastic is BANNED on site so all drinks will be served in recycled or compostable cups, saving on a whole tonne of carbon emissions with every 10,000 cups saved.
Local produce and more vegetarian meals where possible are contributing to 2.5x less carbon emissions than those with meat and a significant reduction on last year’s figures.
Open Kitchen MCR are putting wasted/uneaten food to good use and helping stop it going in landfill.
Kendall Calling’s ‘Leave Nothing But Memories’ campaign
Last but not least, Kendal is supporting industry schemes to improve sustainability all across the festival sector, including carbon reduction with ecolibrium+, partnering with Vision2025 Citizen-Science Festival Waste Data Project ans raising money for Earth Percent, founded by music legend Brian Eno, to help fund environmental charities. Quality stuff.
You can play Kendal Calling’s ‘Flappy Tent’ game HERE but, be warned, you’re about to waste hours upon hours on this thing.
Better still, there are still tickets left for this year’s festival so grab yours now if you don’t want miss out on headliners like Kasabian, Royal Blood, Stockport’s very own Blossoms, Wigan lads The Lathums, Rick Astley and many more.
In fact, whilst you’re at it, you can read our interview with the one and only Rick Astley ahead of his Kendal Calling 2023 show on Saturday, 29 July down below.
The Heaton Park viewpoint coined ‘Gallagher Hill’ which fans flocked to to watch Oasis for free has been closed off ahead of the remaining gig dates.
The particular high area of Heaton Park has gone viral online after Oasis fans have been using it to watch the Live ’25 shows for free, with a distant view of the huge screens.
But as thousands of ticket-holders flock back to the remaining Manchester gigs of Oasis Live ’25, fans who couldn’t manage to get any tickets will be disappointed to learn that the viral viewing point Gallagher Hill has been shut down.
Usually, this hill section of the Manchester green space isn’t filled with Gallagher supporters – it’s normally home to a herd of cows who use this land to graze and walk about on throughout the day.
Huge fences have now been erected around the area to prevent any further groups from gathering, with Oasis still set to perform on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.
Manchester City Council has said that there are also around 300 young trees that have been planted in this part of Heaton Park to develop a new woodland area.
The purpose of the fencing is ‘dual purpose’, a council spokesperson said: “Both to protect the environment from further damage and to dissuade people from gathering there. The necessary measure means the concert will no longer be visible from this area.”
After seeing videos of fans in this particular area, one TikTok user checked it out for herself asking her followers: “Would you get on Gallagher hill now?” before panning her camera to show cows grazing on the land.
Although fans of the Manchester icons were flocking to this spot in order to join in on the Oasis fun from afar, issues have been raised via safety concerns of visitors, the cattle herd and reports of litter.
Fans are now being directed to enjoy the many, many events taking place in the city centre, including the MCR Live Hub at Piccadilly Gardens.
‘Gallagher Hill’ in Manchester today ahead of the next Oasis shows. Credit: The Manc Group
Some fans have been very understanding reasoning this fair decision admitting, “Probably because of security and threats unfortunately”, while others express their disappointment asking, “How sad do you have to be to put that up?”.
One social media user, who was planning on taking a family member to this brand new Manchester landmark commented, “They could’ve utilised Gallagher hill”.
The fan went on to pose the question of making it an official viewpoint for concerts, posing the question, “£30 entry fee, is that too steep?”.
Councillor John Hacking, Executive Member for Employment, Skills and Leisure, Manchester City Council, said: “The atmosphere across Manchester has been electric over this last week with the whole city swept up in Oasis fever and peaking over the weekend with the first two hugely successful homecoming concerts at Heaton Park.
“As you would expect given the size of the concerts and numbers of people attending, we go through a continuous process with partners of re-assessing the plans in place for the concerts to ensure both public safety and that any environmental impact on our award-winning park is minimalised.
“The steps being taken ahead of the next concert regretfully mean the distant view of the large screens behind the event stage will no longer be there. Unfortunately our hand has been forced in having to put these additional measures in place to protect the very recent extensive planting of young trees in that location as we try to establish a new woodland area in the park, and the wellbeing of our cattle herd in the field, as well as to keep people in the park safe.
“Our advice to music fans who don’t have tickets for the concerts is to head into the city centre instead. The whole city is going all out to celebrate and help everyone have a good time. We’ve got some fantastic things going on with a real party atmosphere for everyone to enjoy whether they’ve got tickets for the Oasis gigs or not.”
American rockers Alter Bridge have announced a brand new album and a massive European tour along with it, including a pretty big gig here in Manchester.
Staring down the barrel of their eighth studio release, the Orlando-based heavy rock, progressive and alternative metal four-piece are bringing their brand of triumphant, in-your-face, Floridian guitar thrashing and powerful drumming to the city centre in the new year.
Veritable veterans of the industry at this point, Alter Bridge are set to drop their upcoming record – a self-titled project which will debut almost a whole 22 years on from the launch of their first, One Day Remains – at the start of 2026, and will be heading out on the road soon after.
Confirming a total of 31 dates across the continent, they’ll be getting the shows underway in mid-January before landing in the UK just over a month later.
NEW SHOW: @alterbridge ANNOUNCES THEIR HEADLINE TOUR 'WHAT LIES WITHIN'' 🔥🎸 Plus, Daughtry and Sevendust!
Fronted by lead singer and equally talented guitarist, Myles Kennedy (who also performs with fellow genre legend, Slash, as part of The Conspirators), Alter Bridge have regularly notched number one in the rock charts, and have landed as high as number three in the UK’s pop-dominated Official Album Charts.
In 2017, they cleaned up at the 6th annual Loudwire Music Awards, winning ‘Best Rock Band’, ‘Best Rock Album’ and ‘Best Rock Song’ all in one night.
Boasting more than a billion streams to their name to date, they have gradually become one of the biggest and most commercially successful rock bands in the US over the course of more than two decades now.
Other tour dates on this side of the pond include Northern neighbours Newcastle, as well as the likes of Nottingham, Glasgow, London and Dublin over in Ireland.
Alter Bridge will be joined in Manchester by fellow long-standing rock outfit, Daughtry (‘What About Now’, ‘Home’, ‘Over You’), as well as Atlanta legends, Sevendust.
With such a well-respected discography, not to mention a deep and rich back catalogue, you can expect them to play a healthy selection of the hits as well as their newest tracks, which will be available on Friday, 9 January.
Speaking ahead of their latest LP, Kennedy said in a statement: “You can’t ever rest on your past success. We’ve never allowed ourselves to get too comfortable. The only way to stay at a certain level is to be very dedicated to what you’re doing. We’ve crossed the 20-year mark.
“We’ve proven we can do this for the duration. We worked hard to get to a place where we can plant our flag. We’re still around as the four original members, so it felt appropriate to call the album Alter Bridge.”
Co-founding member and former Creed lead guitarist, Mark Tremonti, went on to add, “I think this record earns that title. The material felt strong enough, so we’re letting the music speak for itself.”
Alter Bridge arrive at the AO Arena in Manchester on 26 February 2026, with Three+ presale available from 10am tomorrow (Wed, 16 July), venue early access going live at the same time on Thursday, and general admission tickets up for grabs from Friday – again, 10am.
Danny Jones -
14th July 2023 
