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.
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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.
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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:
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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.
Placebo are returning to Manchester with a special re-worked album tour for their 30th anniversary
Danny Jones
Placebo are coming back to Manchester city centre for a very special anniversary show celebrating their seminal debut album, which will be re-worked 30 years on from its release.
The beloved British alt-rock band, which first broke onto the indie, post-glam and pseudo-goth scene back in the mid-1990s, haven’t played here since November 2022, so it’s fair to say fans have been waiting for a return.
Last time out, they played the AO Arena, but this year they’ll be making a maiden visit to one of Europe’s biggest indoor entertainment venues.
Announcing the ‘RE:CREATED‘ re-release of their debut album and the accompanying anniversary tour this week, tickets are set to go on sale very soon.
Confirming just a handful of UK shows this December following a more extensive European run in autumn and winter 2026, they are the latest big rock name to book Co-op Live.
Placebo’s self-titled debut album, RE:CREATED
As mentioned, Placebo RE:CREATED features “powerful reworked and embellished versions of all ten tracks from the original album”, as well as two new bonus tracks.
The group say that these new songs are sort of like an ‘amplification’ of what made their inaugural studio outing such a success in the first place.
Speaking in an official statement, they said: “We think of this record as a director’s cut. We haven’t recreated it from scratch. We went back to the original master tapes and brought 30 years of playing these songs live back into the record.
“This project was about finally finishing the record, dragging it into the 21st century sonically, while preserving the integrity and the spirit of the original. It’s not about improving it; there’s nothing wrong with it – it’s about completing it.”
Signing off and getting tails up ahead of the tour, they added: “It’s a celebration of where we began, and a meeting point between who we were then and who we are now; a way of honouring that innocence, while letting the songs exist with the scale, confidence, and energy of the band we’ve become”.
JUST ANNOUNCED: Placebo: 30th Anniversary Tour Playing songs from ‘Placebo’ & ‘Without You I’m Nothing' Friday 4 December https://t.co/qwOm3NNGQH @coopuk members get first in line for tickets. Co-op Member Presale: 09:00 Wednesday 25 March General Sale: 09:00 Friday 27 March pic.twitter.com/MO72ui1ntW
It remains to be seen who, if anyone, will be supporting them for the limited run of domestic shows, but it has been revealed that they will also be playing some fan favourite songs from their sophomore LP, Without You I’m Nothing. You can see the rest of the gigs here in Britain and Ireland down below:
Placebo UK tour dates 2026
2 – Dublin, Ireland – 3 Arena 4th – Manchester, UK – Co-op Live Arena 5th – London, UK – OVO Arena Wembley 7th – Cardiff, UK – Utilita Arena
For those looking to secure early access, you can do so by pre-ordering the album (which drops on 19 June), with the pre-sale window opening at 9am on 24 March.
As for general admission, they will be available from the same time the following Friday, 27 March.
You can get ready to grab your tickets to see Placebo at Co-op Live in Manchester for their 30th anniversary gig right HERE.
They’re not the only big rock name that first back in the 90s set for a big Manc arena show this year.
Featured Images — Press shots (supplied via SJM Concerts)
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Review | What we made of Country 2 Country 2026, and why Manchester should be very excited
Danny Jones
Excuse me, but it looks like we might have a new favourite festival on the cards: Country 2 Country – and it’s very rare we gig in London and enjoy ourselves anyway near as much as we do up North, but now we’re already dreaming of just how good C2C Manchester could be.
In fact, scratch that, we know it is.
Billed as Europe’s biggest country music festival, there really isn’t anything quite like it here. Yes, there’s Buckle & Boots Festival closer to home, but there’s nothing in the folk and country world on this kind of massive scale, unless you go all the way to see the actual CMA Fest over in the US.
London’s also been lucky enough to host some very big names at BST Hyde Park too, but this fully-fledged arena weekender, complete with an outdoor festival hub, town square, trading post, a barn full of line-dancers, and SO much more, celebrates every single part of that culture.
By day, the aim is to make a little country town, complete with shops, food, drink and music aplenty. (Credit: Audio North)
But… We think the North can do it better.
So too did some of the acts and punters as well, by the way; we spoke to several people on-site who’d made the trip from all over because it was closer than Glasgow, Belfast or Berlin.
Up-and-coming British country rock artist, Bronnie – who was literally hours away from a move across the pond to pursue her dreams of living the cowgirl turned music artist experience down in the Southern states – said simply: “There’s always this feeling like there’s more fun to be had up North”
Moreover, the friends she’s already made over in America’s ‘Music City’, she says, have claimed that “the vibes are just better”, apparently. Not to sound too biased, but we obviously couldn’t agree more.
However, with the news that C2C is coming to Manchester city centre and Northern England for the very first time, people are already hopping mad at the idea of a Manc debut.
That’s to say that what The O2 in London isn’t special and will always be to most punters, we just know full well that our particular region is going to take to this new annual event like a duck to water.
A lot of the people we spoke to kept repeating the same: that working class connection, simple but relatable imagery, the pure poetry you’ll find not only in Nashville but creative cousins like Manchester.
The Broadway strip in Austin may be the spiritual home of this kind of music, but we Greater Mancunians lay claim to plenty of genres and some of the biggest artistic traditions ourselves.
With that in mind, we are convinced we’re going to leave a lasting impression when our inaugural Country 2 Country Festival comes to the AO Arena next year.
Our line dancing might leave a little to be desired, but we’ve got a whole year to work on it, not to mention plenty of time to dive even further into the UK’s growing country music obsession.
You can see more pictures from our 2026 C2C gallery down below.
Country fashion was everywhereThe official CMA Spotlight Stage was one of the bestNo one shyed away from a partyKruse Brothers were one of our favourite from the weekendAlana Springsteen was incredibleAnd by the evening, it’s a proper hedonist hoedown… (Credit: The Manc)
Danny Jones -
14th July 2023 
