Reverb

Dave Matthews Band 2023

IMPACT REPORT

HIGHLIGHTS

45,000+ ACTIONS BY FANS
SUPPORTING IMPORTANT SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

$190,000+ RAISED IN THE BAMAGREEN ECO-VILLAGE
TO SUPPORT NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS AND FIGHT THE CLIMATE CRISIS

62,000+ SINGLE-USE PLASTIC BOTTLES ELIMINATED
AT SHOWS BY FANS, ARTISTS, AND CREW

OVERVIEW

Since 2005, Dave Matthews Band has partnered with REVERB to reduce their tours’ environmental footprint, empower fans to take action on important environmental and social issues, and support nonprofit organizations & climate projects.

That enduring legacy of action continued on the Summer and Fall legs of the 2023 tour with increased environmental commitments from the band and their fans.

overview Fan Actions Tour Sustainability Climate Projects

FAN ENGAGEMENT

Fan Engagement

BamaGreen REVERB Action Village

Each night on tour, fans took meaningful action for people and the planet with REVERB in the BamaGreen Action Village. In all, fans took over 45,493 ACTIONS including:

  • 24,111 Single-use bottles avoided by fans at shows
  • 10,360 Donations for custom DMB reusable Nalgene bottles
  • 692 Volunteers gave over 2,000 hours of time
  • $190,052 Raised to support DMB & The Nature Conservancy’s mission to plant 1,000,000 trees in 2023

Fan Engagement

Nonprofit Organizations

Dave Matthews Band’s longstanding commitment to nonprofit support and action continued on this year’s tour. In addition to REVERB, voter registration organization HeadCount and conservation nonprofit The Nature Conservancy were featured in the BamaGreen Action Village.

  • 35,113 environmental actions with REVERB
  • 2,170 voter registrations with HeadCount
  • 1,970 actions with The Nature Conservancy
  • 1,240 actions with GENERATION180
  • 5,000 actions with Traditional Medicinals’ campaign to support the Appalachian forests

100% of proceeds from our #RockNRefill bottles were donated to The Nature Conservancy to support their mission of planting 1 MILLION TREES!

TOUR SUSTAINABILITY

Tour Greening

Single-Use Plastic Reduction & Elimination

62,711 SINGLE-USE PLASTIC BOTTLES WERE AVOIDED on this tour by artists, crew, and fans.

  • Single-Use Plastic Water Bottles and Cups are avoided backstage and in VIP areas
  • Water Refill Stations set up for artists and crew backstage, in catering and on buses and in main concourses for fans
  • Reusable Water Bottles and Insulated Mugs were provided for artists and crew
  • Custom Reusable #RockNRefill Nalgene Bottles available to fans for donation
    100% of proceeds supported nonprofits and climate projects
  • Advance calls with venues led to 100% allowing fans to bring reusable water bottles
  • Reusable or Compostable Serviceware used in catering and tour buses

Tour Greening

Summer Tour Venues

REVERB connected with each venue prior to the tour to enhance, encourage, and support deeper sustainability efforts

  • 100% of venues committed to decrease single-use plastic with efforts including eliminating extra pours and serving drinks in their original containers preventing the use of tens of thousands of single-use cups, limiting the use of plastic straws, and avoiding the sale of single-use plastic water bottles
  • 100% of venues allowed fans to bring their own reusable water bottle
  • 100% of venues instituted a no-idling policy backstage
  • 97% of venues had recycling programs; REVERB ensured recycling was available backstage at all shows

Tour Greening

The Road to Zero Waste

DMB and REVERB worked closely with all venues on their fall 2023 tour to move towards zero waste, putting systems in place from purchasing and planning to waste management to ensure little to nothing headed to the landfill after the show. Highlights of this effort include:

  • Bon Secours Wellness Arena arranged for comprehensive recycling and compost, a change they are looking to make permanent
  • John Paul Jones Arena enlisted volunteers to execute a compost program, helping fans divert compostable items from the trash and sorting waste to decrease landfill garbage
  • Enmarket Arena created a zero-waste show with fully compostable or recyclable items in concessions and ZERO single-use plastic, and also added a plant-based food drive with Support + Feed
  • All venues reduced or completely eliminated single-use plastic down to things even as small as removing ketchup packets

Tour Greening

Additional Sustainability Efforts

  • Enhanced Recycling and Composting
  • Battery Reclamation & Donation
    • Usable batteries donated to shelters
    • Dead batteries properly recycled
  • Unused Hotel Toiletries Donated to shelters (otherwise they end up in landfills)

Tour Greening

Greenhouse Gas Reductions & Measurement

After all the above efforts were made to reduce the environmental footprint of the tour, remaining carbon emissions from major sources were calculated including:

  • Band + Crew Travel
  • Equipment Transport and Shipping
  • Venue Energy Use
  • Hotel Stays
  • Fan Travel

Tour Greening

Addressing the Climate Crisis

7,900+ tonnes of CO2e neutralized
As part of their efforts to address tour carbon emissions and as part of their climate commitment with Music Climate Revolution, DMB is supporting innovative third-party verified climate projects that measurably draw down greenhouse gas pollution.

1 Million trees planted
In addition, the band continued its tree planting initiative with The Nature Conservancy, helping to plant 1 million trees. This creates a total of 4 million trees planted as part of the band’s efforts!

CLIMATE PROJECTS

Zero-Emission Clean Drinking Water

Mozambique Clean Drinking Water

The Mozambique Clean Water Project, led by the nonprofit Village Water, rehabilitates, installs and maintains borehole water infrastructure to provide communities with safe, clean drinking water. The project also builds capacity and offers training at the local level around managing water sources into the future.

Methane Emission Avoidance

Biodigesters in Mexico

In partnership with Native Energy, this project helps build and install simple biodigester units for subsistence farmers in Mexico. These units break down animal waste yielding gas that powers biogas cookstoves and water heaters as well as farm-generated fertilizer. This helps avoid methane emissions, improves air quality, and provides an alternative to expensive and harmful chemical fertilizers.

Nature-Based

Brazil Pastureland Regeneration

The Brazil Pastureland Regeneration with Native Palm Silvopasture project invests today in the plantings necessary to result in carbon removals tomorrow, as well as in the transition to a more responsible source of palm. All with local farms at the center.

Avoided Deforestation, Clean Energy, Climate Justice

Kenya Solar Desalination Farms

GivePower’s solar-powered water desalination plants provide clean drinking water to communities that rely on boiling water to make it potable. Providing clean drinking water reduces the burning of wood and coal for water purification and enables young women in the community to attend school or work rather than spend hours carrying drinking water to their homes.

THANK YOU

We want to thank everyone who helped create positive impacts for people and the planet on this tour, especially

Dave Matthews Band
Red Light Management
Ann Kingston
Traditional Medicinals
REVERB On-site Coordinator, Dan Hutnik
All the Fans that took action with us!