By Ray Waddell

Touring is at its heart a transportation business, and there is little doubt that, as a niche of the transportation industry, tour producers are ahead of the green game.

"There's a long way to go," says Kevin Lyman, producer of the Warped Tour and a pioneer in the world of green touring. "[But] we're moving in the right direction."

Lyman has noticed that environmentally conscious touring is now a hot topic. "I'm glad people are talking about it, but I'm interested in seeing how many people can actually follow through, because there's a lot of expense usually involved," he says.

That's where companies like Clif Bar, and their brand experience manager, Grady O'Shaughnessy come in. "We're not going after just any band," he says. "We're targeting progressive, emerging artists who are passionate about the same things we are and just might not have the resources, time, expertise to make those changes. In some cases we provide 'green grants' to help cover some of those incremental costs so the changes don't hurt so much to start with."

Of course, Clif Bar is not at all alone in its efforts. There is a land rush by corporate America to go green, and touring artists are more than receptive. One such tour coming up for this fall is the Next Step Campus Tour, sponsored by footwear-brand Crocs, with alternative rockers Guster as headliners. Set for September and October, the tour is produced by St. Louis-based 360 Productions.

A key component is the participation of Reverb, a non-profit greening initiative founded in 2004 by Lauren Sullivan and her husband, Guster guitarist/vocalist Adam Gardner. Reverb's mission is "educating, inspiring and activating music fans while greening artists' tours and the music industry at large."

Mike Kociela, owner of 360, says that while "every bit" of the tour will be green-conscious, the environmental aspect of Next Step came about in somewhat of a roundabout way.

"I'm very green-conscious and try to live my life thusly. I started talking to Bill Cottam [Crocs marketing director] about this and we both felt should take this in a green direction," he says. "Then when Guster came on board, all of a sudden it just fell into place -- for lack of a better word -- organically."

RECYCLED RUBBER MEETS THE ROAD

With 80 bands and scores of tour buses and trucks, moving Warped is like moving Patton's army every summer, or staging Live Earth five nights a week. Producer Lyman is pleased to see major touring biz companies like Up-Staging, Road Show, Jenco, Cat Power and others becoming more environmentally conscious. But with the green growth come those willing to capitalize on it.

"There are a lot of people running around calling themselves green consultants," says Lyman. "It almost always means out of work A&R guy. When some of these eco-consultants come streaming through the offices saying 'I know green companies, I'd like to attach them to your tour, how much will you pay me to introduce them to you?,' it doesn't sound like you're trying to save the Earth, it sounds like you're trying to make a buck."

One consultant Lyman does not place in this category is Tim Allyn, who has a background of environmental activism. Allyn started advising Warped last year, and also works with Lyman's Taste Of Chaos, and with promoter Goldenvoice on the Coachella and Stagecoach festivals. From Allyn's perspective, interest in biodiesel is "steadily growing," but there's still some way to go.

"I still get questions like 'What's the bus look like?'" he says. "The bus looks like every touring coach you've ever seen." Back on one of those biodiesel buses, Sexton acknowledges there are cost increases involved in going green.

"But that's where GreenNotes comes in, they'll help with that extra 30 cents a gallon," says Sexton. "And once demand is there, the costs will come down."

Rather than find the biodiesel, Warped has it delivered to the venue. "We already know who all the suppliers are, and it's a pretty narrow list," says Allyn.

The costs of having bio delivered "depends on how the individual companies want to bill it," says Allyn. "But it worked out last year to be about 8 to 10 cents more a gallon than street diesel, including fuel, labor and delivery." More to the point, Allyn says the concert business is in a unique position to affect change.

"The touring industry has a finite amount of trucking companies, generator companies, all going to the same places in every city. We could create demand if we worked together to make sure that the fuel was at or near the venue and just fill there."

Allyn also calls for the wider live industry to get on board. "Venues can run greener electricity, have recycling programs," he says. "A lot of these situations save money, some cost more, but they all benefit the environment."