Declan McKenna, Tom Walker and Nathan Evans among others will perform intimate phone-free gigs across Scotland to raise money for suicide prevention charity, Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM).

In the run-up to Mental Health Awareness Week (12–18 May 2025), CALM will host three concerts at the Edinburgh Assembly Rooms, Stirling Albert Halls and Glasgow Old Fruit Market. Nina Nesbitt, Saint PHNX and Caity Baser will deliver support sets.

Each venue will be using Yondr phone pouches for the duration of the shows to ensure mobile phones and any other recording equipment aren’t used during the performances.

Tickets cost £12.20 each – the amount it takes to fund a call to CALM’s free-to-access suicide prevention helpline, which is run by trained professionals – and 30% of ticket sales will be donated to the charity to make their work possible.

“Music, and musicians, truly are a lifeline for so many people going through tough times”

“CALM started its life in music, having been set up by Factory Records’ Tony Wilson,” says Simon Gunning, CEO of Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM). “It’s part of our DNA, and a key tool in our fight against suicide. Music, and musicians, truly are a lifeline for so many people going through tough times, and it’s apt that these three gigs are taking place in the lead up to Mental Health Awareness Week.

“The theme this year is community, and there really is no greater community than music, and the collective experience of live music in particular – especially when we get a chance to switch off from our phones for a few hours. We’re incredibly grateful to all the artists involved, including our Ambassador Tom Walker.”

Phone-free gigs are an increasing trend, with acts including Bob Dylan and Ghost forbidding devices at their recent gigs. Iconic hotel and nightspot Pikes Ibiza, meanwhile, prohibits mobile phones from the dancefloor seven nights a week.

See the full list of CALM’s concerts below.

Edinburgh Assembly Rooms – Friday 2nd May 2025
Tom Walker – Nina Nesbitt

Stirling Albert Halls – Tuesday 6th May 2025
Declan McKenna – Bradley Simpson

Glasgow Old Fruit Market – Saturday 10th May 2025
Nathan Evans & Saint PHNX – Caity Baser

Fans can now sign up for the on-sale at 10 am on Thursday 17 April.

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Dance music legend Moby and ascendant singer-songwriter Declan McKenna were the focal points of a special keynote session to close yesterday’s Green Events and Innovations conference (GEI17).

The leading conference for event sustainability is organised by A Greener Future (AGF) in partnership with the International Live Music Conference (ILMC).

The hour-long keynote at London’s Royal Lancaster Hotel was chaired by Cathy Runciman of EarthPercent — a charity dedicated to linking the music industry to some of the most impactful organisations addressing the climate emergency, and is renowned for producing & releasing the world’s first bio-plastic (plant-based) vinyl records.

Both McKenna and Moby (who joined the panel digitally from his home in Los Angeles) sounded off on a plethora of topics ranging from the creative process to the trials & tribulations of activism. Here were a few of the highlights…

The differences between making music in sunny Los Angeles and the grey UK…

Declan McKenna: “There’s definitely an effect, and I can hear the difference between the stuff that I’ve made. For my last album [What Happened to the Beach?], some songs I wrote in LA and others I wrote back home [in Brighton], and the latter stuff was definitely somewhat moodier, whereas the Californian sunshine allowed me to step back and relax a bit in the creative process. New environments are one of the most important factors into doing things differently.

“It’s more than just the weather though. There’s so much inspiring stuff out there that I couldn’t help but write some “moodier” material as well, but even with that ‘darkness’ in a musical sense, it’s the juxtaposition between the two places that makes it interesting. In LA, there’s a lot of people who’ve left their homes and lives behind to chase their dreams, likely also reinventing themselves to become someone completely new. That, of course, has its pros and cons.

Making more “playful” music after breaking through with bold political messaging…

DM: “It’s not without reflection of a wider world. Being playful with music doesn’t strictly mean escapism. I think all of my music has some reference to something that I feel about the world. If I have to react to something emotionally by way of writing about it in a song, it has to come from a genuine emotion, like anger, or fear, or sadness. These things are a big driving force for emotion. But when I’m not experiencing that, I’m kinda looking for joy, and that’s what I had for most of the last album.”

“Americans have basically been driven insane by living in the state of constant apocalypse”

Reflections on pressures on artists nowadays…

DM: “We’re in a time where it feels like there’s a lot of change within the industry. I think that amongst the pressure, it’s important to remember the pressures on young artists. Does it impact you? The main thing that it boils down to in terms of protecting artists is that while there’s so much change, they need to be allowed to make art in a way that’s natural to them, so that they can grow organically and not feel this immense pressure that turns them into something they’re not. With so many methods of self-promotion such as TikTok and other social media platforms, they need to remember to exercise those strategies with caution. However, if constantly promoting on TikTok has worked for them, then maybe just leave them to their devices.”

Moby’s thoughts on the aftermath of the LA wildfires…

Moby: “I’m hesitant to ascribe any positive aspects to what was apocalyptic, but people’s response was phenomenal. I saw a side of people I’d never seen before. Pure altruism. The scope of the devastation was so much worse than what was reported. The Palisades and Altadena were gone, tens of thousands of homes and buildings reduced to rubble, cars melted, engine blocks turned to melted metal, but only two things didn’t burn in Altadena: the trees and grapefruits. Hopefully there’s a lesson to be learned in that everything we build can be destroyed, but nature has this inherent sort of encoded mechanism by which it survives.”

The lack of discussion regarding climate change after what happened in LA…

Moby: “I was in New York City after 9/11 and I was criticised for saying that this was a failure in national security. So with the fires, it’s obvious that climate change was a huge variable, kinda like if you hold a brick in the air and you drop it, you’re not necessarily talking about gravity pulling it to the ground. That’s why I think some didn’t mention it, but others were too devastated. There was a two-week period where almost everyone in LA would go to sleep not knowing if they’re gonna burn to death at night.

“I was talking to some friends from Belgium and they were trying to understand the American character. Something apocalyptic is constantly happening, like they’re either freezing to death or baking to death. Americans have basically been driven insane by living in the state of constant apocalypse.”

“I spent decades touring, but as time passed, I realised that I just loved staying at home”

Moby’s thoughts on the current state of play on animal agriculture…

Moby: “I’ve been vegan for 37 years and working on behalf of animal rights, and in the animal rights community, we sometimes refer to addressing animal agriculture as being the “Swiss army knife of activism” because a lot of it is well-intentioned and great but its linear, whereas the baffling horror of using animals for fashion are cancer, diabetes, heart disease, pandemics, deforestation, plastic climate change, and so on.

“It has a lot of competition, but animal agriculture is the single most destructive entity that humans ever invented, which is saying something as we invented the fossil fuel market. If we give up animal agriculture, we reduce climate change by 30%, we reduce healthcare spending by 60% to 70%, we prevent almost all pandemics, we end rainforest deforestation, we almost end ocean acidification, and we end ocean plastic in the ocean by about 50%. An alien would ask us why do you keep sustaining and subsidising an industry that destroys everything it touches, and I’d answer that we’re idiots [laughs].”

Moby on getting back into touring after a decade-long hiatus…

Moby: “I spent decades touring, but as time passed, I realised that I just loved staying at home. My manager kept trying to convince me to get back on the saddle, and I resisted for the longest time. Then, he finally tricked and trapped me [laughs]. He suggested that I could give my money to animal rights and climate organisations. Goddamn it, I couldn’t say no.

“However, it’s really tricky to give money away. For last year’s tour, we had to spend multiple calls with different lawyers about how I could not make any money from it because I didn’t want there to be any hint of self-interest. All the money went to these different accounts that I’m not involved in, and I got paid just one dollar.”

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Climate Live, a youth-led global environmental campaign, has announced a 24-hour concert live stream kicking off tomorrow (24 April).

Beginning in Japan, the Climate Live April 24 event will also include performances from countries including Portugal, Uruguay, Brazil, Germany, Canada, Mexico, the Netherlands, Colombia and the UK, where Declan McKenny will perform from a secret location at 8.30pm UK time. Other participating artists include Milky Chance (Germany), Anly (Japan), Barenaked Ladies (Canada) and Any Gabrielly (Brazil).

The live stream is intended as a warm-up for a bigger Climate Live event which will take place across 43 countries on 16 October, ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference (Cop26). The line-up and venues for the October event will be announced in the coming weeks.

Led by members of Friday for Future, the youth groups organising the school strikes started by Greta Thunberg, Climate Live aims to raise awareness of the challenges faced by “those on the front lines of the [climate] crisis.”

The live stream is intended as a warm-up for a bigger Climate Live event which will take place across 43 countries on 16 October

By asking, “Can you hear us yet?”, the campaign urges young people to make their voices heard and put pressure on world leaders to take action to combat climate change in the run-up to Cop26.

Climate Live founder Frances Fox, 20, says: “I started Climate Live in spring 2019, after being inspired by an interview in which Brian May said there should be a Live Aid for the climate crisis. I thought this was a brilliant idea to engage more young people in the movement, with our own spin, so immediately started messaging activists from all over the world.”

To tune in to the Climate Live April 24 streaming event tomorrow, or find out more about the campaign, visit climatelive.org/stream.

Yesterday saw the international music community come together for Earth Day 2021, and a number of events continue across the weekend.

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