When musicians are traveling to concerts or festivals, they’re often thought of as taking a tour bus or a private jet. But Irish musician Nick Kelly wanted to do it differently and in a far more environmentally-friendly way.
"I love playing music, but I also really love watching music. And I loved going to festivals," Kelly told KCLU. "A few years ago, I saw this thing about Coldplay canceling a world tour because they couldn't justify the carbon footprint. I'm also very interested in an environmental stuff, and I start to think, 'Are we allowed to go to festivals anymore? Can we have festivals?' Because, you know, 80% of the carbon footprint is transport. So I thought, I'm going to prove that you can tour without driving."
So, in June 2022, Kelly decided to cycle to the Glastonbury Festival carrying all his gear and his bike and play shows along the way..
The singer – who was previously the front man of the band, The Fat Lady Sings, carried his guitar and all his other necessities as he embarked on the long and arduous cycle ride from Dublin, Ireland, to perform at the Glastonbury Festival in England.
"Which is probably the world's most famous festival and certainly the biggest one," explained Kelly.
"From Ireland to Glastonbury via a bit of train and a bit of ferry, but there's about 350kms of cycling," he said.
It turned out to be more than just a challenge as Nick faced up to his own mortality and the passing of time – playing Glastonbury on his 60th birthday, significant because it meant he outlived his famous politician father who had died aged 59.
"He was quite a big figure in Irish public life, but he died at the age of 59, which kind of inoculated me against politics. I think we were only just starting to have a relationship and then he died. I realized that the first day of Glastonbury was my 60th birthday, that would be the birthday he'd never reached," said Kelly.
"The film was initially about environmental sustainability and it kind of is about that. But it started to be also a bit about, well, as you get older as an artist, how do you keep going on as a human being and how do you feel not useless?" said Kelly.
"So I hope it's an empowering film about the climate, but I also hope it's an empowering film that you can try new things and it could be fun to do a new thing and it could be really, really useful to do a new thing," he told KCLU.
And it's the film-maker's first time to the Santa Barbara Film Festival.
"This is the first time that anyone who isn't an Irish audience will be seeing it. So I'm kind of absolutely excited and kind of terrified to see what they make of it," said Kelly, who was previously nominated for an Oscar for a short movie in 2011.
And the Song Cycle is screened Thursday at 6pm at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival – with two more screenings on Friday and Saturday respectively.
