Via the Guardian (whose science and environment coverage is habitually excellent):

Bob Dylan faces the ire of ecologists, unions and local residents because of a concert he is due to perform tonight in a park in the Spanish countryside.

Ten thousand fans are expected to descend on the park for the concert, which is being promoted by local authorities in Castilla y León under the title Musicians in Nature - a reference to its backdrop of lush woods and mountains.

But critics claim that the concert-goers could damage the parkland surrounding Mesegosillo de Hoyos del Espino, an estate in the Sierra de Gredos, a mountainous park near Avila to the west of Madrid.

Carlos Bravo, of the ecology association Centaurea, said: "They have taken no measures to preserve the area despite the large infrastructure that they are building."

He described putting on concerts of this type as an "atrocity".

I respect nature as much as the next person, but that's a low bar for "atrocity." (Apparently, the pitchforked mob got to Sting as well when he played the venue in 2006.) And, freedom of assembly notwithstanding, environmentalists should be more worried about the thousands driving to such venues, or the energy impact of equipment use and setup, than the welfare of the grass in the parking lot. On her tour last year, Madonna produced an estimated 485 tons of carbon dioxide, for example. And 80 percent of a show's carbon footprint is estimated to come from fan travel. Many major cities sponsor concerts in centrally-located public parks or other spaces where such commutes can be reduced. But there's really no good solution on the horizon--remember Peal Jam's gambit calling for tree-planting for every concert? Ineffectual, to say the least. What about holographic band appearances? Al Gore did it when apearing at LiveEarth in 2007. That seems a poor facsimile for those who love stadium rawk. But again--times, they are a-changing. 

--Dayo Olopade