Organisers of last weekend's virtual staging of the Earth Hour Acoustic Concert have hailed the event as a success.

“We have a combined social media total of over 70,000 views, and the feedback has been amazing. We received messages from all over the world while it was going on, and even Jamaicans who attended previously in person were excited that they didn't have to miss out due to the pandemic. It really exceeded our expectations,” Miguel Manning, multimedia manager, ESIROM – promoters of the event told the Jamaica Observer.

Earth Hour is the single largest symbolic mass participation event in the world, that was born out of a hope to mobilise people to take action on climate change. It has grown from a symbolic 'lights out' in 2007 to one of the world's largest grass-roots movements for the environment, spanning over 7,000 cities and 190 countries.

This year, the concert was streamed virtually and featured performers, including Sean Paul, Tessellated, Munga Honorable, D Major, ZJ Liquid, Amanyea, Maneen, Rosh Rebel, and newcomer Lavisch.

“The idea was to drive awareness about the movement through an entertaining experience – music. When the event is held in a physical space you notice that it is a very relaxed setting, patrons sitting on the grass, in the stands, almost anywhere you could find a spot and they would carry the kids and just have a great night with the right amount of excitement,” said Alex Morrissey, director, ESIROM.

Morrissey says the objectives for the event have been realised.

“The objectives were definitely met: exposure about the purpose of Earth Hour and also highlighting amazing performers. We anticipated a few thousand views but not close to 100,000. We've received numerous e-mails from organisations wishing to be featured about their contributions to decrease climate change through awareness in the next staging.”

Morrissey said that for next year's event, based on the impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic, another virtual staging might take place.