Inglewood residents complain of noise from HARD Summer music festival, Lady Gaga concert

CBS News

2 days ago

Inglewood residents are once against raising concerns over the booming noise brought on by the HARD Summer music festival, which is this time paired with Lady Gaga playing right across the street.
Tens of thousands of fans flocked to Hollywood Park, next to SoFi Stadium for the HARD Summer festival and just steps away from the Kia Forum, where Lady Gaga is closing out the Los Angeles leg of her "The Mayhem Ball Tour."
"I just love the energy, trying to have a good time, going to have fun," said Armando Alvarez, one of the thousands in Inglewood on Saturday for the music. "It doesn't matter where I am, just trying to have an adventure and go with the flow."
While some concertgoers like Alvarez love the vibes in Inglewood, some residents are already fed up with the dueling performances.
"It just sounded like a lot of banging, a lot of cheering and a lot of loud drumming," said Latrice Bates. She lives just down the street from SoFi Stadium and recalls the impact last year's HARD Summer festival had on her son.
"He tosses and turns. He wakes up and says he can't sleep," Bates said.
Last year, complaints came from as far as the South Bay, including places like El Segundo and Redondo Beach. City officials in the area reported more than 100 noise complaints from the festival, which led them to ban performances from the SoFi's American Airlines Plaza.
Inglewood Mayor James Butts said that he wants the city to be an entertainment hub, but promised that this year's event would differ from last year's.
"Last year, what happened was the main stage was American Airlines Plaza, 50 feet elevated from the floor of SoFi, and it was facing west and that, combined with atmospheric conditions, allowed the bass frequencies to run along the clouds," Butts said.
He said that a changeup in where speakers were located, along with a newly-implemented concert curfew to coincide with the city curfew of 10 p.m., should help lessen residents' concerns.
"It ran over last year. It will not run over this year," he said. "If I have to pull the plug myself, it will end at 10 o'clock."
Prior to this weekend, HARD Summer event planners said that they were aware of last year's complaints, and that "extensive efforts" were taken "to mitigate sound levels with operational changes."
Despite these promises from city officials and event organizers, some people living in the South Bay still took to social media to comment on the sound from the events, which some said they planned on reporting once again.