11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Sound decibels to be measured when Irvine Bowl hosts concerts during Coast Film & Music Festival
Two nights of live concerts in November will serve as further opportunity for sound testing at the Irvine Bowl on Laguna Canyon Road as the city of Laguna Beach seeks to refine its noise policy for events at the venue.
The City Council this week voted unanimously to authorize a three-day suspension of the noise policy from Nov. 7 through Nov. 9, which coincides with the final days of the seventh annual Coast Film & Music Festival.
Laguna Beach has shown interest in having more events at the Irvine Bowl, which is located on the Festival of Arts grounds. Under a lease agreement with the city, the Festival of Arts has exclusive rights to the amphitheater from May 1 through the end of the period during which the venue is largely dedicated to the Pageant of the Masters.
The Irvine Bowl noise policy, established in February of 2020, dictates that sound levels should not exceed 70 decibels at the neighborhood sound boundary.
In April of this year, the City Council approved a $22,220 contract with Rincon Consultants, Inc. to study decibel levels, an agreement that could rise to as much as $27,000 if an option was exercised for a representative event ambient noise study. The consulting firm simulated a concert at the venue on June 13, measuring sound from several locations.
The location of the meters included the east end of Olive Street, which was identified as the closest location to the neighborhood sound boundary. The four meters were placed at a range of 150 feet to 600 feet from the stage, with one aiming to capture sound levels in the adjacent open space area.
The council has approved an additional budget of up to $15,000 for the consultant to measure and analyze the sound recorded during the real-life concerts. The cheering coming from a crowd was among the variables that could not be replicated in the June test.
Council representatives will also collaborate with an informal working group to outline best practices for a formal sound and use policy for concerts at the Irvine Bowl. The Santa Barbara Bowl was discussed as a possible venue to help guide those recommendations.
'Ultimately, what we're doing is, I believe, what the [Irvine Bowl policy] committee was supportive of unanimously, which is waiving the [noise] policy as it relates to this one concert,' Mayor Alex Rounaghi said. 'Then we can use this concert as a case study to figure out what the right decibel limits are, so that we could perhaps have maybe six to eight live music concerts a year, which I think would be great for the community.'
Ben Warner, who along with Enich Harris co-founded the Coast Film & Music Festival, said festival organizers plan to provide a sound and lighting system from a third party and build a temporary stage over the orchestra pit.
The Coast Film Foundation requested a maximum sound level of 110 decibels from a front-of-house location for its scheduled concerts. Warner promised benefit concerts with 'world-class bands' on the Saturday and Sunday during which the sound policy would be waived. He wouldn't reveal the bands just yet but said the performers have already been booked.
'This can serve as a test case for sound logistics and feedback, showing what's possible when we work together,' Warner said. 'Let's bring the Bowl back to life for the artists, for the local economy, and for the heart of Laguna Beach.'
The council heard from several speakers who supported having music performed live in the Irvine Bowl.
Resident Conner Cooper appealed to the council by detailing the scene at Bluebird Park over the Fourth of July weekend, when the ska and rock band Party Foul played to lead off Music in the Park, a free public concert series held on Sundays in July and August.
'Looking down into the park, seeing everyone dance and sing along is just something that you can't get anywhere else,' Cooper said. 'That's, I think, why we're here to show our support. We want more of that. We want more dancing and singing. Yeah, it shouldn't take place every night. It should take place on special occasions, but it should take place more than it's taking place now.'
The potential inconvenience of concerts on residents whose homes are above the Irvine Bowl is one concern. The effect of that sound on the surrounding wildlife in open space is another.
'My concern is that we already have a relatively limited amount of acreage, and you don't want to be in a situation where you are making habitat that's adjacent to the bowl unusable for wildlife,' Councilwoman Hallie Jones said. 'I think intermittent sound — when you have loud sound on one night — concerns me way less than development of some sort that would have consistent loud noise every night. Even if that were high-density housing, things like that, I think that could be more impactful on wildlife than a one-time event.'
