Glastonbury explain low sound levels during Killers performance

Glastonbury organiser Michael Eavis has retracted a statement he made earlier to the press where he blamed the new sound system for not being strong enough for the site.

Having studied a full report from the Glastonbury site environmental team following the Killers’ set at this year’s festival, Eavis has stressed that the PA system and its technical team were not at fault for the low sound levels during the Saturday night headliner's set.

The reason given is 'unusual meteorological conditions' which caused abnormally high off site noise measurement levels which needed to be reduced swiftly in order to comply with the terms of the licence. This led to the sound engineers on the Pyramid Stage being directed by the authorities to dramatically reduce the sound level for the Killers as the fastest route to attain this. The directive was implemented immediately, as compliance with the terms of the event licence was essential to ensure the future of the festival.

Responsibility was taken seriously by the engineers despite chants from the crowd to “turn it up” and the devastating effect they knew it would have on the performance and ultimately the enjoyment of the audience. The eventual decision to turn it up during the latter part of the set was reached by the sound crew who had become concerned for crowd safety stemming from the frustration of the Pyramid audience.

Festival Sound Co-ordinator Chris Beale commented: “The crew that worked on the Pyramid Stage sound system were second to none – in fact one of the fastest, most organised and professional teams that I have ever had the privilege to work with. The press reports about the sound levels on Saturday evening for the Killers are unfair to those people and to the system. The environmental team were limiting sound levels all over the site but the main stage system was restrained to the point where it was unworkable."

He added: “The Who’s sound on Sunday was 103dBA at the console and carried loud and clear to the rear of the arena, whilst the offsite levels were 5dBA lower than they had been the previous evening.”

In general, a fair balance has to be struck between achieving acceptable sound levels for festival audiences whilst respecting local residents’ concerns about noise. Glastonbury Festival has stated that it will continue to work with everybody involved, including the local authority, to ensure that this balance is maintained at future events.


eFestivals now has the first of our photographs up from this year's Glastonbury Festival (click here), but keep checking back as there are loads more to come.

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