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Local authorities received more than 100 noise complaints and at least 90 people were arrested on drug- and alcohol-related offenses at a two-day electronic music festival at Shoreline Amphitheatre held over the weekend.
Beyond Wonderland, which featured performances from big-name electronic music producers including Calvin Harris, AVICII and David Guetta was held at the local music venue Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 28-29.
According to Sgt. Sean Thompson, public information officer with the Mountain View Police Department, at least 90 people were arrested at the festival. Other Bay Area news outlets have reported that more than 100 were arrested.
Thompson also said the MVPD received more than 100 noise complaints from residents saying the festival was too loud. In comments left on the Voice website, many readers reported that the noise from the concert continued late into the night and singled out the bass frequencies emanating from Shoreline Amphitheatre as being particularly bothersome.
Residents made 105 complaints about noise from the event on Saturday night even though the sound levels were below the 98 decibels specified in the city’s contract with promoters, said J.P. De la Montaigne, community services director. The booming bass from the event “is not reflected so much in decibel levels,” De la Montaigne said.
De la Montaigne blamed the noise levels on the way two of the event’s stages were set up in a parking lot, facing Highway 101 instead of towards the Bay, like Shoreline Amphitheatre’s main stage. After receiving the complaints on Saturday night, the city met with the promoter and reduced the sound levels. “From the emails I saw this morning it made a big difference,” De la Montaigne said, adding that Sunday night drew only 20 or 30 complaints.
“We certainly apologize for the level of noise that impacted residents on Saturday night,” De la Montaigne said.
Thompson said there were no serious injuries reported at the festival.
While noise complaints are not out of the ordinary for Shoreline Amphitheater, the 90 people arrested was an unusually high number for the concert venue, Thompson said.
Thompson attributed the volume of arrests to a no-tolerance policy by law enforcement for public drug use by concertgoers and because people frequently bring drugs, primarily marijuana, with them to rave festivals.
The local law agencies that assisted Mountain View police during the two-day affair included Los Altos and Palo Alto police, the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety, the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office and the county’s Special Enforcement Team, Thompson said.
Police estimated that about 25,000 people attended the music events during each of the two days, Thompson said.
Staff writer Daniel DeBolt and Bay City News Service contributed to this story
No mention of the rape on Sunday? Or the flooding of El Camino Hospital with drug related issues? What a mess!
Arrests are public record. Please print the names and addresses of the perps here. I don’t want my kids associating with druggies. Thank you.
Why was this concert louder than all the others? Dont they have a legal noise limit or something that they all use?
Drugs are here to stay, Just say MO!!!
Kind of wonder how many other residents found the incessant thumping bass noise irritating but did not call and file a complaint? I know I didn’t call, but the noise and vibration was loud enough to force me to keep all my windows closed, and even then the thumping bass sound waves seemed to vibrate the entire house.
Setting up a stage facing towards 101…basically aiming the sound directly towards the residents of Mountain View? Really? Duh.
I’m sure the city made good coin off the two day event, and that’s all that seems to matter anymore…coin for the city coffers.
Thank God that concert is over. That was torture. I don’t
even want to listen to my music anymore after that torment
and abomination.
Apology not accepted. All my windows to my house were closed.
That was an invasion of my home. I pay property taxes if all
they are interested in is money.
I called the complaint hotline the MVPD told me to call. I got a “sound engineer” who said they were going to send a crew out to measure the “decimals” in my neighborhood. Nobody ever showed up. Whole house was pounding for 2 days straight. 3 miles from Shoreline. “98 decibels” means nothing on its own. Over what range of frequencies? Did the frequency response of the measuring device go down to 20 Hz? Was the device connected to the ground to pick up the low frequencies that were carried along the earth? Or did they just stick a microphone in the air?
This concert used to be in Oakland and got noise complaints from 3 counties. Now it moved down to us. So Mountain View is getting Oakland’s rejects now. Great times.
Seems to be the typical Mountain View modus operandi lately…
a) ridiculously ignorant
b) ridiculously greedy
c) ridiculously callous with regard to Mountain View residents
d) all of the above
They had the Bass Slappin Hard, if you smoke some reefer you will enjoy it.
I like the notion that the concert promoter is gonna care about noise levels. They are a traveling circus. They’re not gonna say “Concert’s over, folks. It’s too loud. Here’s a full refund. And please don’t riot in the streets.”
rolo8ab is a registered user… of what, I have no idea.
Despite all the complaints I hear on this forum, I would like to chime in with support for the concert. I’ve never been to a rave, I could hear the rhythmic beat most of the weekend and I am a homeowner that enjoys peace and quiet.
However, to hear this uplifting beat far off in the distance is so far less disruptive to me than the constant traffic roar from 85 or the random flybys of military aircraft, that I really don’t get the rage here.
To me, just knowing that this is *music* and that it represents tens of thousands of people enjoying themselves, it gives me a good feeling to hear this.
So, Shoreline and MVPD: Please count this family down as a supporter of this event and allow them back next year!
Rolo8ab, Mr. Nice, and other giddy characters: instead of mocking those who were disturbed, perhaps you could find the simple consideration to have your fun somewhere that it doesn’t intrude for many hours on people miles away in their homes? Live and let live doesn’t mean that you get to do anything you want, anywhere, anytime, and no one else has a right to express annoyance. By the way, do you have a “sh*t happens” bumper sticker that you’re proud of because it expresses your glorious freedom from the fetters of social concern and mutual responsibility? I would suggest that you could one day get sober and grow up a bit, but still, ya can’t fix stupid.
If this event comes around again there will be a lot more than 100 people ready to ask the City not to allow it.
It’s really not that serious! Yes it can be noisy but really you guys… it’s only a 2 day festival… not a new weekend ritual. Get over yourselves and Lighten Up!!
Live a Little, smh
@Adult Citizen
Funny thing is, You and the rest of the “annoyed” parties can’t get over an event that only lasted 2 DAYS! Not to mention that it didn’t just show up and rock the streets… YOU GOT NOTICE BEFOREHAND!!
Notice to the Uppity: Next time maybe you should plan a trip or an outing of your own 🙂
If the police were “following the accepted Shoreline Amphitheatre noise guide/ordinance”, then the ordinance is sorely in need of an overhaul. At 3 miles from Shoreline, I too had the bass pounding through my walls, where in the 20 years I have lived here, I have never before been disturbed by noise from there. Didn’t anyone get a clue from the rave concert held earlier this year at the Oakland Coliseum? There were endless noise complaints and a large number of arrests there too. Rave concerts need to be toned down, or not allowed.
We drove past on Saturday…. seemed OK…. not crazy, not louder than the others. Sorry to hear about the ugliness and a bit of mayhem. BUT MAYBE since we have closed down BOWLING ALLEYS, Skateparks and MINI GOLF and any other place young adults might hang out….we could have figured this out. PA doesn’t even have their real Mitchell Park library open yet – sheesh.
Call that sound what it was: Industrial Waste flowing into our homes.
The bass knocked over an urn containing my grandmother’s ashes. When I vacuumed it up, the ashes clogged my vacuum cleaner. When I took the vacuum cleaner to the shop, I got a parking ticket. When I got the parking ticket, I went to a nearby dive bar to console myself. While I was at the bar, I met a girl and went home with her and we had unprotected sex. Is Beyond Wonderland going to raise our baby?
I too heard the music from Shoreline. Sunday seemed worse than Saturday. It’s only during this time of year I ever hear Shoreline. I think it has something to do with the weather/temperature changes.
The hypocrisy is if I had a stereo booming away into the night the police would be pounding on my door to have me turn it off.
But if the police are earning a little overtime at an event causing noise complaints throughout the city it’s a different story. Then you get told about “noise policies” and “sound engineers”.
Otto, Yes, if you just decided one day that today will be boomng music day, the cops would shut you down.
If you had a legal permit as the concert did, the police would not do a thing to you.
Compare apples to apples.
So that’s the plan then………Let’s all everyone at city hall and we can all get us some Sound amplification permits (http://www.ci.mtnview.ca.us/civica/filebank/blobdload.asp?BlobID=5855) so we can CRANK IT UP in our neighborhoods. At a charge of $24.00 per day, the city ought to make some good money from us citizens that want to get REAL loud! You know The City of Mtn. View, they don’t turn away free money, no matter who is inconvenienced!
getmeapermit, By all means, go for it. You’ll need a proper venue, security, bathroom facilities, insurance…much more later, but yah, go for it.
I bet no one was arrested for smoking marijuana. Raves are about other drugs and sex. The Voice should follow up with the police dept in an effort to learn and report more about the arrests. As to the noise, too bad. Corporate profit always drowns out local complaints. City government gets a piece of the action.
How much money will be left over after the City of Mountain View is sued by surrounding communities for allowing noise intrusion concerts?
@Understand – I didn’t say I was implementing a Festival (additional/different permit), I only said we should all get Sound Amplification Permits so that we can all blast our stereos and blow out the neighborhoods. And just in case it went over your head……..I was being sarcastic (no permit needed).
I’ve lived about 2.5 mi. from Shoreline for 20 years and this was easily the loudest concert I’ve heard in that time, and it went on the longest which makes it doubly annoying. I was working from home Saturday and the noise was unavoidable even with the windows closed (and it was a nice day so I would have liked to have the windows open!). I believe that the figure of 100 noise complaints is probably deflated when you consider that the Mountain View Police was advising people on FB and twitter to contact the concert promoter, not them. I complained to the promoter and didn’t get any reply.
I’m not against concerts and have attended many myself over the years. I also don’t have a problem with hearing bands play once in awhile from my property. But this was different, and there was really nothing I could do about it. Just sayin’…
Does the City of Mountain View really need to be in the business of co-presenting drug parties? Don’t we have a higher aspiration for the lives of our citizens?
I live on the Los Altos/Mountain View. I could hear the deep penetrating bass form this particular concert in my backyard. It sounded much closer than being miles away from me. Fortunately my windows were able to block most of the bass out of my home. On other occasions I have heard (only the bass) emanating from Shoreline. Ironically I teach guitar and bass on the side. I would never think of having any of my amplifiers set at such a volume that it would vibrate my neighbor’s windows. Bass is very difficult to insulate, and about the only way to be compliant and to be a good neighbor is to keep the volume low. My son has a 13000 watt sound system in his car. I have instructed him to only play his system to his heart’s content on the freeway or when traffic is light on city roads, but never in a residential area.
Poor Fire Station 5..for those folks…I feel for em…..
It was loud alright ! Not only hearing it , I was feelin it…YEA !!!
I vote for a do-over…..
Everyone commenting has become OLD & GRUMPY….GRUMPIER !!
Have you forgotten all the stuff you did…Loud muzak , rollin-ur-own-smokes ,
Boones Farm an party-party-party till the break-of dawn………
Im 60+ yrs young…I am not like any-of-ya’ll..Thank God !!!
Turn off your stupid t.v. an liven UP your lives……..