The Curse of the Summer Music Festival
In the good old days noisy music festivals made sense, because technology was not what it is today. There was no choice but to build huge speaker stacks with huge amounts of power, to deafen an entire crowd of festival goers. It was also a different age, where attitudes to noise pollution were different.
In the 21st century, as people are crammed closer and closer together in villages, towns and cities, so the need to control noise pollution should increase. In summer, if you live Nyon there are two awful festivals. One of them is the Caribana and the other is the Paléo. Both of them make noise for four or five days, from the sound checks at lunch time to the concerts that go until 0200-0300.
Timing Holidays to Flee Noise Pollution
It is at this time that those that can flee, do. They go on holiday, or they get tickets to go to the events in person, to be part of the problem, rather than the solution.
Silent Disco Events
The real problem, in my opinion, is that when I went to the IFSC World Cup event, an international event in Villars Sur Ollon there was noise until a specific time, and then a silent disco. The same happened at the World VR Forum events.
Now, in 2023 the Caribana had their sound system so loud that I could hear it, within a few minutes walk from Nyon, because the unfavourable winds were blowing it towards me. It was so loud that despite modern insultation and modern windows it was louder than the fan I was running at full power within my home to generate white noise.
Peut Faire Mieux
In the age of Silent Disco I would expect for festival sound engineers, if we can even call them engineers, to find a way to control the sound, so that it is loud enough for people at the event, but silent for neighbourhoods nearby. In my opinion a good music festival should only be heard by those that are at the event.
The Need For Festivals
I know that young people should be able to enjoy festivals like we did, and festivals should be allowed to take place. What I object to is the noise pollution, especially in a country that bans ULM because of the noise they make, especially in a country where you shouldn’t mow the lawn on a Sunday, or any day after a certain time.
Inconsistant Message
In the country where you can’t vacuum after a certain time of night, it shouldn’t be legal to have music festivals until 3am from Wednesday to Sunday, twice in a single summer.
Some Flee
The Fête de Genève were cancelled because of complaints about noise pollution. Plenty of people leave the areas around Caribana and Paléo during the festivals. It’s not that people don’t object to the disturbance. They simply flee. By fleeing they give the illusion of consent because they don’t object.
And Finally
Although the pandemic was completely erased from the RTS website in Switzerland, and Swiss water quality tests COVID is still around, and people like me are still cautious about being around big crowds. For two or three years festivals have been organised with no thoughts or regards, for people self-isolating and suffering with solitude and loneliness. It’s not just that festivals went ahead despite COVID not being eradicated. It reminded people suffering from solitude that others were not suffering from solitude, and that is what is so awful about summer music festivals.
Not everyone is into music, and not everyone is nocturnal. Some people like to hike and socialise, climb or scuba dive. During a music festival like Caribana or Paléo sleep becomes impossible so it gets in the way of that way of life.
Remember, in Geneva you see the slogan “Le moins on s’entend, le mieux on s’entend”. The less I hear you, the better we understand each other. Music festivals go completely in the opposite direction. They’re loud, obnoxious, and selfish.
Of course let’s not forget something key. Festival goers claim to be environmentalists, and yet they’re fine with noise pollution for an entire week. This doesn’t make sense. If planes are too noisy then how is a concert different?If cars are too noisy, then how is a concert different?
To be healthy sleep is important, but during a festival sleep becomes impossible. I am currently hoping for rain, as that will cover up the noise of the music festivals. I can hear the noise pollution from the event as I write this, and I no I will be sleep deprived until Sunday, and require a week or two to recover.
All of this because concert sound engineers haven’t considered how to design sound not to flood a large area of land.
I don’t want an end to music festivals. I want an end to their noise pollution.