Beck's Ascend Concert Sets Noise Complaint Record

NASHVILLE, TN -- Noise is the new pollution.

Perhaps Beck had too many turntables and microphones at his Sunday night concert at Ascend Amphitheater on Nashville's riverfront, as the music from the show vexed laws and could be heard as far as four miles into East Nashville.

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Metro received more noise complaints from the show than any other concert in recent history.

Metro Councilmember Freddie O'Connell, who represents part of downtown, told NewsChannel 5 he is working with East Nashville councilman Brett Withers and Metro Parks to address concerns that were brought to the fore by the show.

"Last night I think kind of put a fine point on it. I heard from at least one of his constituents, that this was one of the worst that it's been in the entire run of shows at Ascend," O'Connell told the station.

Live Nation, the promoter that operates the amphitheater, is going to begin fining acts that exceed a certain decibel level and a new sound monitoring system is being installed in coming weeks.

Lyn Bingham, a conductor who lives in East Nashville, told Fox 17 she doesn't think the city considered water's quality of increasing sound attenuation when they built Ascend.

Sound travels about four times faster in water than in air of similar temperature, thus increasing its range, a basic principle in the United States Navy's undersea submarine monitoring program. In addition, lower frequency sound waves travel farther than those in the mid-range or upper bands, thus window-shaking bass can be heard even farther away.

In a statement issued Tuesday, Live Nation said Beck did not exceeded agreed-upon noise limits

"At no time during the Sunday night Beck show did decibel levels eclipse the acceptable level that Metro Parks and Live Nation have agreed for shows at Ascend. If it had, then Live Nation would have issued a notice of violation and imposed a financial fine in accordance with the offer language they agreed to for their engagement at Ascend Amphitheater," the statement said.

The company did concede that while it cannot control the weather, it believes high dew points and relative humidity contributed to the sound attenuation.

Metro Parks issued a statement about the concerns, agreeing that the show as far too loud

We are aware of the complaints concerning the sound during last night’s Beck Concert at Ascend. We are in agreement with the residents of East Nashville that the music was too loud. The complaints and comments have been forwarded to Live Nation. We have an agreement in place with Live Nation to not exceed certain sound limits.

Last night, there appears to still have been an issue with the volume and clarity of sound in certain segments of East Nashville and Donelson. We have ordered new sound monitoring equipment that we expect to be in place within the next few weeks that will help us effectively monitor and address this issue. We will be working closely with Live Nation to determine what additional steps we can take in the future to more quickly adjust and correct when there is an issue.

Please feel free to reach out to us at email address riverfrontparkconcerts@nashville.gov."

Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images