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Ahead of Louder Than Life, festival producers address concerns over water, noise

In response to complaints about Hometown Rising and Bourbon & Beyond, Danny Wimmer Presents shared their plan for hydration and sound levels.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — As Louder Than Life prepares to make its debut at the Highland Festival Grounds this weekend, the producers of the festival are addressing complaints made by fans and neighbors during their other music festivals earlier this month.

“We’re very proud of the efforts we made to keep fans safe and hydrated at Hometown Rising and Bourbon & Beyond the past two weekends as temperatures in Louisville reached the 90s,” said Danny Hayes, CEO of Danny Wimmer Presents. Wimmer said that over the two weekends, they had 71 heat-related calls out of the 161,000 fans in attendance and none of those calls resulted in trips to the hospital.

“The safety of all of our fans, performers, and staff is always our number one concern,” he said.

RELATED: Is Louisville becoming the new destination for all things music?

Louisville Pure Tap Water has provided a "hydration station" on the grounds for all three festivals. After Hometown Rising, additional faucets were added to the free water bottle filling station. Water misters are placed throughout the festival grounds to help fans keep cool. Wimmer also said security members handed out bottled water to attendees near the stages to help keep them hydrated.

Credit: Danny Wimmer Presents
A map of the festival grounds shows where the Louisville Pure Tap Hydration Station is located at Louder Than Life.

Fans are encouraged to bring an empty reusable water bottle to Louder Than Life this weekend. If you don’t have a reusable bottle, one factory-sealed water bottle up to 20 oz. is allowed per person.

The festival producers are also aware of the noise complaints issued after Hometown Rising and Bourbon & Beyond. Danny Wimmer Presents has met with local metro council representatives to discuss those concerns and the producers said they routinely monitor the sound levels in and around the festival grounds.

RELATED: Bourbon and Beyond attracts 91,000 people, 23 noise complaints

“We agree that excessive noise is unacceptable,” Hayes said. “That’s why we self-impose a 105-decibel limit on sound at our shows, as measured from the sound mixer’s position.” During Bourbon & Beyond, readings taken in nearby neighborhoods showed that noise levels were consistently below 75 decibels. (For comparison, normal conversation registers at around 60-65 decibels at 3 feet.)

The Danny Wimmer Presents team also plans to keep a close eye on how weather affects the sound coming from the festival grounds.

“Wind and atmospheric conditions played a part in how sound traveled over the past two weeks,” said Production Director Les Targonski. “On Sunday, we saw the highest winds of our five festival days so far – and not coincidently, that’s when noise traveled furthest.”

The festival producers plan to hold a community meeting in early November and they encourage the community to participate.

“Our goal is to be in Louisville for a long time, as a partner, a good neighbor, and a positive contributor to the fabric of the city,” Hayes said.

RELATED: First Hometown Rising Festival brings in 70,000 attendees

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