Weather blamed for poor Reading sound

Bosses vow to overcome the problems for next year

United Kingdom | 28 August 2008

Reading organiser Melvin Benn has blamed the weather for the poor sound levels at this year's festival.

Benn has spoken out after some fans complained about the sound on the main stage for performances from Rage Against The Machine and The Killers.

Disgruntled festival-goers also criticized the volume of the speakers during Bloc Party's Saturday night set.

Speaking to the BBC Melvin Benn said: "The council set exactly the same level that they always set, but due to the weather this year, the sound stayed low.

"As a result the sound hit those decibel readings much, much earlier than normal, resulting in the sound being recorded at much louder volumes offsite than normal."

The Killers and Bloc Party's sets were both marred by rain and wind, which Benn conceded were factors for the lowered sound.

He continued: "We were obligated by the council to turn our levels down. The sound levels on site are almost entirely dictated by the levels offsite.

"The local council set levels by which sound can't be above and this is measured next to residential properties nearby to the site."

However Benn has promised to rectify the issues for next years event.

He said: "The sound level was less than ideal on the Friday night and my sound engineer and I have a meeting scheduled in with the council to present how we will overcome this so we don’t face the same issues with sound next year."