By John Aguilar
GOLDEN — Denver faces the delicate “high wire” task this summer of dealing with neighbor anger over the loud, bass-heavy music that emanates from Red Rocks Amphitheatre during certain shows while keeping the iconic concert venue an attractive place for live acts to play.
Complaints about excessive noise levels during electronic dance music shows at Red Rocks, which neighbors say not even closed windows or ear plugs can dampen, brought together residents and officials from Denver, Morrison and Jefferson County for an across-the-table discussion Friday morning.
Anthony Graves, Denver’s regional affairs director, told Jefferson County Commissioner Casey Tighe that the mayor’s office is paying attention to the concerns of those who live near the city-owned facility while at the same time trying to keep Red Rocks from losing its competitive edge should further restrictions on volume or concert duration be put in place.
“If we do diminish those levels, do we risk having those revenues go away?” Graves said of the money Denver collects from shows held at the vaunted sandstone venue.
Kent Rice, executive director of Denver Arts & Venues, said electronic dance music — or EDM — acts could go elsewhere “if we clamp down too tightly.”
But some residents, and many town leaders in Morrison, said something must be done to temper the “bone-crushing rattle” of low-frequency bass notes emanating from EDM concerts at Red Rocks — a rather recent phenomenon at the decades-old venue.
“We all appreciated Red Rocks until a couple of years ago,” said Joe Tempel, a resident of Pine Grove Park, which is located about 1½ miles from the amphitheater.
Elizabeth Roth, who lives in the same neighborhood as Tempel, said she can “clearly hear it inside the home” when an EDM act is on the stage.
Morrison Mayor Pro Tem Brewster Caesar compared the experience to being next to a tricked-out car pumping out music through woofer speakers at top volume but not being able to get away from it for hours at a time.
“We’re not in our car, we’re in our home,” he said. “We’re lying in our beds and we can’t go to sleep. It’s torture.”
Tighe asked those assembled in the commissioners room for patience in dealing with the problem. He said it’s important to see if Denver’s new sound limits at Red Rocks, which stipulate that the average decibels for an entire show are not to exceed 105 decibels for one-minute averages after midnight on weekdays and 1 a.m. on weekends and holidays, will work.
But Caesar expressed skepticism about new sound level restrictions being implemented for this year’s concert season because they don’t go into effect until so late at night.
“Realistically, that’s not going to deal with the problem,” Caesar said. “Is 11 p.m. fair? Maybe. Is 1 a.m. fair? It is not.”
Red Rocks has 12 EDM concerts set for this year. The first, the Global Dub Festival, is scheduled for May 16.
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John Aguilar: 303-954-1695, jaguilar@denverpost.com or twitter.com/abuvthefold
