Kiss Concert Far Exceeded Amphitheatre Noise Limit, Consultant Says

Kiss, a band with a reputation as one of the noisiest in the rock business, blatantly violated a noise level injunction against Pacific Amphitheatre during a concert Saturday night, the consultant for a homeowner’s group said.

Sam Lane, consultant for Concerned Citizens of Costa Mesa, said Kiss and opening act Anthrax far exceeded noise levels set by a court order for almost the entire first two hours of the concert.

“Kiss is the loudest of any performance I’ve heard,” said Lane, who has monitored sound levels of amphitheater concerts for four years. “The maximum limit that you can’t go over for one second is 70 decibels, and they’ve gone over that a hundred times.”

‘Inundated’ With Noise

Lane set up his equipment in a back yard on Presidio Drive, about 2,000 feet away from the arena.

Russell Millar, president of Concerned Citizens, said the noise was worse north of the Orange County Fairgrounds where the amphitheater is located, but that crowd noises swelled through streets south of the fairgrounds.

“We’re very disappointed that they have refused to be the good neighbors they have always promised they would be,” said Millar, referring to the amphitheater’s owner, Los Angeles-based Ned West Inc. “It just shows their lack of civic conscience.”

Rusty Lusk, treasurer of the homeowner’s group, who lives less than a mile north of the amphitheater, said the noise was “like being inundated with massive amounts of energy.”

“Its like having somebody in your back yard with a huge ghetto blaster,” he said, referring to large, portable radios usually equipped with stereo speakers. “I would bet my salary that they are violating the injunction.”

Decibel Limits

The order, according to Lane, requires Ned West to keep concert noise to no more than 50 decibels during half of any hour and below 70 decibels at all times.

Ned West spokesmen could not be reached for comment.

Noise limits were set last May by Orange County Superior Court Judge Gary L. Taylor at the request of the homeowner’s group and the city of Costa Mesa, as part of a lawsuit the group has filed against Ned West.

Saturday was the second time this month that Concerned Citizens has accused Ned West of violating Taylor’s order. The first time was March 5 and involved the amphitheater’s season opener, a concert by the British rock group Yes.

Lane said he measured Yes’ noise levels at between 50 and 66 decibels for 37 minutes during the first half of their act and 40 minutes for the second half.

Millar had characterized Yes’ concert as “horrendously loud.”

Lane’s reports from the Kiss and Yes concerts will be turned over to Concerned Citizens’ lawyer and presumably will be used in the group’s court fight against Ned West, Millar said. The homeowner group’s battle over noise at the 18,800-capacity amphitheater, the largest on the West Coast, began when the theater opened in July, 1983, with a Barry Manilow concert.

Despite attempts by amphitheater operators to muffle the sound and keep it from spilling into residential areas, noise complaints have continued to come from the nearby Mesa del Mar neighborhood and the College Park area. In addition to noise, the residents have complained about litter left by concert-goers, crowd control problems and traffic.

The most outspoken critic is Concerned Citizens. Its lawsuit alleges that officials of the state-owned fairgrounds allowed the amphitheater’s design to be changed to allow a 70% increase in size without a revised environmental impact statement. The lawsuit was thrown out of a lower court but reinstated by the state Supreme Court.

Seven residents later filed a $1-million lawsuit against Ned West, saying they were being harassed by noise from concerts.

In addition to those actions, the state has filed a lawsuit against Ned West; the city of Costa Mesa has repeatedly tried to prosecute it, its officers and concert performers, including rock stars Rod Stewart and Sheena Easton; at least two judges have ordered the firm to lower noise levels, and bills have been introduced in the state Legislature to give Costa Mesa jurisdiction over noise control on the fairgrounds.

Ned West, which has a 40-year lease with the fairgrounds board, successfully fought off most of those challenges until last year, when Taylor issued his order.

The concerts were deemed unnecessarily noisy by Taylor after four concerts were monitored.