LAGUNA BEACH : City to Restrict Noise at Irvine Bowl

After a two-hour public hearing at which residents complained bitterly about the “maelstrom of noise” from Irvine Bowl concerts, the City Council said Tuesday night that the volume must be lowered for future shows.

“The noise comes up there like a monsoon,” said one of several residents who used dramatic terms to describe the way their lives have been disrupted by the concert series. “I can’t sleep. I look at the ceiling and wonder, when will it end?”

About 70 people packed council chambers for the hearing, including some who spoke in favor of the concerts, a series of seven performances that ended Halloween night with the Village People. Among earlier performers were Peter, Paul and Mary and saxophonist Grover Washington Jr.

The Irvine Bowl, home to the Pageant of the Masters each summer, has in the past offered two or three concerts in the fall. This year, the festival board decided to make better use of the bowl and scheduled more concerts, jolting residents above the amphitheater and across the canyon.

Before any more concerts can be staged, council members said, the bowl must obtain a permit from the city and resolve noise and parking issues.

Irvine Bowl spokesman Tim Wilcox admitted that “the sound levels got a little bit high” during some of the concerts but defended the expanded series, which he said benefits the city.

The city owns the Festival of Arts grounds, which includes the bowl, and leases it for 13.75% of the gross receipts, or about $450,000 annually, City Manager Kenneth C. Frank said.

Some residents, however, said they have had enough. One complained of pictures rattling on the walls, another of her windows shaking.

“It’s not noise,” another resident said, “it’s a slaughter on the ear.”