Los Angeles residents took to social media over the weekend to complain about a techno festival being held miles away.
The gripes filed in Friday and Saturday on sites like X and Reddit, all because of noise at the Hard Summer music festival at Hollywood Park.
The neighborhood is located several miles from LA’s Westside – but that didn’t stop people in places like Culver City and Manhattan Beach from airing complaints.
The sounds were apparently so pronounced that a police department some six miles was forced to weigh in, all while artists like Nelly Furtado, Sofi Tukker, Disclosure, and Bunt performed.
Loud music and vibrating bass was the result – all in the style of electronic, house, and techno genres, and hip-hop and dubstep as well. The five-stage festival was held right outside SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, and welcomed around 70,000.
‘We are aware of the loud booming sound affecting the city,’ the El Segundo Police Department said Friday in a post to X published around 9:16pm, after several stern complaints.
‘It is originating from a music festival near SoFi Stadium, scheduled from 2pm – 11pm today and tomorrow,’ officials continued.
‘There is no need to call 911 to report.’
Hours before, one user asked aloud on Reddit: ‘Is there anything anyone can do? Or are we all f**ked until 11p tonight, and 10pm tomorrow?’
‘Where is it coming from? It’s so annoying,’ asked another, apparently unaware of what was going on.
The commotion, nonetheless, continued – to the forecasted 11pm.
A little over an hour later, Karen Forshay, a producer-journalist who lives in LA, also
‘Who else in LA is hearing the Hard Summer techno event at Hollywood Park/ SoFi?
‘Residents from Manhattan Beach to Marina del Rey to Ladera have been hearing it for ten hours.
‘I like techno music, but this is nuts,’ the showrunner concluded. ‘I can’t imagine what people [in] Inglewood are dealing with.’
But the complaints came mostly from cities to the north, where rents are higher and residents are richer.
‘How is it legal for that festival to be so loud?’ one such person asked.
‘I can hear it from the beach. wtf?’
The next day, complaints continued to pile in – with a Reddit user by the name Nice_Calligrapher427 leading the was.
‘Okay this is just bonkers,’ the apparent LA citizen wrote.
‘This dumb ‘Hard Summer Music Festival’ at Sofi has been blasting away all day, and people 4-7 miles away can feel the bass from it and hear the terrible music.
‘It was happening yesterday, and its going to happen tomorrow,’ he continued.
‘If you also can’t stand it, please consider dropping a line to complain to the Inglewood PD… and also share your feedback with your Councilperson and the Mayor.’
A number for the police department was provided, as well as a stream of pointed replies.
Many blamed the noise on the fact that the outdoor venue had no walls, allowing the sounds to reverberate throughout LA County.
Others cited how their own walls ‘were vibrating.’
One such person wrote: ‘Anyone else hearing the non stop techno beats all afternoon yesterday, get ready for more as the festival heads into their second day. Are you hearing it? How far away are you?
‘I live 8.5 miles away and I thought for sure it was my neighbor.’
Another Reddit user, ausgoals, pointed out how many residents were way closer than those complaining – as several apartment buildings and houses were within a few blocks of the outdoor venue.
‘There’s literally apartments on the other side of the car park,’ they wrote.
‘Seems excessive.’
One slightly closer X user claimed: ‘We’re near 4 miles, at the intersection of Manchester & La Tijera. It’s ridiculous.
The bass just reverberates through the wood framed homes. Attendees of this event will have permanent hearing damage. … It’s impossible not to.’
The festival went on to finish its third and final day on Sunday, before which Sgt. Russel Patton of El Segundo around noon said they had received no further complaints.
The days festivities, however, did not start until two hours later – leaving room for more online protests.
“I assumed someone at my apartment was having a party upstairs,” one person wrote.
“Never have I heard anything like this.’
The festival concluded at 10pm.