PNE Forum cancels electronic music concerts
 

i blame it on the dubstep/skrillex shits going on at pne lol



VANCOUVER — The Pacific National Exhibition has announced it will no longer host electronic music concerts at the PNE Forum after it received noise complaints from residents in the surrounding area.

A letter sent to residents in the Hastings Park area dated April 24 said comprehensive testing led to the decision.

Laura Ballance, who handles media relations for the PNE, confirmed the decision in a phone interview.

“The building was built in the ’30s and has been an iconic building for music in this city for many years,” Ballance said. “We haven’t traditionally had a big noise problem with most of the shows we hold there. When we started hosting the electronic shows, we started noticing complaints. We went out with our own noise monitors and saw that the type of bass that particular type of music event had was something the building wasn’t built for.”

Ballance said Vancouver-based acoustics consulting company BKL Acoustics Ltd. found the problem did not lie in the normal volume level of the concerts but in the unusual level of lower frequencies leaking out of the building.

The PNE spent $10,000 in building upgrades trying to dampen the sound, such as re-insulating old windows, to no avail.

“The renovations required to soundproof the building to the level that would have been in the acceptable range were way too much,” Ballance said. “The building isn’t built to take a huge amount of ceiling insulation because of the way it’s constructed. Short of building a new building within [the Forum], there was really nothing that could be done.”

The explosion of the electronic music genre has seen a fair number of big names play the PNE Forum in recent months, including Grammy-winning dubstep superstar Skrillex, party DJ Steve Aoki, and French electro duo Justice, the latter of which performed at the Forum Thursday night.

These concerts are usually a lot heavier on the low frequencies, particularly dubstep and its wobbly “wub-wub” bass lines, which are the foundation with which they shake the dance floor and get the crowd going.

Unless it can be relocated, the last electronic concert scheduled for the Forum will be that of house music producer Kaskade on Aug. 11.

“We would love to still have these shows,” Ballance said, pointing out losing electronic concerts would be a big loss for the PNE, but that it had to be a good neighbour. “I don’t believe the residents care what kind of music it is, they just care if it’s too loud.

“It’s a new industry, it’s a learning curve for everybody. It’s just a type of sound specifically connected to the bass in that kind of music that just doesn’t work in that building.”

fmarchand@vancouversun.com



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what happens to dooms... i think dooms was the only local event that ends at like 7 or 8

we still got the PNE Coliseum ;) .. i think for now

pne forum is where all the all ages EDM events are held i beleive

LGS and LBS need to stay at home haha

As long as the Kaskade concert isn't cancelled, though I'd rather see him at the commodore, I'm happy. Been waiting a year for him to announce another tour date here!

Agreed.. I'd rather see Kaskade at the commodore!

hahaha...

can you describe the sound you heard?


i normally describe to ppl, dubstep sounds like robots having raw sex...

That skrillex show was loud lol I was at the community centre and could hear the wub wub wubb LOL

so when you filled the complaint, did the officer write down "wub wub wubbb"

I complaint of megatron and bumblebee were having sex too loud... :pokerface:

dubstep is more like the modem dial up tone

Dunno what's up with these kids these days, dub step? Seriously?


Some of the early British stuff is pretty great, but this whole Skrillex stuff is just awful.