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Islington Tribune - by PETER GRUNER
Published: 23 May 2008

Pledge that curtain will keep The Boss quiet

ARSENAL director Ken Friar has promised to “keep the sound down” for next weekend’s controversial Bruce Springsteen concerts, expected to attract more than 120,000 fans to the Emirates stadium.
The club is aware it is “on trial” over the staging of the two events next Friday and Saturday evenings. A huge £100,000 anti-sound curtain, hundreds of feet wide, will be draped from the roof of the stadium in an attempt to prevent noise disturbing neighbours.
Mr Friar, who is to attend one of the concerts, said this week that sound tests had been done. He added: “We’ll abide by regulations and what is being expected of us. We will have a big team of people working at the concert and we’ll do everything we can to comply with the rules.
“There will be some noise – you can’t avoid it with 60,000 people at each event. With music you get some fallout but not enough to breach decibel ratings.”
Islington Council refused permission for a third concert, as it wants to analyse the impact of the Springsteen events. A noise complaint line set up by Arsenal will be manned throughout the concerts.
BBC news producer Dan McMillan, a local resident and former professional sound engineer, said: “The anti-sound curtain will take some construction. But will it work?
“The stadium is unique in that it has a flat metallic roof, but the walls don’t join. In my opinion the sound will get bounced off the roof into the surrounding neighbourhood.”

• An interactive map highlighting noise pollution hotspots in Islington has been launched by the government.
Average decibels for every street in the borough have been calculated using data taken from major roads, railways and airports.
Islington residents can check on noise levels at the website http://noisemapping.defra.gov.uk

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