GALA 2025

[alice]

What has any of this got to do with Gala?

[Rockets]

I think it demonstrates the lengths councils will go to to appease commercial stakeholders and prioritise them over local residents and their own constituents. Councils appear to become very myopic once revenue is involved....

[Cyclemonkey]

I am not here to justify or excuse Lambeth Council's decisions,  but you would have to be very very naive not to understand that cancelling several eventsof that size at auch short notice would be anything other than financially catastrophic for all involved. 

Edited May 23 by Cyclemonkey

[malumbu]

On 19/05/2025 at 18:42, malumbu said:

Shame they don't have the same number of free events any more.  I digress....

Ah but they do -  Janet Kay as well on Monday, but sadly I am away.  Surely nobody can complain about some Lovers Rock.  Surely.....

 

[PeckhamRose]

I don't care if they had every band I loved in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, the fact is we're surrounded by residential areas, and those who live not just around the park but for a good mile beyond, the noise is too loud. I can hear today's (23 May 2025 - 2pm onwards) noise from the east side of the park, and I had to shut my double glazed balcony doors and windows and can STILL hear it, from the other side of the park.   [email protected] and 02075255777 noise complaints.  In the news are items about people who listen to their music or speak to people on their phones loudly without headphones so we all hear it.  This is the same. 

[Cyclemonkey]

Well I am outside the Clockhouse pub and you can barely hear anything.

[PeckhamRose]

1 minute ago, Cyclemonkey said:

Well I am outside the Clockhouse pub and you can barely hear anything.

Well aren't you the lucky one.  Stick around!

[first mate]

I agree Peckham Rose and this extra freebie day does not make up for the event's disruption and imposition onto more and more of the park. Now they have significantly enlarged the footprint of the event space it really dominates and changes the character of the park.
 

I personally do not mind the music aspect, but do not live right beside it so very easy for me to say and agree that in every way this event should be moved to a suitable site, which this small London Park is not. The amount of barriers they have installed is just crazy and the signage expressing sudden concern about nesting birds cravenly hypocritical considering the barrage of sound, low bass and light pollution they will be exposing them to.
 

 

 

 

[Rockets]

You can hear the Brockwell one really loudly in the Dulwich Park area already - and this is before the volume ramps for the headliners. A friend of ours lives much closer to Brockwell Park and says the noise there is unbearable.

It seems like this weekend at least Dulwich is at the epi-centre of battling sound systems - like that awful spot in a festival field where you are getting the reverb from one stage interfering with the sound from the one you are trying to watch!

[peckhambog]

27 minutes ago, Cyclemonkey said:

Well I am outside the Clockhouse pub and you can barely hear anything.

It is all down to the wind direction. 

 

We've had two years of respite but today's westerly means we are receiving all the leftovers! (On the east side of the Rye, a couple of streets away.)

[jazzer]

Janet Kay (silly games, blinding track by the way) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFHqabGMZOMwas a one hit wonder and as for the rest, never heard of them. 

 

Edited May 23 by jazzer

[first mate]

Indeed and I am sure many will go for the music, which I also like. But, for me, at least, none of that makes up for or justifies the wider impact on the park, on the flora and fauna, on the parks' regular users, and on those living near by that are distressed by the noise- the next three days will not be Lover's Rock. In terms of overall impact, we are also talking weeks and months, with the aftermath always problematic with the main area so damaged it has to be reseeded each year and is rendered unusable the rest of summer.

My biggest fear is that they will start to grow and add to this event, each year.

[first mate]

4 hours ago, PeckhamRose said:

noise complaints.  In the news are items about people who listen to their music or speak to people on their phones loudly without headphones so we all hear it.  This is the same. 

I wonder if there is a compromise in that all those attending wear headphones with a special code so they can bluetooth with a central device that streams the music to them, so residents do not have to hear it? there are 'silent' club events I believe.

It would not mitigate the weeks of build and deconstruction but is there a case to be made that if you want the privilege of attending this event outside and 'nestled' in the park then the compromise is to have it on phones. This way you show you care for the nesting birds and the environment.

[PeckhamRose]

11 minutes ago, first mate said:

I wonder if there is a compromise in that all those attending wear headphones with a special code so they can bluetooth with a central device that streams the music to them, so residents do not have to hear it? there are 'silent' club events I believe.

It would not mitigate the weeks of build and deconstruction but is there a case to be made that if you want the privilege of attending this event outside and 'nestled' in the park then the compromise is to have it on phones. This way you show you care for the nesting birds and the environment.

BRILLIANT.  Sorry, I whispered, "brilliant"!

 

[the_hermit]

I can hear Kneecap playing from close to Lordship Lane (admittedly I have my windows open)

[JessM]

Omg it’s NOISY. 

[jazzer]

can be heard behind Woodvale/midway up Forest Hill Road

[alice]

There’s a strong correlation between posters who can hear it from miles away and posters who have been objecting long before  it started. 

[Angelina]

Imagine how it is for those in close proximity, and the wildlife and animals.

i can hear it here, which is far. 

[jazzer]

16 minutes ago, alice said:

There’s a strong correlation between posters who can hear it from miles away and posters who have been objecting long before  it started. 

what's the correlation then?

[kir]

We are on Friern Road and can not  hear Gala tonight, each year it depends on direction of wind, but we can hear Kneecap who are playing in Brockwell tonight....

[fishboy]

1 hour ago, Angelina said:

Imagine how it is for those in close proximity, and the wildlife and animals.

i can hear it here, which is far. 

I think we're probably closest - about 50m from one of the tents - and to be honest it's not that bad. The bass is making the windows vibrate but it's not 'noisy'

I've always said the loud music is the least of the issues to me. It's the construction for two weeks before / one week after, the imposing steel wall, the trodden in non-decomposing litter (fag butts, cable ties, vapes, bottle tops, ring pulls) which will cover the entire site forever, the compaction & damage to the grass which takes months to recover, the impact on birds, bats & wildlife of 24/7 lights, the anti social behaviour of so many attendees (p***ing on the streets and in the bushes) and this year the blatant extending of the site footprint, despite previously giving the reason they can't move it is because it's been designed for that location.

8 hours ago, malumbu said:

Ah but they do -  Janet Kay as well on Monday, but sadly I am away.  Surely nobody can complain about some Lovers Rock.  Surely.....

 

And hopefully everyone can see this for what it really is - an attempt to win over the local community and set a precedent for four festival days, so that they have a stronger argument when they put in an application for six days again next year. 

Southwark state that the money from Gala goes directly to supporting their Events dept, who support "up to 100 free events every year". So what are these free events, and why do we need another? 

[Kipper_1972]

2 hours ago, kir said:

We are on Friern Road and can not  hear Gala tonight, each year it depends on direction of wind, but we can hear Kneecap who are playing in Brockwell tonight....

I spoke to a sound engineer at Piermont and he mentioned the software they use which tries to absorb the sound into the landscape

[Mystic Mog]

6 hours ago, Kipper_1972 said:

I spoke to a sound engineer at Piermont and he mentioned the software they use which tries to absorb the sound into the landscape

If you see him again,  please tell him that it's not working!

Edited May 24 by Mystic Mog

[Sue]

1 hour ago, Mystic Mog said:

If you see him again,  please tell him that it's not working!

It might well be working - you don't know how loud it might have been without it!