INGLEWOOD – Residents in the Inglewood-El Segundo area, and surrounding communities, are preparing to endure one last day of noise generated by the HARD Summer 2024 festival at Hollywood Park, which has drawn multiple complaints this weekend.
When Inglewood officials approved the nearly 80,000-seat SoFi Stadium on the Hollywood Park campus, where the event was held, it was exempt from the City’s noise ordinance under the Inglewood Municipal Code.
“Who else in LA is hearing the Hard Summer techno event at Hollywood Park/ SoFi?” Karen Foshay, a producer-journalist-showrunner, posted on X, formerly Twitter. ” 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. I can’t imagine what people [in] Inglewood are dealing with.”
Another resident, anonymously noted “How is it legal for that festival to be so loud? I can hear it from the beach. wtf?”
The annual festival, scheduled from 2-11 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, was being held for the first time at Hollywood Park — adjacent to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood — with up to 70,000 daily attendees expected.
HARD Summer, founded in 2007, showcases underground house, techno, electronic, dubstep, drum and bass, and hip-hop. This year’s lineup included Disclosure, Nelly Furtado, Jamie xx, REZZMAU5, and house music pioneer Kerri Chandler, among others.
The El Segundo Police Department noted on X that it had received several calls about the noise.
“We are aware of the loud booming sound affecting the city,” department officials posted. “It is originating from a music festival near SoFi Stadium, scheduled from 2:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m. today and tomorrow. There is no need to call 911 to report.”
Still, residents took to social media platforms to vent and express their displeasure.
“Okay, this is just bonkers,” a resident posted on Reddit under the name Nice_Calligrapher427. “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 [Saturday], and its going to happen tomorrow [Sunday].”
Another Reddit user, ausgoals, noted how close the venue is to apartments and other housing.
“There’s literally apartments on the other side of the car park,” ausgoals wrote. “I mean, I know they were probably built at the same time as SoFi so people moving in should have a reasonable expectation that there will be noise but still … Seems excessive.”
User @evvinForSE7EN posted on X: “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.”
City News Service contributed to this report.
