GALA 2024

[John OShea]

25 minutes ago, Dulwich dweller said:

We heard music coming from somewhere earlier this evening around 8pm but couldn't work out from where. A bit later when walking past Goose green towards Lordship lane we could hear the music again. It was louder and seemed to be coming from a distance which we thought may have been Brockwell or that area. I'm not sure if there was a music event at Brockwell this weekend but the noise was definitely coming from a loud sound system that's used for outdoor events.

It certainly does. I just posted about Brockwell or that area.

Hmm. Might be but sounded nearer. Oh well.

[fishboy]

The noise level monitoring is one of the only parts of GALA that is performed satisfactorily - no surprise that it is done by an independent company! 

I've had lots of conversations with the genuinely knowledgeable and empathetic sound engineer carrying out the checks, and he regularly contacts the sound desk to get levels reduced. The thresholds are quite technical, and vary depending on which acts are on - headliners are allowed to be slightly louder than the rest.

Wind direction is a major factor with the levels, this year it was coming from the South West (Dawson's Hill direction) so the noise was driven more to the East of the park (Rye Hill area).

I made a point of complaining about the noise every day even if I knew it was within the permitted levels, on the basis that it was too loud for a residential area on a Friday / Saturday / Sunday evening...

[Dulwich dweller]

1 hour ago, John OShea said:

Hmm. Might be but sounded nearer. Oh well.

May well have been but definitely coming from opposite direction of the Rye.

[gabrielconroy]

There were several music events in Brockwell Park over the past few days (the same ones as there have been for a few years).

https://www.brockwell-live.com/

Remains to be seen what damage there has been to the park itself but in general they're well policed and the crowds aren't especially rowdy.

I've been myself to several over the years and frankly enjoy the energy and buzz they bring to Herne Hill - as long as it's not at the expense of the trees and wildlife in the park!

[Cyclemonkey]

13 hours ago, Rockets said:

Interesting that Pub in the Park decided not to come back to Dulwich this year

I am not surprised by that.  We went last year (a friend had free tickets theynwere unable to use so gave them to us).  Now we are not the target audience I suspect, but we can usally find something to enjoy in most events but this was dire - terrible music (I've seen better wedding bands), uninspiring corporate food, terrible alcohol offering.

Everyone we talked to seemed to be, like us, there on some sort of freebie.  

[dan b]

14 hours ago, Roachy said:

5th year in a row attending Gala using my discounted resident ticket. Amazing little festival and already looking forward to next years!

 

Same here. Have attended Gala for a few years, went on Sunday.  Decent crowd and one that’s very unlikely to be stabby as suggested by another poster. A load of young people having fun and that’s part of the service that London parks should provide from time to time. 

 

I do agree though that one long weekend a year is enough and is a fair compromise for all though. Two weekends of events would be unfair to those living nearby. 

 

Fair to say that many attendees are not from the direct local area but plenty of them are from south London and made their way into Nunhead and east Dulwich afterwards.

 

As for noise we couldn’t hear anything from north west of Peckham Rye but I can imagine it was loud for those east of it. One of Gala’s outdoor stages was particularly loud but the main stage and the tents seemed to have noise limits on to the point of the main stage not being loud enough.  Anyone in Dulwich / Herne Hill hearing music over the weekend would have been hearing XtheTracks and the other events in Brockwell park (could hear it from Dulwich park yesterday), not Gala.  

[Cyclemonkey]

The wind does do strange things to the way sound travels but I would be astonished if people could hear noise from Gala in Herne Hill.

We were there on Sunday as well and left a little early (9pm) and walked home via Lordship lane and you could barely hear a thing on the lower end of Lordship lane. 

[fishboy]

Not looking quite how it did before GALA turned up, I'll be very interested to know what they can do to "reinstate" it & how long it will take to recover. And how they're going to remove all the litter - there'll be plenty of fag butts, filter tips, cable ties, bottle tops, ring pulls and god knows what else firmly stuck in that mud...

[Kathleen Olander]

23 hours ago, Cyclemonkey said:

The wind does do strange things to the way sound travels but I would be astonished if people could hear noise from Gala in Herne Hill.

We were there on Sunday as well and left a little early (9pm) and walked home via Lordship lane and you could barely hear a thing on the lower end of Lordship lane. 

Prepare to be astonished, but I could hear it in Herne Hill on Sunday.

Edited May 29 by Kathleen Olander
Spelling error

[Sue]

4 minutes ago, Kathleen Olander said:

Prepare to be astonished, but I could hear it in Herne Hill on Sunday.

Might not that have been the thing on in Brockwell Park? Or was that another weekend? 

[gabrielconroy]

10 minutes ago, Sue said:

Might not that have been the thing on in Brockwell Park? Or was that another weekend? 

It would have been Cross The Tracks in Brockwell Park, yes.

[Cyclemonkey]

Cross the Tracks festival was on in Brockwell Park on Sunday (and Wide Awake festoval on Saturday) - much more likely it was that you heard that than Gala in Peckham Rye park over 2.5 miles away. 

Cross the Tracks is also a much bigger festival than Gala - 25k capacity to Gala's 10k so likely to be noisier. 

Edited May 29 by Cyclemonkey

[first mate]

20 hours ago, fishboy said:

Not looking quite how it did before GALA turned up, I'll be very interested to know what they can do to "reinstate" it & how long it will take to recover. And how they're going to remove all the litter - there'll be plenty of fag butts, filter tips, cable ties, bottle tops, ring pulls and god knows what else firmly stuck in that mud...

That does not look great.

Guess we'll have to wait for the barriers to come down and clean-up over before taking stock.

[Spartacus]

Interesting to see what has occured at Brockwell park 

BBC News - Event cancelled after park 'churned up' by festivals
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3gg8p770eeo

Similar problem at the Rye after the weekend. 

 

[Rockets]

This is always the problem - if it is dry damage tends to be superficial - if it is wet the damage is much longer term and actually becomes a health and safety issue for future events - the remedial action festival organisers tend to take is putting down wood chips or other such to provide firmer footing and soak up some of the residual water/mud or to put down metal walkways over the affected areas but, as anyone who has been to a wet Glastonbury can attest, once it goes muddy it stays muddy - very muddy and the damage takes a long time to recover - normally requiring complete re-seeding or re-laying.

Ironic too that the free community festival - no doubt a quid pro quo from the organisers of the bigger festivals using the site - is the one that is cancelled and that the organisers will do the remedial work and still go ahead with the revenue generating Mighty Hoopla etc at the weekend because if they cancel that then refunds will be required.

[malumbu]

Glastonbury is on the Somerset levels, drained land with a very high water table and when it rains......  I'm not sure of any other major festival that has this situation.  I really enjoyed 85, but not 97 when it was not just wet but cold.  Two or three later years even worse rain, and with larger crowds even more of a quagmire.  Most Glastonburys are hot and sunny.

Edited May 30 by malumbu

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

3 hours ago, Spartacus said:

Interesting to see what has occured at Brockwell park 

BBC News - Event cancelled after park 'churned up' by festivals
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3gg8p770eeo

Similar problem at the Rye after the weekend. 

 

I'm at the NIMBY end of the spectrum but tbf this is not really different to when football and clubs get cancelled for a few days because the park is too muddy.

[first mate]

Yes,  but it is not great for those who might want to enjoy a free picnic in the park after the events have finished, with all the grass churned up and reduced to stretches of mud. That is if we are lucky enough to get any sunny days in the coming weeks.

[Clifton]

On 28/05/2024 at 01:16, fishboy said:

The noise level monitoring is one of the only parts of GALA that is performed satisfactorily - no surprise that it is done by an independent company! 

I've had lots of conversations with the genuinely knowledgeable and empathetic sound engineer carrying out the checks, and he regularly contacts the sound desk to get levels reduced. The thresholds are quite technical, and vary depending on which acts are on - headliners are allowed to be slightly louder than the rest.

Wind direction is a major factor with the levels, this year it was coming from the South West (Dawson's Hill direction) so the noise was driven more to the East of the park (Rye Hill area).

I made a point of complaining about the noise every day even if I knew it was within the permitted levels, on the basis that it was too loud for a residential area on a Friday / Saturday / Sunday evening...

I agree that the noise monitoring guy was helpful and knowledgeable.  The permitted volumes are (according to the engineer) 70dB for most acts, and 75dB for headliners.  That may not sound too bad …. but 75dB is approximately 3 times as loud as 70dB, so it’s quite a difference.   He also said, though, that 75dB is typical for all acts in many outdoor events.  The wind direction was different from in the last couple of years, making the sound only very loud (as against completely unbearable) to the south west of the site, but I assume that others suffered more this time.  Please, everyone, ensure that you respond to next year’s application when it is submitted - I’m sure that we will have to (yet again) work hard to prevent the company adding a second weekend.    

[Rockets]

3 hours ago, malumbu said:

Glastonbury is on the Somerset levels, drained land with a very high water table and when it rains......  I'm not sure of any other major festival that has this situation. 

These pictures from the Brixton Buzz website are pretty reminiscent of a wet Glastonbury......

[Sue]

5 hours ago, Rockets said:

These pictures from the Brixton Buzz website are pretty reminiscent of a wet Glastonbury......

That's nothing like the depth of mud I've experienced at Glastonbury!

Admittedly many years ago 😂

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

20 hours ago, first mate said:

Yes,  but it is not great for those who might want to enjoy a free picnic in the park after the events have finished, with all the grass churned up and reduced to stretches of mud. That is if we are lucky enough to get any sunny days in the coming weeks.

I mean, that's true, but it's also true that of you try to have a picnic on the football pitches after it's been wet, you'll get muddy...

[Rockets]

14 hours ago, Sue said:

That's nothing like the depth of mud I've experienced at Glastonbury!

Yes never ever camp at the bottom of Pennard Hill!!! 😉

Interesting that Lambeth council have said that they will re-run Brockwell Bounce in the summer but away from Brockwell Park - I do wonder whether damage caused by the rain is such that they know they are going to have to take major remedial action which may mean the affected areas are going to need to be cordoned off for a while.

 

I wonder whether the decision on whether Mighty Hoopla can go ahead has been made yet - apparently the organisers have be frantically laying duck boards over the mud.

[jazzer]

the aftermath of the Gala

https://x.com/HornimanHeights/status/1796807220195213598

 

[first mate]

19 hours ago, jazzer said:

the aftermath of the Gala

https://x.com/HornimanHeights/status/1796807220195213598

 

I went to have a look and words fail.

The park has literally been wrecked, and with the full backing of our Council.

Edited June 2 by first mate