Glastonbury festival chiefs have apologised for the quality of sound on the Pyramid Stage over the weekend (June 22-24).
Festival goers complained vocally during headlining sets by Arctic Monkeys (June 21) and The Killers (22) for the band’s being too quiet.
During Arctic Monkeys’ performance on the opening night frontman Alex Turner became aware of the audiences discontent.
“What are you saying, ‘louder’?” he asked from the stage. “I can’t tell if they’re happy or angry. Thumbs up for the man at the front.”
Though the band received a sea of thumbs in approval, the grumbles about the sound continued for the set, especially when Dizzee Rascal arrived for his guest slot and his contribution to ’Temptation Greets You Like A Naughty Friend’ was inaudible.
Meanwhile after The Killers played, fans complained to NME.COM that they could not really hear what was going on.
After chants of “turn it up”, one fan told us after the gig: “The band were amazing but we had no sound in our bit, there was nearly a riot! We should complain to the management”.
Speaking today, festival boss Michael Eavis admitted there was a problem and the festival will be looking at the sound for next year.
“I’m sorry about the sound,” he said. “We’re using a similar system to what we used at Glastonbury Abbey concert. But some people’s experience was that it wasn’t loud enough on the Pyramid Stage. I was disappointed with it and I’m looking to move to a different system for next year.”
However the festival chief later retracted his comments. Read the latest on Glastonbury‘s sound on NME.COM now.
For the complete look at this year’s Glastonbury go to NME.COM/festivals/glastonbury