While The Blurst of Times and Out on the Weekend festivals enjoyed successful and well-received debuts last month, not everyone in the Williamstown area was eager to welcome the two new events to Seaworks. The venue will now reportedly review future bookings after a petition organised by locals complained of the noise from the events.
As The Herald Sun reports, a petition signed by just 38 people from the Maritime on Nelson hotel and tabled during last week’s Hobsons Bay council meeting, complained of excessively loud music emanating from Seaworks on the weekend of 18th October, adding that “at times the genre was downright disagreeable”.
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Out on the Weekend, which went down on the Saturday, featuring Americana, country, and blues music, with a lineup including Justin Townes Earle, Robert Ellis, and Ryan Bingham. Meanwhile Sunday’s The Blurst of Times included a lineup of alternative, garage, punk, and indie bands, including DZ Deathrays, Harmony, and Velociraptor.
According to the petition, “The noise and nuisance continued well into the night, both evenings, and finished 11pm.” The 38 residents who signed the petition urged the council to stop “the excessive amplified music coming from the Seaworks Maritime Precinct in Williamstown”, calling the noise level “intolerable”.
Seaworks chief executive Pauline Hobbs indicated that the complaints were being taken very seriously as the venue does not wish to jeopardise its relationship with local residents. “The noise level is something we are looking at in terms of how we manage music events in the future,” she said.
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Hobbs even claimed that the complaint will lead Seaworks staff to reconsider what kind of music genres they host at the venue. “We will look at the genre of music, we look at how we place our stages and how we notify neighbours although neighbours were notified of both festivals,” she explained.
Council strategic development director Natalie Walker confirmed that the council would be investigating the complaints. Councillor Angela Altair said Seaworks events bring a lot of pleasure and economic value to the area, though she insisted “our primary responsibility is to protect the amenity of our residents”.
While the Star Weekly is reporting that the promoter of The Blurst of Times and Out on the Weekend, which are each organised by the same promoter, has not been available for comment, the impact of the petition could potentially see to it that the events do not return to Seaworks in the future.
