Bring Earplugs if you are Heading for Fremont Street
Las Vegas aficionado Blonde4ever details the increased decibel levels that have taken place in the many stages throughout Fremont Street.
Today’s rant will be about the speakers and the volume on Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas. If you have been reading my articles you know that Fremont Street is my favorite place on earth, so when something happens to make it worse, not better, I am always upset. Every single time I walk down Fremont now I am angry at the speakers. Let me clarify.
Up until 2016, the speakers on Fremont Street were white. They were never a thing of beauty. There is no way to make big ugly speakers attractive, however, the white speakers coordinated with their surroundings much better than the current black ones. I will enclose multiple pictures that show that whether it was day or night the white speakers blended in with the buildings in a less noticeable way. Now when I walk out of a casino and look down my beloved street all I can see are these big black monstrosities.
I won’t delve into all the other things that I think have been detrimental to the beauty of Fremont, (the zip line landings…hideous) but I despise those black speakers.
I was wondering if the new black speakers are what has caused the volume level on Fremont to increase dramatically but I have been told that that is not the case by people “in the know”. Apparently, the people in charge of the Fremont Street Experience have decided that we weren’t being deafened enough already, but that things needed to GET LOUDER so they turned things up. It wasn’t that long ago that if you were standing next to one of the stages and attempted to speak to the person you were with if you moved away from the stage and walked half a block away you could actually yell and be heard. That is no longer the case. Now it seems that the sound follows you at an equally loud decibel level no matter where you go.
On Halloween night I was attempting to listen to Frank and the Steins. I could not get close to the stage due to the crowds. I was on Fremont in front of where LeBayou used to be. I cannot adequately describe the cacophony of sounds that hit you in that area. I could hear both the Main Street Stage (which has no business being there at all) and the First Street Stage but I could not make out what either band were attempting to play. It was just noise. Really, really LOUD noise. It left me wondering if the decision makers ever actually stand on the street and listen to this racket. I fully understand that loud music contributes to the party atmosphere that Fremont Street wants to promote. I get it. But that was happening just fine before they decided to crank the volume on the speakers. In my opinion, it has reached truly ridiculous levels. How loud is too loud? At what point are we damaging people’s hearing, especially the people who must work in that environment daily?
My fondest wish is that they would paint the speakers white and turn the darn things down. I realize that it will be a cold day in Hell before this happens, but I can dream, can’t I?
[Photo Cred. Blonde4ever, FremontStreetExperience.com,
Bonnie, aka Blonde4ever, is the admin of one of our favorite Vegas forums: LasVegas4ever. She covers a large spectrum of topics from her personal experiences in Las Vegas.
12 thoughts on “Bring Earplugs if you are Heading for Fremont Street”
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The color does not bother me so much but I will agree with you on the noise. I don’t think it’s me just getting older either, I think you should be able to hear your friends talking while things are going on.
Me too. Virtually impossible anymore it seems!
I don’t have a problem with the volume it’s that they have too many things going on at once so the sounds from on area bleed over to the next which results in nothing but noise.
Thanks for your comments!
Bonnie, I’m so happy someone has brought this topic up. This has been driving me nuts since they got the new speakers and/or a deaf sound technician. Since perhaps the last 3 years? (feels that long). Main St stage seriously pollutes 1st St stage, it never used to. Errr. that’s a fail!. The new street speakers are so loud that at times you can’t find anywhere on the street where a conversation is comfortable. Some people do like to speak, isn’t that so old school. Its really noticeable to me on 3rd St stage, it used to be a good volume there with a gradient from the front to the rear, people could and did stand where they could cope with the level. Now its just loud everywhere and can be deafening all the way back towards the Downtown Grand on occasion. Every visit at some point I’ll see some guy taking dB readings and think maybe, just maybe they are going to figure this out, but nope, just the same. This is the new operating point. Please hire someone with functioning eardrums people!. On Halloween, I found that 1nd street was an ok level, but it was being drowned out by main st. as you say, just noise!. Buzzing ears at the end of the night is physical damage that doesn’t stay in Vegas.
I am glad to hear someone else agrees with my thought processes. I am not crazy. It really is happening.
I used to always enjoy walking Fremont. It is becoming torture now.
the speaker noise does not bother me nearly as much as the noise from the morons that sit there and beat on buckets with drum sticks.
They HAD to do this in order to drown out the noise from The D and Golden Gate casinos.
Ha ha!!
Bonnie I just got back from my trip Down Town, I think the bands are the ones too loud, my god I came out of a casino thought I would loose my hearing, felt like I had to run across the street to get to my 4Queens, to make matters worse there was a couple with a young child in a stroller, with no ear protection!
Ear plugs are a good idea anyway! I use ’em on the plane and inside the casinos.
Hell,I’m a good lip reader,anyway.
The DTG has them in the room!
Did You get caught in the decibel-damage area when the thing goes off? Run away and avoid the pick pocket’s.
It seemed like the whole Street would be the “decibel damage” area!