Mint Festival: Leeds residents hit out at two-day dance event as bass ‘can be heard across the city’

Numerous Leeds residents have taken to social media to criticise the electronic dance festival for its sound levels.

As the electronic dance music festival returned to Newsam Green on Saturday (September 16), people living in the area lashed out at what they call “nightmare” levels of bass.

The festival, set to return for day two on Sunday (September 17), describes itself as “Yorkshire’s biggest dance music festival”, and hosts two days of DJs across 6 stages.

Lauren Ballinger, who lives in Rothwell four miles from the festival site, told the YEP the noise was atrocious: ” I [could] hear it from my house and from my mum’s both four miles away. Just massively loud bass thumping all day long. I thought it was someone on my street having a party but my mum informs me it’s the festival!

“I called Leeds City Council’s out of hours number at 10.30pm last night to report the noise and [the phone operator] said they had had an unprecedented number of calls about it.”

Others took to social media, with Laura Jane Mace saying on X (formerly Twitter): “We’re now 10 and a half hours into Mint Festival and I can hear the lyrics to the songs, inside my house with the doors and windows closed and the TV on. It’s too much. We’re not even that close.”

Another resident, Christopher South, wrote: “I’ve made a complaint to [Mint Festival] and copied in the local MP. I returned from over a 2 week holiday and have jet lag… it’s been a nightmare from the level of noise across LS26. (I love live music- but this is too loud for an outdoor event).”

KM joined in saying: “Agree its absolutely ridiculous. I’m about 3 miles away, all windows shut and all I’ve heard all day is the bass thumping. Someone needs to get down there and pull the plugs out.”

Another X-user, Gavin, said the bass could be heard over their TV as far away as Lofthouse and Thorpe.

The festival was given the go-ahead in January this year after a number of complaints from residents in the area citing fears about “excessive noise, drugs and anti-social behaviour” linked to previous editions of the event.

Yorkshire Evening Post has reached out to Mint Festival and Leeds City Council for a comment.