‘Teething problems’ blamed for Bublé’s Aviva sound woes

THE promoters of the two sell-out concerts by Michael Bublé have defended the sound at the new Aviva Stadium, claiming there were “teething problems”.

A number of people complained about an echo effect during the concert on the first night last Friday.

It was the first major concert to be held at the venue, which was recently opened after years in construction, and internet forums yesterday carried comments from some of those who attended the concerts and complained of the echo.

On boards.ie one concert-goer claimed the sound in some parts of the upper tier stands was poor and that there were “huge queues” at the customer service desk, adding: “They actually couldn’t deal with the number of people complaining”.

Almost 100,000 people attended over the two nights, and yesterday MCD moved to ease concerns that the stadium’s acoustics were the problem.

Justin Green of MCD said: “From an attendance of 97,400 across the two shows less than 150 people complained with most either reseated or offered tickets for the second night’s performance.”

He said any sound problems experienced by some concert-goers was down to “teething problems”.

But he said overall it was a “superb concert with great reviews everywhere”.

The Canadian singer was the first musical act to appear at the Aviva Stadium, formerly Lansdowne Road.

Its next fixture is one where echoing noise won’t be a problem: the Magners League clash of Munster and Leinster this Saturday.

The following Friday it will play host to Ireland’s crunch European Championship qualifier with Russia, before a number of autumn rugby internationals in November.

It will also host the UEFA Europa League final next May, the first time a major European Football final will have been played in Ireland.

A number of other music concerts are also likely to be scheduled for the Aviva, while last week it was announced that the stadium will host the 86th playing of the Navy-Notre Dame American Football game on September 1, 2012.

Despite any quibbles over the sound in some parts of the ground last Friday, there are already rumours circulating on the internet that the concert was filmed and recorded for a future DVD release.