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Glastonbury Festival is to have a 'silent disco', reports the BBC.

It's to be done using a free set of headphones complete with bass, volume and treble controls, which will be given to people at the dance tent after the main music curfew, meaning they can have the music as loud as they like without any danger of upsetting nearby residents.


After the noise curfew comes into force, music will be pumped into headphones given to clubbers, instead of speakers.

Festival organiser Michael Eavis' daughter Emily came up with the idea.

Volume control

Mr Eavis said: "By using headphones the music in the venue can go on well into the night.

"We have been toying with this idea for years, trying to think of ways to combat the noise limits.

"Now Emily has finally got something together so the party can go on later into the evening without infringing the noise curfew," he said.

"It's a first for us, and I will be interested to see how it works."

The system has been developed by a Dutch firm, which pioneered the "silent disco" at illegal parties as part of a travelling festival in the Netherlands.

This was taken from

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainmen ... 389057.stm

Err cant quite see that working. If it is to go ahead, it will probably be a totally bizarre and surreal experience!?!

I had this idea years ago.

you just need to invent a festival idea and you will be on your way III

great idea

they've experimented with that here in holland quite a few times already. i've been to one 1.5 years ago and it is brilliant. it is so funny to see people dance without hearing any music.. and its even more fun to join them with a headphone!

i suppose the headphones are wireless? could be a funny tie up if their not tho

Just run around a girl you like a few times and she's going nowhere!

It might help if they have a couple of large subwoofers and a good cross-over, so as you can feel the beat without it being too loud.

Yeah but bass can be heard from further away.


I think.


It travels through walls more easily at any rate.

then they should invent some sort of force feedback floor
which vibrates at the bass of a song

if they had subwoofers playing purely subsonic frequencies... the ones you feel but can't hear... sorted.

Timbob wrote:then they should invent some sort of force feedback floor
which vibrates at the bass of a song

Like Fabric have?

Its utter pants.

This is a Dutch idea. They have had this over here for a few years now. Its crap. Loads of people dancing to different music with headphones on in a small space. Means you cant talk to people and you dont even know if they are listening to the same music!

see the pix here: http://www.433fm.com/foto/

its all on the 433FM website -> http://www.433fm.com/frameset.php?taal=2

They need to broadcast the music somehow. That way everyone's on the same page & they can do lighting & such to go with it. 'Cause lighting is half the fun anyway.

It would be weird though to be dancing like mad & then popping the headphones off to hear a friend quickly. All you'd hear is the sounds of everyone else dancing.

stimpee wrote:Its utter pants.

This is a Dutch idea. They have had this over here for a few years now. Its crap. Loads of people dancing to different music with headphones on in a small space. Means you cant talk to people and you dont even know if they are listening to the same music!

I have to agree with you stimpee. Not that I have seen this for real, but the concept totally contradicts what a festival is about IMO.
theres nothing like loud music; letting the whole atmosphere soak in, with people around you cheering and getting that knowing glance from a stranger that this gig is really kickin!

Its just rediculous to think a set of headphones could in any form replace a decent PA, this would just suck the atmosphere straight out of the tent.
I realise this is for "unsociable hours" but I think I'll be buggering off to dance up at the Glades (sorry "The G stage") or some random burger van thats got "Leftism" on

Yeah the idea with the big subs wouldn't really be an improvement. They would have to be so powerful that there would be a danger of causing nausea in the punters from resonance (5 Hz and lower is the problem; too much of the low frequencies sets up reciprocal vibrations that are amplified by the body like a glass does at higher frequencies but because we are mainly liquid we don't shatter, we just throw up). Also bass does travel a good bit further. Elephants use sub-bass as a means of communication over considerable distances

On a slightly more esoteric note
Does anyone find the idea of walking into a tent filled with the noise from 500 bad quality walkmans at all creepy? Sitting beside one of them is bad enough.
Great way to send subliminal messages though

How do they distribute the headphones?