Date sent:      	Tue, 5 Sep 2000 08:18:46 -0500
From:           	"Nikki Wiebe" <nwiebe@dashlink.com>
Subject:        	Def Leppard fans get refunds 

Today's News - September 4, 2000  
Def Leppard fans get refunds 

A noise ordinance and lack of an air inversion made the group
hard to hear. 

JANET DAVIES, Statesman Journal

About 700 refunds were given to Def Leppard fans unhappy with
the sound level during the hard rock band's concert at the
Oregon State Fair. 

The city of Salem's noise ordinance combined with Mother
Nature on Saturday night reduced, said many fans, the sound to
an unsatisfactory level. 

"You could barely hear the lead guitar player playing," Scott
Davis, 38, of Salem, said Sunday. 

He was sitting in the first row of the yellow section - the
second of four sections in the L.B. Day Amphitheatre. Fans
kept yelling for the volume to be turned up. 

"The crowd was louder than the band," he said. 

Fair spokeswoman Lin Wolfe said Sunday that the Def Leppard
musicians were very accommodating. 

They had not been informed of Salem's restrictions on noise
levels at the amphitheater. The ordinance was passed to meet
the concerns of neighbors. 

"Def Leppard were determined to give a good concert but wanted
to give a disclaimer," Wolfe said. 

So band members made a fair-authorized announcement before
they started stating that those who were concerned about not
having the sound level they wanted could get a refund "now" at
the Jackman-Long Building ticket window. 

The refunds were for the $20 concert, not the $6 admission to
the fair nor any ticket company surcharge. The band and the
fair shared the $14,000 loss, Wolfe said. 

Refunds were given for the first 55 minutes of the sold-out
concert, more than half the length of the event. 

The weather helped muffle the volume, too. 

National Weather Service forecaster Steve Starmer explained
Sunday that there was no air inversion Saturday evening. 

"If there's an inversion, the sound will curve back down to
the ground and you can hear it farther away," he said. 

The air is expected to be more stable tonight, which should be
good news for Jethro Tull fans.