ATLANTA -- It was supposed to be sweet music at the Garth Brooks concert Thursday night -- the first concert held in Atlanta's brand new stadium. Instead complaints of audio issues left some of them hearing sour notes.
The stadium's Twitter account acknowledged the issues and said audio engineers were working through them.
Audio engineers are working through the sound issues with the artists. Garth Brooks will take the stage soon.
— MercedesBenzStadium (@MBStadium) October 13, 2017
But it did little to soothe fans who vented their frustrations online, many of whom demanded refunds for the sold-out show. Comments online seemed to point to audio issues in the upper deck of the stadium.
@MBStadium send some engineers up to the 200 & 300 level... acoustic echo is bad!
— Chris Hogue (@ChrisHogue7500) October 13, 2017
Everything sounds like Charlie Brown's teacher! You can't hear anything!
— The Cheej (@wheezymedic) October 13, 2017
Worst concert experience ever. 🙄🙄
— Tiffany Shamlee (@tshamlee) October 13, 2017
Isn't that what the sound check is for? Surely you've done one? #cantreadlips
— NYGirlinaGAWORLD (@melissanowling) October 13, 2017
We can’t hear the performance from the upper seats. #MercedesBenzStadium #GarthBrooks
— Jimmy Thomas (@JimmyThomas88) October 12, 2017
11Alive reached out to reps for Mercedes-Benz Stadium for comment said there was a breaker that powers speakers in the upper deck was tripped, but that it was resolved. The stadium issued the following statement:
Garth Brooks played the first concert tonight at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and it was a spectacular show that tens of thousands enjoyed. We have heard some fan concerns about sound quality in certain sections of the upper concourse and sound engineers are looking into that now. We do know that a breaker was tripped that powered speakers in the parts of the upper level for a small amount of time and was resolved.
It's another hiccup in what's been a less-than-smooth rollout of the new home of the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United FC. Construction delays with the state-of-the-art retractable roof caused delays with football games and soccer matches.
