COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — Eight residents living in and around Colorado Springs are suing the owners of Ford Amphitheater for repeated issues with noise pollution from concerts.
According to our news partners at The Gazette, First & Fourteenth, a Colorado Springs-based law firm, filed the civil lawsuit on behalf of the plaintiffs in El Paso County District Court on Wednesday.
The suit names Notes Live, the nonprofit Notes Live Foundation and Sunset Amphitheater LLC, which owns the amphitheater building, as defendants.
The lawsuit accuses the amphitheater of creating a public nuisance by having multiple concerts exceed the state’s Noise Abatement Act. The suit asks the court to prevent future noise pollution, potentially by issuing an injunction against future concerts at Ford Amphitheater.
Colorado Springs-based entertainment company VENU opened the 8,000-seat open-air venue in the summer of 2024. Developers pitched the amphitheater as a major entertainment draw in northern Colorado Springs, designed to attract well-known acts.
Some of the residents in the lawsuit live in the Northgate Highlands neighborhood, in homes closest to the amphitheater on the north side. Others live in unincorporated El Paso County as much as 2 miles away from the venue.
The lawsuit identified multiple concerts during the 2024 and 2025 seasons where the noise levels at their homes exceeded the state maximum for background noise, which is 50 decibels for residential areas.
The lawsuit cited three concerts in 2024 and at least eight concerts last year when plaintiffs recorded concert noise that was 60 decibels or louder. Some recordings submitted for the lawsuit reached 71 decibels.
“Plaintiffs, especially those with young children, are concerned about using their outdoor spaces or opening their windows or doors during concerts, thereby exposing themselves and their families to invasive, expletive-laced lyrics at levels exceeding statewide standards,” the lawsuit stated.
Two plaintiffs in the lawsuit stated they have children with special needs who are stressed and affected by the volume of the music.
Other plaintiffs claimed they were afflicted with sleep deprivation on concert nights and had to either leave their home or stay in certain rooms to reduce the noise.
The arguments in the lawsuit rely on a September ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court in a similar noise pollution case outside of Salida.
In that case, the court ruled that cities could not issue exemptions to for-profit businesses to hold events that exceed the statewide noise limits on private property.
“For-profit entities, including Defendants Sunset Amphitheater … as lessees and sublessees, use the property known as the Ford Amphitheater to host, promote, or produce concerts that emit unlawful noise pollution,” the lawsuit states.
In a statement Thursday, VENU founder J.W. Roth said the company took the “community concerns seriously,” even if they disagreed with the claims in the lawsuit.
“The complaint is grounded in a state noise statute which we believe does not apply to Ford Amphitheater based on how the venue is structured,” Roth said in the statement.
According to VENU, the amphitheater has attracted more than 200,000 visitors to concerts, and it expects to provide a billion dollars in economic impact to Colorado Springs by 2034.
Colorado Springs issued a noise hardship permit for the previous two concert seasons and signed a noise mitigation agreement with VENU that required changes for the 2025 concert season.
The mitigation agreement required VENU to build sound deflection walls and install noise monitors in neighborhoods such as the Northgate Highlands.
Roth said in the statement that the lawsuit will not prevent the amphitheater from operating and “booking tremendous content and shows for the 2026 concert season.” Ford Amphitheater’s website currently lists four concerts scheduled for later this year.
The Gazette's Brennen Kaufmann and Breeanna Jent contributed to this web story.
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