BANGOR, Maine — The first performance in the Waterfront Concerts series of the year drew just six noise complaints compared with 86 lodged during the opening show last year, according to the Bangor police.
That could be because Saturday night’s headliner was country music star Dierks Bentley.
For the past two years, the Rise Above Fest, a daylong concert featuring a lineup of well-known metal bands, has opened the concert series. In 2014, 124 complaints, 38 more than in 2015, were made about the festival’s noise level.
This year, Rise Above Fest is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 6.
Nearly every concert Bangor draws complaints about noise, Sgt. Kevin MacLaren said Sunday. He declined to estimate what is the average number of complaints per concert, but he said that six seemed lower than average.
It could not be determined Sunday whether the fewer number of noise complaints was due to the volume of Bentley and his band or the wooden fence installed last month around the venue.
At least three people were arrested at Saturday night’s concert, which is about average, according to MacLaren. All three appeared to be intoxicated and refused to leave the venue when asked to by police, he said.
The most high profile arrest at a concert on the Bangor Waterfront was nearly four years ago when the drummer for musician Ted Nugent was charged after police said he drunkenly stole a golf cart after the band’s show in July 2012.
In a plea agreement with the Penobscot County district attorney’s office, Mick Brown, now 59, of Cave Creek, Arizona, Brown pleaded guilty in November 2012 to operating under the influence of intoxicants.
Charges of driving to endanger, theft and assault were dismissed, according to a previously published report.
Brown was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and his driver’s license was suspended for 90 days, the Penobscot County district attorney’s office said at the time.
Dubbed “Wild” Mick in the metal community, Brown is best known as co-founder of the 1980s rock group Dokken, according to Billboard magazine. He also is a member of Tooth & Nail with former Dokken guitarist George Lynch.
The drummer, who did not appear at the Penobscot Judicial Center for sentencing, faced up to a year in prison and a $2,000 fine on the drunken driving charge.