Local Boulder band Abernathy Shagnaster performs at Fox Theatre on Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026. (Zach Muniz/CU Independent)
What was supposed to be a night of live music at a University Hill fraternity house ended before it truly ever started.
University of Colorado Boulder fraternity Beta Theta Pi hosted “Betapoloza” on Friday, Sept. 11, with CU Boulder student bands No Parachute and Lost in the Forest scheduled to perform. By about 10:30 p.m., the party had been shut down by the Boulder Police Department due to noise complaints, according to fraternity president Cameron Gulrajani.
“The party scene is definitely different this year,” Gulrajani, a junior at CU Boulder studying psychology, stated. “(The Boulder Police Department) seems a little harsher and stricter on really any sort of outdoor music venue, or any sort of party.”
The recent enforcement comes amid renewed attention to Boulder’s noise ordinance, BRC 5-9-6. The ordinance, which was amended in 2022, prohibits amplified sound that can be heard 200 feet or more beyond a property line in residential districts between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. The ordinance also prohibits amplified sound that can be heard 100 feet or more beyond a property line between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., according to the City of Boulder.
Olivia Dawson Vasquez, a sophomore at Front Range Community College studying Elementary Education, created a Change.org petition titled “Let Live Music Live” in opposition to this renewed enforcement. Vasquez is the manager of Argentym, a band composed of current and former CU Boulder students. She is also the founder of “Junkyard Jams,” a monthly event she hosts from March through November that brings together four to six bands to perform and socialize.
Vasquez’s petition aims to end the 200 feet rule, allow bands to play until 11 p.m. and to overall create a “Student House Show Permit” that entails “an easy-to-fill online form that outlines clear parameters, such as a noise cutoff time (11:00 pm) and days that are allowed to host (e.g. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday).” Additionally, this permit would allow events to continue without police intervention until 11:30 p.m., giving organizers more time to host their events without disruption.
“House music is the basis of how bands get big in Boulder. It’s how bands get known, how they start from scratch,” Vasquez stated, while going on to say how it isn’t feasible for local bands to sign up at official venues. “Bands don’t know if they’re good enough. The people don’t know who they’re showing up for. There’s no community when you shut it all down at the start, from the base. The root of the tree, for bands, is house shows.”
Despite the petition gathering over 3,000 signatures, not every Boulder resident is pro-band. Stephan van der Mersch, a University Hill resident, leads the Quiet Enjoyment Project, a group that examines noise concerns in Boulder through publicly available records. The group found in their September 2026 report that Boulder’s overall noise pollution drops when the university isn’t in session. Additionally, as 49% of complaints occur Thursday–Saturday, 9 p.m.–2 a.m., the project asks Boulder City Council, Boulder PD, the City Attorney, CU Boulder and property owners individually to increase enforcement of existing noise rules, particularly against recurring residential parties and amplified outdoor sound.
The Quiet Enjoyment Project states that “court is the last step, and we say up front that we may take it. Education first, owner notice second, city enforcement third. For the few properties that answer none of that, this project may ask a court to abate the nuisance — in its own name, or on behalf of affected members — and we would rather state that plainly than spring it on anyone.”
Many students feel that there is a middle ground to be found between residents, students, bands and the city. Ike Heymann, a senior at CU Boulder studying psychology, is the bassist for local band Abernathy Shagnaster, and feels that an organized talk with all parties involved could lead to finding this middle ground, where students can have a place to listen to live music without residents being disturbed.
“From the beginning the police have always been a problem with the local (band) do-it-yourself scene, which is completely understandable because we are obviously breaking the noise ordinance set in place by the city. My biggest problem with it is there are no substitutes and any legal ways of having shows and having full confidence that they will go smoothly,” Heymann stated. “Music is such an important part of student life here, and it will never stop just because the city keeps sending police. Students will always find a way to get creative and continue having those (band) do-it-yourself shows, so why not regulate it?”
The Boulder Police Department and the City of Boulder declined to comment.
Contact CU Independent Managing Editor Alexia Bailey at Alexia.Bailey@colorado.edu
