A live act was thrown off stage at Trinity May Ball as organisers took action against excessive sound levels.

German electro-pop band, Dancing Pigeons, were asked to leave the stage three songs into their performance, with committee members saying that maximum decibel levels were exceeded.

Officers first expressed concerns about the sound level, which was fifteen decibels over the acceptable limit, ten minutes into the band’s performance, when they discovered they were unable to reduce sound levels through the speakers.

After a call from the City Council, who had received complaints from residents about noise levels, committee members asked the drummer to play more quietly.

The drummer announced to the crowd that they were being told to stop playing. Amid chants of "Let them play! Let them play!" from the crowd, the band attempted to resume their set. Security was then called onto the stage to remove the performers.

The band had arrived in Cambridge on the afternoon of the ball to attend a sound check, but the late arrival of another band meant that the scheduled run-through never occurred.

Trinity May Ball Technical and Security Officer, Ben Sehovic, told Varsity, "We tried to reach a compromise with the act to play more quietly as we couldn’t turn them down on the speakers. They refused to oblige and escalated the situation by continuing to play, at which point we had no choice but to remove them from the stage.

"Frankly, it is in the committee’s interest to ensure that the Ball continues. We had to draw the line somewhere. We had received complaints from the City Council which we had to take seriously."

Third-year student, Korlin Bruhn, who had originally suggested to the May Ball committee that the Dancing Pigeons play at the Ball, is furious at the committee’s handling of the international act.

She told Varsity, "After leaving Germany a day early to attend a sound check which never happened, the band was shut down for being too loud when it should have been up to the organisers to ensure they were fine to play.

"It seems unfair to pull the band’s performance straight away instead of trying to get the volume down to within the accepted levels."

One committee member described the band as "uncooperative and aggressive." There have also been reports that the band were intoxicated during their set and that they trashed their green room following their performance.

The committee was likely to have been concerned about possible repercussions of exceeding the sound limit, given the shutdown of live acts at Jesus May Ball last year and after celebrations at Hughes Hall attracted complaints from residents.

John Osbourn, environment protection team leader for the City Council, has been positive about the actions taken by May Ball committees to deal with complaints and ensure noise levels remain within acceptable limits. He said, "We had just one complaint at 3am on Tuesday and that matter was already being dealt with by the college concerned.

"Jesus, who had a problem last year and had to finish early, really stepped up to the mark. They brought forward their band start by an hour and there was no problem at all."