[Update 4/16/25]: Forest Hills Stadium has announced its 2025 summer concert series will “proceed as planned” following reports that community activists had stalled the series over noise complaints. A March report from the New York Post stated that the NYPD denied the venue’s noise amplification permits, a story the Queens, NY tennis stadium/concert venue disputed.

“As anticipated, we’re pleased to announce that the City of New York has given Forest Hills Stadium the green light for our 2025 concert season to proceed as planned,” the venue wrote on social media. “Each year, our team works closely with the local community and elected officials to bring world-class performances at one of the most iconic music venues in the country. We’re excited to welcome fans back this summer and proud to continue our role as a cultural cornerstone of the Queens community.”

Forest Hills’ 2025 summer concert series—which includes a dozen shows by Phish, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Tyler Childers, and others—was put in jeopardy after residents of the Queens suburb reportedly blocked access to private roads used by the NYPD when it provides security at the stadium. According to Gothamist, the venue’s concert partner, Tiebreaker Productions, will bring private security to the events.

While tensions between the stadium’s event organizers and area residents have been high in recent years due to an uptick in the number of events, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards claimed earlier this month that the grievances had “racial undertones,” specifically following LL Cool J‘s Rock the Bells festival last summer.

“There have been some racial undertones for a long time,” he said in an interview. “It was very apparent to me that maybe not everyone acknowledges or wants to see the sort of diversity that our borough is representative of.”

[3/24/25]: Forest Hills Stadium maintains that this summer’s concert season will go on as planned, despite a New York Post report that the NYPD denied the venue’s noise amplification permits. This comes as the latest escalation in the yearslong feud between the tennis stadium/concert venue and residents of the Queens, NY suburb.

The New York Post reported that the NYPD was forced to deny the stadium’s permits after the neighborhood’s Forest Hills Garden Corporation blocked access to several private roads around the venue. Without access to those roads local police cannot manage public safety surrounding the stadium, according to Deputy Inspector William Gallagher in a letter viewed by The Post.

Despite that report, Forest Hills Stadium responded late Sunday evening saying its 2025 summer concert schedule will continue. The venue has a dozen shows booked for the summer including two-night runs by Phish, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, and Tyler Childers.

A representative for the West Side Tennis Club—which operates Forest Hills—called reports of the permit denial “rumors,” saying that it hadn’t heard from the NYPD on the subject.

“Because nothing has changed, the NYPD has not raised any concerns with the Stadium directly,” West Side Tennis Club attorney Akiva Shapiro said, “and the City would risk significant liability if it were to abruptly shut the Stadium down, we can only assume that no such final decision has been made. We question where these rumors are coming from, find them extremely troubling, and are demanding answers from the highest levels of the [NYC Mayor Eric] Adams administration.”

This is not the first legal imbroglio between the Forest Hills Garden Corporation and the West Side Tennis Club. A 2023 lawsuit led a judge to place a 68-decibel limit on concerts after the stadium ratcheted up its production schedule following the pandemic. Last year, 11 of Forest Hills’ 36 concerts were found to be above 68 decibels—roughly the level of noise produced by a normal conversation—and the venue was properly cited.

Forest Hills residents have complained about noise at the stadium for years, going on to form the Concerned Citizens of Forest Hills group. They allege rattling windows, damage to plaster walls, and even childrens’ poor school performance are all results of the excessive noise.

“This is an open-air stadium that is smack in the middle of a residential neighborhood, it butts up to homes, it butts up to buildings—that music is being pumped into people’s living rooms for hours at a time,” Sandra Mandell, who has lived half a mile from the stadium for ten years, told The Post. “Imagine what somebody that lives right outside of the concerts hears? I know people who have tiles vibrate off the roof.”