Senior Sergeant Anthony Bond, of Dunedin, said police were present at the Southern Sounds festival in the Oval from 2pm on Saturday, along with up to about 4000 partygoers.
At 3.30pm, officers arrested an 18-year-old man who was behaving in a disorderly manner after being refused entry to the event, likely due to his level of intoxication, Snr Sgt Bond said.
Other than that, there were no issues with the event, although several people were evicted for intoxication.
Insignificant amounts of drugs were located and seized, Snr Sgt Bond said.
The festival drew criticism on social media for excessive noise, although some hailed the return of large-scale events to the city after years of Covid-related cancellations.
A council spokesman said it received about 35 calls relating to the festival’s noise on Saturday, from a mixture of people wondering what was happening and those calling to complain.
There was no breakdown of how many calls were complaints, the spokesman said
"A sound engineer was on site monitoring noise levels throughout the event, as required by the event’s resource consent, to ensure noise remained within set limits throughout," he said.
"Because of this, there was no need to respond to noise complaints."
