Update: Hard has updated their website and are issuing full refunds to the 18,000 people who bought tickets. They also claim no one was seriously injured. While the Hard promoters and producers clearly messed up, it’s now beginning to also look like the entire thing was blown completely out of proportion by the fire department, and police.
In my lifetime I’ve been to dozens of clubs, concerts, and raves all over the world and never before have I showed up to not hear a single second of music.
My friend Tyler bought tickets for Hardfest / Hard Summer (a massive rave) and offered to take me as a birthday present. One of my favorite electronic acts Underworld was performing I’ve been waiting for them to come to LA and play a show. We went all the way to Inglewood and made it inside The Forum and got on the floor by about 10pm but there was no music, the lights were on, and there was over fifteen thousand plus people sitting around not sure what the hell was going on.
Occasionally some really annoying guy would come on stage and yell at the crowd and insult them without explaining what it was he was trying to accomplish, or what was going on. Meanwhile they lacked security guards, and the few they did have had no way to even talk to each other so they couldn’t coordinate. Even so I was shocked that the crowd acted peaceful as they simply waited patiently for hours for the show to start. Occasionally the crowd would chant something like “fucking bullshit” or “we want music” but it was to no avail.
Tyler and I made our way to the soundstage and around 11:35PM they started hastily packing up their laptops and most valuable equipment fearing it might get damaged if a riot were to break out. We knew that if the show didn’t go on people were going to get upset, and were surprised nothing major had happened so far. By midnight, they had a decent amount of their equipment packed, and it was clear the show most likely was not going to happen.
Around 12:05 they turned all the lights on so Tyler and made our way near to the exit and waited by it. Shortly after that they went on stage and told everyone to leave. We both took off running down the hall towards the exit as we heard the roar of the crowd behind us. When we made it to the top of the stairs and out the building we were surprisingly greeted by a row of riot police in full gear with batons in hand. They did not look happy to see us. It was incredibly unsettling.
From there we ran to my car and got the hell out of LA.
Now that I reflect on everything it was a really horrible, disappointing, and scary experience. I’ve never seen an event with thousands of people already there and the show simply being stopped before it even had a chance to begin by the police. No matter what actually did prompt the show to be canceled the fact the police showed up in full riot gear to control a relatively peaceful unarmed crowd simply reinforces my belief that we live in a police state.
Meanwhile Twitter has lit up with rumors ranging from tear gas being fired at the crowd (this one is possibly true), fights breaking out (only four arrests were made according to the LA Times, so even this seems unlikely), a gang fight (didn’t happen), a DJ being shot in the leg backstage (not true), and someone dying of an overdose (no legit reports of anyone dying). All of which is unsubstantiated and we probably won’t find out the truth of what actually happened until tomorrow, if ever.
Update: Just wanted to touch on a few things that took place last night that were considerably messed up.
• Security was blocking some exits between 10:15-11:45ish. I’m not sure the security guards knew what they were doing or why they were doing it because the majority of them in yellow jackets didn’t have walkie talkies, or any way to communicate. Only the security guards in the light blue shirts with the headsets on had any idea what was going on, and even so they weren’t instructing or working with the majority of security in yellow jackets.
• At around midnight when they finally let people exit the dance floor there was a row of riot police with batons already in their hands waiting directly outside ready to confront unarmed paying attendees of a show they canceled. It was incredibly threatening, and unnecessary.
• In my opinion the police over reacted, and misread the situation considerably. There was absolutely no reason to draw a weapon of any kind. Why the police put on full riot gear and had their batons in their hands ready to hit people was beyond me. At the very least they should have left them on their belts and only reached for them if there was a rational reason to.
• All the caps from the $5 water bottles were removed for whatever reason. Considering this was supposed to be a rave it would have been nice to be able to save our water.
• I witnessed a group of people not able to get water from the water fountains who then had to try and get water from the bathroom sinks. Even so, the bathroom sinks barely worked and it was taking them forever to fill the bottles. Considering a lot of people were on E and drinking alcohol denying access to water is a huge mistake which probably ended several people in the ER for dehydration due to pure and simple greed.
• I really do not blame the crowd for anything that took place for the event was clearly over sold, poorly organized, under staffed, and in an inappropriate venue that was not sectioned properly. I blame the promoters and producers, as well as the police for over reacting. While the police presence was understandable, the use of riot gear was not warranted. Given the outrageous demoralizing circumstances the crowd was actually relatively peaceful.
Trent,
this was an amazingly articulate and well thought-out article; thanks for the info and sharing your concerns. My friends, and the thousands of others surely agree with your sentiments. I’m shocked by how disorganized HARD was, even from the onslaught of getting in lines with no direction (will call/getting in/bathroom). Perhaps if there was more police presence from the beginning and more direction, things would have gone more smoothly, but it seems that the most extreme actions were taken unnecessarily, something that is indeed unsettling. In any case, I’m sorry about your birthday, and I hope there is something else you can remember your day by, not just this shitty experience. Futurewise, I don’t even know if the DJs set to play today or at Haunted Mansion will ever want to be involved with HARD, and moreso that LA/Inglewood/The Forum would let another event like this take place. HARD (and the police) have tarnished their reputations for thousands tonight, and personally it seems my rave days are over.
Goodluck in the future,
Jazper Abellera (San Jose, CA)
i read good story and found video
http://news.limauais.com/photovideo-hard-summer-shut-down-by-lapd/
Thanks.
It surely was a disaster.
I will be surprised if they survive this. I imagine they still have to pay all of the crews, the venue fees, security, all the acts, and issue refunds. I don’t know what kind of backing or insurance they have, but this could put them under. I imagine they were counting on the profits from this show to put on Hard Mansion, of which I was planning to attend but most likely will not now unless they change the venue to something other than The Forum.
I’ve been to a lot of concerts and raves before, and I’ve seen some pretty bad security, and this is not my first run in with riot police either, but this was by far the worst experience I’ve ever had.
I think the choice of venue was the first mistake, there are plenty of great venues in LA that would accommodate for a large dance floor, plus multiple stages.
The second mistake was the lack of communication with security, the soundstage, and the audience. I was chatting with the soundstage crew and even they had no idea what was going on. My Dad was a music producer when I was growing up and I grew up backstage, and he really had to be everywhere, and talk to everyone before, and during the show. I didn’t see anyone come to the soundstage and talk to them, or gauge what the crowd was doing, or what was happening, and no one came over the PA and appropriately tried to remedy whatever the situation might have been. The one guy who yelled at everyone and insulted the audience only made things more confusing, and inappropriate.
Third of all, it was a huge mistake to assume the crowd would not find a way to get what they had paid for. In this case it was access to the dance floor and second stage. It was incredibly stupid to assume the majority of people going to a rave would want to sit in seats instead of dance on the dance floor. The people who jumped from the top area to the bottom did so because they were being denied access to what they had paid for. The problem wouldn’t have existed if they had divided the dance floor into different sections which would have sucked, but would have enabled crowd control, and provided fire/exit lanes.
As for the police, they over reacted, and misread the situation considerably. There was absolutely no reason to draw a weapon of any kind. Why the police put on full riot gear and had their batons in their hands ready to hit people was beyond me. They should have left them on their belts and only reached for them if there was a rational reason to.
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