The repercussions from a teenager’s death at the Electric Daisy Carnival last month have led to the cancellation of the July 17 HARD L.A. concert at downtown’s Los Angeles State Historic Park. The August 7 date is still expected to happen. Click “read more” for more info.
The cancellation results from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisor’s vote last week to appoint a task force to examine and improve “rave safety.” The findings of the task force led to a slew of new regulations and heightened scrutiny of large-scale, “rave” electronic concerts in Los Angeles.
There is also a moratorium on new contracts between the city and Rave operators while the city considers whether or not to allow such events.
It is unclear whether these heightened security concerns led directly to the cancellation of HARD L.A. According to the concert’s promoter, Gary Richards, “We’ve been working with the city for months and all our security plans were approved. The city was pleased with our plan. The LAPD had asked for some more cops, but most of this was the exact same plan as before. We just thought it would be better to put both events together. This didn’t have anything to do with security issues.” However, the new regulations could have led to logistical problems that could not be worked through in such a short time.
The new current climate has affected other planned concerts as well. Fresh Squeezed, an electronic music festival planned for later this year, found itself unable to obtain a location and the proper permits due to the heightened public scrutiny of such events.
In a statement released earlier today, the publicist for HARD L.A., Biz 3, had this to say:
Due to events beyond our control, HARD LA M.I.A. July 17 has been cancelled.
Thanks to the continued support of City of Los Angeles, LAPD, LAFD, and California State Parks HARD SUMMER MUSIC FESTIVAL at the Los Angeles State Historic Park on August 7th 2010 featuring Soulwax, Crystal Castles, Major Lazer, Erol Alkan, Diplo, Digitalism and more will continue as scheduled.
Tickets for HARD LA M.I.A. are automatically valid for the HARD SUMMER MUSIC FESTIVAL. HARD will offer refund instructions July 13th via HARDFEST.com
HARD NYC M.I.A. in New York July 24 at Governors Island is on as scheduled.
Leave a Comment