Hard Fest
Was a bust.
Why?
Well, first they were completely unorganized.
Their lines were a mess.
We stood in the line to get in, and then were yelled to move to another line for reasons unknown.
Then an hour later when the doors opened to get in, they decided to tell everyone in our line that if they didn’t have an actual Ticketmaster ticket (not the printed out one from online), then they would have to get out of line and wait in another line to get an actual ticket to get in.
Luckily, we had actual tickets and didn’t have to deal with that crap so we weren’t too bothered by it.
But then things took a turn for the worst.
The first artist, Busy P, was rad.
And then Crystal Castles came on and although they were amazing, there were several obvious problems.
First, they were having serious issues with some of their equipment.
I’m not sure if it was their fault, or the poor organization done on behalf of the planners, but it was difficult to enjoy CC when there were huge delays in between/during a few of their songs while they had to fix whatever the issue was.
I mean, even Alice looked frustrated beyond belief (watching her bang her mic on the drum symbols was hilarious).
And that wasn’t the only odd thing that happened during their set.
The security guards on and around the stage were ridiculous.
I’m not just saying this because Hard Fest was a huge let down and I’m looking for things to rant about.
I was probably one of the only few people there who were completely sober and during CC ended up lucking out getting right up to the stage so I was able to see quite a bit.
Security was insane.
They took everything to the extreme.
I mean really, is sitting on someone’s shoulders to be able to see better really so awful? Or getting really close to the stage to take pictures?
At least the annoying guy that looked like Haggard, was put in his place when he tripped over Alice.
Way to go champ.
Anyway, Crystal Castles ended up bailing early into their set which was a huge bummer.
But I’m stoked we even got to see them perform, after all they’re the reason why Michael and I went in the first place.
However, a lot of people missed seeing them because they were waiting in the huge lines, or the wrong lines, and other inevitable things, and they were furious.
In my eyes, they had every right to be pissed.
The event was horribly unorganized.
Well, after CC ended and Michael and I had decided we had had enough of being pushed around and elbowed in the face repeatedly, we thought it would be a good idea to leave the floor and head to the stairs.
Little did we know that once we got up the stairs, we weren’t going to be able to make it back down again.
We went looking for the entrance to the underground stage, but couldn’t even get to it because of the lack of access to the dance floor.
That’s when the lights turned on and some guy came on the stage and told everyone to “just remain quiet for one moment if you want this party to continue.”
“The fire marshall has told us that if everyone in the stands and the stairwells does not take a seat, the party is over.”
Everyone reacted as expected.
I’m pretty sure if the event is supposed to be the “biggest nightclub,” no one is going to want to be sitting down.
Just listen to the music.
It’s not music you just sit and listen to.
So of course, boo’s were heard all over and the crowd chanted, “F***ing bull sh**.”
But nevertheless, everyone followed orders because they wanted to party on.
Well, mostly everyone.
There definitely were those who were defiant.
They wouldn’t clear the stairwells, or they decided to jump off the balconies in order to get to the dance floor.
This was extremely painful to endure because most of us were being obedient.
I mean, we payed $65+ for a ticket!
And that’s not even to mention the $22 spent on parking.
However, after a while things started to look up.
The guy came back on stage and announced, “You guys are awesome. The fire marshall says that we can continue this as long as you do one thing: Everyone in the first five rows of seats needs to get up and relocate to other seats. We’ve had too many people jumping off the balconies and that’s the only way we will ensure that that won’t continue happening. So if you can do that, we will get the show on the road.”
Yet again, people were pissed. And many were not budging from those seats.
People couldn’t get it through their heads that they needed to get off their butts and move or we weren’t going to get to see Chromeo, Underworld, or any of the other artists perform.
But then again, how would you react if you were in those rows?
I mean, just think about the things you would normally think of during that type of situation.
Um, personally, I would flip.
I would be livid:
“I came to this event looking forward to dancing all night. Yet, I was willing to sacrifice my dancing all night in order to have the artists perform. I listened. I sat down in a seat that just so happened to be in the first five rows. And now I have to move because of some other people’s dumb behavior? Really?”
Well, instead of simply kicking people out who were acting up, they chose to let the crowd sit for 2 hours clueless as to what was going on.
The last we heard, the show was going to continue.
But I’m an observant person and I started to put the pieces together:
First, Michael and I noticed that some of the behind-the-scenes crew started to get on stage and slowly take things down. They did it in an extremely subtle, actually even secretive fashion. First, some guys took part of Chromeo’s keyboards away. Then, someone covered up some equipment as another wheeled some away.
Second, we overheard someone say that one of the security guards told them the show was being shut down. And that’s when we decided to get out of our seats and figure it out.
That’s when Michael overheard one of the personnel’s headsets saying, “The party is over.”
However, nothing happened.
No one went on stage announcing anything and security stuck with their story that they were in the dark as well.
But Michael and I were over it.
It wasn’t worth staying and we knew it.
As we went to leave, we noticed that some security were guarding the exits and after letting some people out one yelled, “That’s it!,” as if they weren’t going to let anyone else out.
However, we ended up walking to the outdoor concourse area, and were able to successfully leave.
I heard people were arrested for trying to leave through the main doors, but I’m not sure if that’s true or not.
However, I wouldn’t doubt it.
The police were up on this event from the get-go, which was unfortunate.
I mean, it was a huge rave.
And they aren’t dumb.
They know people are going to be rolling and doing Lord knows what other drugs, and they don’t want that.
But honestly, I hate that.
I don’t care if others want to do stuff like that.
Let them.
Honestly, I highly doubt anyone was going to Hard Fest to start problems.
Everyone was going to have a good time.
And as long as they were having a good time and weren’t hurting me, then I could care less if they were on something.
That’s what pisses me off so much about the whole situation last night.
Police obviously knew that people were going to be on drugs and they didn’t like that, so they shut it down.
It’s now a crime to have fun.
See, I don’t have a problem with the fact that the fire marshall demanded those changes.
Because they were right: a lot of people were being idiots.
People weren’t necessarily putting others at risk, but they were definitely putting themselves at risks.
Then again, if anything were to have gone wrong like something caught on fire and the whole place began erupting in flames, everyone would be at risk.
Which brings me to the main problem:
There were way too many people in attendance.
The event organizers had clearly oversold the venue.
So to be completely fair, I don’t blame the fire marshall.
However, I do partially blame the police for their handling of the situation. Sure there were a lot of dumb people there, but to treat everyone with such disrespect as they did was incredibly discerning. It will never seize to frustrate me how one-sided most cops can be. Then again, I guess we can consider ourselves special because they decided it was necessary to call in their riot police.
Funny. Instead of kicking out disobedient people, after 2+ hours of waiting in confusion, the riot police take over the floor and slowly push everyone out of the venue. That was a real great idea, especially since the concert had just begun and most people were just starting their “roll.”
Honestly, they just made it worse.
I mean really, does forcing 11,000+ young stoned people out of a concert that’s supposed to end 4 hours later, really sound like a such a smart idea?
Oh wait, they obviously knew it was a stupid idea or else they wouldn’t have called the riot police in.
Then again, we can’t put all the blame on the police.
We must also blame the event coordinators for their horrible planning, as well as their horrible handling of the situation.
I mean, they clearly oversold the venue. If every single person was to sit in a seat, there would be thousands left without one.
That was where it all went wrong.
They were planning a rave, so to speak. And yet they decided to host it at the Forum, which has a relatively large floor but not nearly large enough to hold 11,000+ people. Really, what could they possibly have been thinking?
And then once things got out of hand, they kept everyone out of the loop as the riot police showed up and got positioned outside.
Michael and I saw this all happening as we were leaving, and just knew that things were going to get ugly. So I’m glad we got out when we did.
However, most people didn’t leave and got the surprise of their lives when the riot police entered and kicked everyone out.
So you mess up by overselling your event, then rather than handling it by simply kicking out the unruly, you call the police, have them set up their riot squads and force everyone out after 2 hours without warning?
Again. Real smart.
So what do 11,000+ stoned young people do after their night abruptly comes to an end?
They party in the parking lot of course!
Oh wait.
No they don’t.
The police force them out.
Then pull them over.
I guess all that’s left to be said is that Hard Fest was a disaster of mass proportion.
Although some people had just decided to go to the event that night, many had planned for quite some time, including the two of us.
In fact, this was my birthday gift from Michael and my birthday was at the end of June.
We were waiting for this for months.
So you can refund all the money in the world, but that still doesn’t fix the fact that your inadequate preparation and planning ruined 11,000+ people’s nights nor does it fix the fact that you ruined my birthday present.
So to the coordinators of Hard Fest, good luck with Hard Mansion.
