Labor Day Weekend is long behind us, marking the end of summer and festival season for 2023. Dozens of music festivals across the country successfully brought in tens of thousands of people but I want to talk about one that I’m sure all of us electronic music fans saw on our feeds. I'm talking about Electric Zoo in New York.
The event is one of the largest music festivals in New York City dating back to 2009. Back then, it was only on Saturday and Sunday with 4 stages and more than 50 artists. At that time, they had some big names in the scene, such as Armin van Buuren, Deadmau5, Kaskade, David Guetta and Chris Lake to name a few. It’s since grown to be an iconic music festival that happens every Labor Day weekend. It’s a staple for EDM enthusiasts to spend their holiday weekends at.
Now you’ve definitely seen the headlines at this point, I mean CNN, NBC and ABC all posted articles about it. They’re just trying to get pageviews with all the clickbait and fan outrage. But straight up, what really happened?
At first glance, it looks like an epic planning failure. Then, for a moment, it appears to be a permitting issue. Then a capacity issue. Then, you realize there’s twenty issues wrapped into one big giant clusterfuck. Sure, mistakes happen and issues arise, but this is some Fyre Festival shit..
Friday
All madness aside, you can't deny the organizers behind Electric Zoo came out with a stacked lineup. You can click here if you want to go and see for yourself. It drew in a sold-out crowd, some traveling cross-country or even across borders to go to NYC and be there to experience it. For example, CBS New York talked with a woman who flew in from the West Coast.
Organizers lined up major artists to perform on Day 1 (Friday): The Chainsmokers, Chris Lake & Fisher, Excision, Galantis, Mau P, Kaskade, Madeon, Said The Sky and Griz. But sadly fans were never able to see them perform and this is where the downfall began. Festival organizers decided to cancel Day 1 entirely.
Kicking off the wave of public catastrophes, Festive Owl shared this picture on X, formerly known as Twitter, showing that the mainstage was nowhere near complete and construction was very much still underway on Friday. Prior to this, Electric Zoo shared a statement on X about the disappointing realization they had to accept to make Day 2 and Day 3 happen accordingly. As you scroll down and read, it did not go as planned on those days either. They decided to cancel and shut down everything on Friday.
“This year has presented unparalleled challenges for everyone. The global supply chain disruptions have impacted industries worldwide, and, sadly, our beloved festival has not been immune. These unexpected delays have prevented us from completing the construction of the main stage in time for Day 1.”
To be fair, that blows and it takes some balls to completely shut down the very first day of a three-day event, especially under new ownership (I’ll elaborate more on this later on).. In that same statement by Electric Zoo, they shared they would be providing a full refund for anyone with tickets for that day, or partial credits for people that got three-day passes.
As a consumer and avid festival goer, I’ve been through the process of getting a refund from a music festival and it’s a massive pain in the ass. I won’t say the festival I had this experience with, I will share that I had to fight with them via email for about 4 months, to which I learned they weren’t going to budge and I had to go through my bank. Instead of immediately reimbursing me, they wanted me to accept their offer, which was getting tickets for next year's festival. Don’t get me wrong, that’s great but I wanted my money at the time.
After looking through some of the videos shared on social media, it probably would have been best for organizers with Electric Zoo to shut everything down and deal with reimbursing people right then and there.
To bring a local perspective into this piece, I reached out to Ryan Kenny, a New-York city resident and comedian and fan of Electric Zoo. You can check out his Instagram here.
Ryan decided to buy single-day tickets, which turned into a best-case scenario considering the festival turned into a shitshow. I asked Ryan about how he felt hearing the news on Friday that Electric Zoo decided to cancel, considering that practically never happens.
“Everyone was just like… First of all, this has to be a joke,” he said. “But everyone knew it wasn't. I think it was really just like, everyone has been saying how Avant Gardner bought EZoo (Electric Zoo), they’re the ones that are putting it on now. Avant Gardner are the ones that run Brooklyn Mirage, they have a bunch of different venues and stuff.”
For context, Billboard reports Avant Gardner is an investment group behind an iconic venue that encompasses The Brooklyn Mirage, The Great Hall, and the Kings Hall. They all serve as an individual event space. Anyways, the investment group bought the festival for $15 million from LiveStyle in 2022. This was their first year putting together Electric Zoo under their ownership.
“I don’t know what the backend looks like but this is the first one they were putting together so everyone was like holy shit, they’re already off to a bad start,” Ryan said. “The funniest part, for months they’ve been hyping up the stages. Like you aren't going to believe our stages… meanwhile they don’t build them in time and that’s why it got shut down.”
Ryan also hasn’t received a notice regarding a refund for his ticket.
“So I think everyone was just like, are you kidding me? Will it be on tomorrow? Because it doesn't look like it’s going to be on tomorrow. Everyone was definitely frustrated.”
Saturday
Saturday arrives and the Electric Zoo organizers have to push back the time that the festival opens by two hours. Doors were scheduled to open at 1 p.m. and they pushed it back to 3 p.m.
Fans were already pissed at this point and ripping the festival to shreds online and for good reason. Regardless, according to “gingerzcreative” on TikTok, UPS never delivered her pass and she had to wait in line for Will Call to get her tickets… along with hundreds of other people as well. Just go and look at the video she posted, we’re talking shoulder to shoulder, no room to breathe, packed among one another just trying to get their tickets to get in.
Remember, she’s not even in the festival at this point, neither are the hundreds of other people around her. Picture yourself in that situation and how pissed you would be. I don’t think I could make it more than an hour crammed together with strangers like that.
To be fair, this happens at every festival. It’s a rush to the gates to get in and then you get in, the festival influencers are running around taking their videos for TikTok or Instagram, maybe you wanna go take a lap and check out the festival grounds, whatever it is that you do. Maybe you're one of those people that goes and finds a corner to sit in the whole time and just people watch (you know who you are, and we’re not judging). But that line that you were in that typically takes about 30-45 minutes, takes hours. I’d probably fuck around at that point and order a pizza. At its peak on Day 2, it took about 5 hours to get through the Will Call line and get your wristband. Insane.
One more time so you can comprehend what I just said. 5 hours.
Now, let’s go back and talk about another TikTok from “gingerzcreative”, where she shares her story and what happened to her on Saturday. She said she got in line at 5:30 p.m. and didn't get her wristband until 10:15 p.m.. Mind you, performances ended at 11 p.m. So now you have a three-day pass, one of the days got canceled and now the very next day, you couldn't even get in until the very end. You can’t make this shit up.
I honestly thought festival organizers had their shit figured out for the most part. From my experience, it’s fairly rare that there’s a wide-range of failures at music festivals these days and I understand shit happens that you can’t always plan for, but Electric Zoo was clearly not ready to hold an event of this caliber under new ownership.
Let’s bring back my guy Ryan, who had boots on the ground on Saturday and was one of the people that had to suffer in the Will Call line with thousands of other people. Ryan also mentioned that you go into “EZoo” knowing you're getting a Will Call ticket. So for the people that have been there in years past, getting a Will Call ticket came to no surprise. He mentioned in years past that there’s typically always a line in Will Call, but your wait time isn’t more than about 30-45 minutes.
“Saturday, I meet up with my whole group and then we get told EZoo is on but they’re not opening until three,” he said. “So we show up at like 5:50, maybe and we’re already like ‘What the fuck.’ Walking up to the Will Call line, you saw the front of the booth to the end of the line…literally jaw dropping.”
An hour and a half in line (left) Two hours in line (right)
Ryan said you could easily tell there were roughly 2,000 people in line once he got there. All waiting in the Will Call line to get their wristbands.
“Then I got in line, I was by myself and it was boiling hot, you could not have been more tightly squeezed in there, as golf carts are driving through the crowd. Security is yelling at people to back up, but we’re stuck in this spot.”
Mind you, people are traveling to get here for Electric Zoo. It’s not uncommon for people to drive upwards of 5 hours or even book a flight to come get to Randall's Island, so we need to talk about the travel time people dedicated to this so they could attend. Then when they get in line, they’re forced to wait for hours on end.
“I got in line at 6 and I ended up leaving at about 8:15. There were three Will Call windows and apparently three people working each one, so about nine people for at least 2000 that are getting their wristbands. I was told that you needed to show the credit card that you bought the wristband with, otherwise you didn't get your wristband. People were walking back, saying they were just in line for 4 hours and didn’t even get their tickets and they told them tough luck.”
Pause. So Electric Zoo failed to get the stages set up on time. Then when it comes to bringing in the people that paid a decent amount of money to get in, they can’t even get in? Back in May, Electric Zoo shared that people could buy 3-day GA passes for $179. We all know ticket prices go up as we get closer to the festival, so people probably ended up spending more than $179 and whatever bullshit fee that comes with it.
It’s absolutely absurd that something like this happens and I can’t even imagine the frustration among everyone in line. Anyways, let’s get back to Ryan and his first hand experience. You’re a man of the people, Ryan, and I appreciate you.
“First, I was saying to the people next to me like, I don't think we’re getting in until 7:30. 7:30 rolls around and we’re like, we might not get in until like 9:30 or 10 at this rate. Seeing people on their phones next to them, everyone is in the same boat. So frustrated, as security guards are running around like, ‘yo, backup’ or ‘tip me 100 bucks and I’ll get you to the front of the line.’ Like this could not get worse and I personally had to make the decision, like it’s 8:15 and we were moving in such small windows that I left. I was gonna demand a refund, like who knows if it even works but they cannot expect people just to rollover with this. By the time I even left, like the videos I’m seeing, it did not get any better.”
Sunday
This festival went from bad to worse very quickly. It’s already a catastrophic failure. People are pissed, probably debating if it's even worth going back for Day 3. Regardless, Day 3 comes around and then Electric Zoo shares this statement on X, about 4 hours after doors open.
“It is with deep regret that we need to inform you that due to the challenges caused by Friday cancellation, we have reached our venue's capacity earlier than anticipated for today, Sunday. For the safety and well-being of everyone on site, we will not be admitting any additional attendees today. If you are on your way or were planning to come later, we kindly ask that you refrain from coming to the festival site.”
They shut down entry to the festival. I have never heard of this happening before. Absolutely bonkers. No matter what event you go to, there is always a capacity for safety concerns. Mind you, I’m no expert, but can’t capacity be evaluated by tracking the ticket sales? For whatever reason, the incompetence and negligence of the team putting together Electric Zoo failed to plan out the capacity accordingly.
I’m just confused and stuck on the idea that they announced they were at capacity only four hours after doors opened. I can’t say I know a ton of people that show up to a music festival right when the doors open. I usually see the highest volume of people going around the 4-6 time slot.
Ryan decided not to even try and go on Sunday after his experience in the Will Call line on Saturday.
“I couldn’t take the chance of having that same Will Call situation happen again. Like, I just couldn't do it. I was actually told that it was fine on Sunday.”
It’s good to see Electric Zoo figured their shit out with the lines on the last day of the festival. Maybe, the majority of people that came back Sunday already went through the Will Call line on Saturday and got their wristbands? Who knows. At least they can say they figured out the line one out of the two days that they actually had the festival.
“But from everyone that I know that was there, like I don’t think people knew what happened during it so I think it was pretty smooth inside,” Ryan said.
Inside of the festival on Sunday is not where the problem happened. The issue happened at the security gates. People began to rush through the entryway and onto the festival grounds. Hundreds, arguably thousands of people ran through the security gates onto the grounds creating chaos. Quickly turning an already nightmarish event into a full on terror. In the end, it's disappointing to see and luckily nobody was seriously hurt.
“It was really bad. It was really, really bad.”
As for next year’s festival, we’re going to have to wait and see if Electric Zoo returns next year under the same ownership and structure.
“At the end of the day, I hate to say it but I’m probably going next year because I wanna see what it’s like next year and I’ll probably buy my ticket earlier” said Ryan.“I just don’t know what people are going to expect but I know for a fact some people are just like I’m never going back.”
Aftermath
In the days following the fiasco that happened on Randall’s Island, New York Mayor, Eric Adams spoke out during a press conference about the incident over the weekend.
“It’s unfortunate that the organizers wanted to turn our city into a zoo and we were not going to allow that to happen,” Mayor Adams said. “We will be dealing with them in the next few days based on their behavior and their actions.”
Avant Gardner then told Billboard that the festival was cancelled because of the city not issuing permits in a timely manner. Industry insiders indicate that the city did not issue the permit because there were safety issues, primarily the main stage construction that Festive Owl spilled the beans on. Those same folks say the festival ran into these issues due to a shortage of workers. Why? Because they failed to pay them last year.
As of September 28, there is still no word on refunds. The last communication from Electric Zoo/Avant Gardner was on Sept 13 where they stated that they’re “not prepared to offer specifics on the refund process at this time”. Given that the total cost of the fest, including potential refunds, is rumored to be around $25 million, it may take a long time.. if ever. It seems Avant Gardner bit off more than they could chew for the 2023 edition of Electric Zoo. In our opinion, they should have eased into festival ownership, especially at a time when industry professionals are harder to come by. Plus, ya know.. Pay them.
Now, there’s a class action lawsuit launched by a few attendees over the “nightmare”. Rolling Stone summarizes the case against the organizers here.
We’ll be tracking this story to see how this pans out from a legal standpoint. Will Electric Zoo be back next year? We’ll just have to watch it play out. Maybe if we’re lucky we’ll get a documentary similar to Fyre Festival.
On a brighter note, according to Ryan, the people that actually got inside had a good time.
“People still had a blast,” said Ryan. “But they even said, with all of this going on like you just knew something was off. Whether it was that people just didn't feel like the organizers had their best interests in mind. It just felt like they were doing too much and overcompensating. It’s a very easy group of people to please so for all of these people that are just there to have a good time to say ‘this is the worst one yet,’ that’s saying something.”
To those that are still looking to get a refund, cross your fingers.
Music Festival Industry in a Post Electric Zoo World
by Matt Crance
Couple this with some other recent festival mishaps we’ve been seeing… And you start to question the state of live music / festivals. At Burning Man, people were “stuck” at the festival due to organizers closing the flooded entrance road after receiving 2-3 months’ worth of rain within a day. Festivalgoers conserved food and water as it was unclear when they would physically be able to leave. At Blue Ridge Festival, severe weather coupled with inadequate evacuation plans and unsafe working conditions caused the festival to suffer. At the World Scout Jamboree, a severe heatwave kickstarted a litany of issues in South Korea causing chaos and eventual evacuation.
Look, there are errors, misconduct, weather evacuations, and unpredictable issues at live events all the time. Electric Zoo and the other examples listed above had some pretty epic fails and are massive in scale, so word spread much more quickly and widely. Also, news spreads in a whole new way in the social media era. Citizen journalism is thriving.
But, regardless of event size, it’s the organizers responsibility to plan, protect, and provide for everyone involved. That includes staff, contractors, vendors, artists, and fans. And now, it’s up to these folks to decide if they’re going to give these organizers another chance moving forward or if they are going to pursue repercussions for what previously happened.
Should there be legal action taken against organizers in these more extreme cases? I think it depends if laws were truly broken. I will say this - I think it’s important for people to read the terms & conditions for the tickets they are buying. However, reputation reigns supreme in the live event industry. Screw people over and they’ll remember forever.
For organizers, the plan is to plan. As you can probably guess from some of the examples above, primary pain points revolve around weather, food & water, safety & security, sanitation, permitting, and overall logistics. But things are getting harder. I believe the reason is three-fold:
A) Residual effects from COVID-19 on the live music market and the broader economy
B) Weather is becoming more impactful
C) More people are attending fewer festivals at larger scales
Let’s look into A. How has Covid impacted the live event market beyond its initial lockdowns and protocols? The list is too long. But for starters, many workers left the industry entirely. According to a Pollstar survey, ~42% of live music industry business experienced layoffs. Therefore, for the fewer professionals remaining (if even available), the cost to hire has increased. Other supply and labor costs have increased too. Not to mention inflation and rising artist fees. Most festivals are for-profit, and therefore, must cut costs elsewhere or increase revenue to make up for those increased costs. This opens the door for a lose-lose situation. Increase ticket prices for fans and you risk your reputation or potentially spook buyers away entirely. If you reduce costs, you’re certainly more at risk for problems, hurting your reputation, or shortcoming the festival experience. Whether that’s hiring a smaller production team or fewer sanitation workers, or even shrinking the community outreach budget, it’s not ideal. Avant Gardner seemingly went with the “we’ll have it all” approach by increasing ticket prices, hiring a small production team, not planning for worst case scenarios, and overselling relative to capacity.
How about B? The weather. When you look at the weather affecting music festivals, there are a few explanations that could be correct. Climate change could be causing an increase in the severity and unpredictability of storms. Festival organizers could be blaming weather for cancellations when it was not truly the root reason (i.e. poor planning). Or there may not actually be an increase in weather-related cancellations… We’re just hearing more about them. It’s a new world out there. Word travels fast.
And finally, C. There are a ton of people trying to go to fewer events that are larger in scale. Ticket prices have increased drastically, ranging between a 17-100% increase since 2019. To keep annual entertainment expenses the same, people are opting to go to fewer events at more expensive prices. Over a third of U.S. adults have attended fewer concerts in the past year. The bigger festivals are getting bigger. The smaller festivals are getting smaller, acquired, or evaporated.
So now, as an industry, we have fewer festivals with lineups stacked with more popular artists. Obviously, logistics planning is harder the more people there are. Especially when human behavior drives crowds. People arrive at the same time, hit the box office at the same time, go to the bathroom at the same time, get water at the same time, exit at the same time, walk in the direction of the rest of the crowd, etc.. These things haven’t really changed. But the density has changed. I believe the number of sell-outs are increasing and the percentage of unscanned tickets is decreasing.
To end, I would like to add a final note of caution. In 2017, Live Nation promoted for nearly 30 thousand concerts and festivals, In 2022, they promoted for nearly 44 thousand, and they’re on pace for over 50 thousand in 2023.
So although this Electric Zoo saga is seemingly shaping up for a win on accountability, it’s unfortunate to see that smaller promoters are struggling to succeed. I foresee this ending in more of Live Nation. Take a glance through Live Nation’s investor reporting page and you’ll get the gist of their strategy. There aren’t many large promoters putting on these festivals outside of Live Nation. They may be who city officials and regulators look at to save the day here.
Some regulation in the concert/festival space fixing the failures at Electric Zoo 2023 is needed, but as fans, we should be weary of over-regulating. Too much improper regulation and it can become a game where only the biggest corporations can afford the legal costs and bypass city guidelines. That said, it’s important that we all remain active in the community and voice our opinion to strike a balance.
Comments