Organizers of the notorious New York City-based EDM festival, Electric Zoo, have made plans for tighter security measures. Despite the tragedies that occurred at last year’s event, promoters Mike Bindra and Laura DePalma expect the festival to return to Randalls Island this year, even though they have yet to receive a permit from New York City’s Department of Parks And Recreation.
Sources say that city officials continue to be concerned with the drug-related deaths that resulted in the cancellation of the third day of last year’s event. Thus, the organizers plan to institute new safety measures in hopes of preventing any further tragedy.
According to the Wall Street Journal, some of the new security measures that are expected to be introduced are drug sniffing dogs, undercover narcotics investigators, and more thorough pat-downs for each participant. Additionally, festival goers will be required to watch a series of public service announcement style anti-drug videos delivered by the biggest names in EDM in order to activate each concert wristband for event admission. The festival will also start later in the day in order to reduce attendees’ exposure to the sun and heat.
Because of the proceedings that occurred at last year’s Electric Zoo, head promoters have consulted with an advisory board made up of doctors, DJs, and security consultants in order to establish tighter security measures for this year’s festival. SFX Entertainment, which purchased Electric Zoo promotion company, Made Events, this past October, is said to be applying the board’s recommendations to all of its festivals.
DJ Armin Van Buuren has joined the advisory board for an insider’s take on the EDM scene. He states that accidents do happen despite the necessary precautions taken. However, he also states that “If they prohibit Electric Zoo, you’ll have more underground raves, which can be far more dangerous.”
As stated above, the future of this year’s Electric Zoo is uncertain. Because of the unfortunate circumstances that have taken place at large EDM music festivals such as this along with Ultra Music Festival in Miami, FL, public officials have become weary and are hesitant to allow these groundbreaking concerts to continue.
Although some skeptics may welcome the demise of the EDM festival, the movement has grown so large that it cannot be stopped. As stated in L4LM’s feature on the fallout from Electric Zoo’s cancellation, “With the increase in popularity of ANY music scene, or pop culture scene in general, you are going to increase the chances of something going wrong. The more people that attend an event, the increased likelihood of an incident occurring.” Public officials had shown great concern over Rock and Hip Hop concerts in the past because of their “drug associations.” Yet both of these genres are now accepted as part of mainstream music. EDM will eventually get there, but only if it survives the public backlash first.