This past weekend saw GRiZ debut his Triple Rainbow camping festival at Alpine Valley Music Theatre. While the two-day event in East Troy, WI featured the debut of the sax-wielding DJ/producer’s new stage design, two Chasing The Golden Hour sets, and onstage collaborations with ProbCause, Chrishira Perrier, and LSDREAM, that’s not all fans online are talking about.
A first-hand account of the festival by Steph Wanderling of EDM Identity states that, “The first thing I noticed was the security and police presence that felt overbearing at times.” While getting into the on-site camping grounds “wasn’t too bad”—including car searches that are common to most camping events—the situation allegedly turned once inside the ground. Officers enforced a strict noise curfew from 2:30–8 a.m., giving out verbal warnings and citations to those who did not obey. Wanderling also writes of “aggressive authority figures present at the festival” in addition to “police dogs and authorities patrolling the grounds constantly, which left many attendees feeling as if they were being profiled and others raided for paraphernalia throughout the weekend.”
And I know that gRiZ cannot control the security of the venue or how the police that were fired to run the Camping treated us but I’m truly scared of another event
— skyd♌️ (@sxdnexj) September 21, 2022
triple rainbow was gas but the alpine music staff good grief getting sniffed by drug dogs on the walk back to camp each night is a tad much
— mads (@madisoncsherlin) September 18, 2022
🌈 TRIPLE RAINBOW FAM 🌈
I wanna hear about your camping experiences and curious if it was uncomfy for everyone?
& we can collective never camp there again 😅
— 𝕭𝖗𝖎𝖉𝖌𝖊 💫 (@babybriddim) September 18, 2022
In response to this and other fans who vented their frustrations on social media, GRiZ took to Twitter to say, “I’m beyond upset w the policing & Worked really hard on this event. To see our community treated so poorly was heartbreaking.” The DJ then instructed any fans who received citations to screenshot them and email the picture to grizpresentssummer22@gmail.com for reimbursement.
I’m beyond upset w the policing & Worked really hard on this event. To see our community treated so poorly was heartbreaking. I always want what’s best for y’all, so if u got a citation there email grizpresentssummer22@gmail.com w a screenshot of the ticket & I’ll reimburse u pic.twitter.com/vM02qzoDrs
— GRiZ (@Griz) September 24, 2022
This is far from the first incident to occur at the iconic East Troy shed. The Grateful Dead performed at Alpine Valley every summer from 1980–1989 until Joseph Entertainment Inc., the firm that owned the venue, announced in 1990 that it would be added to the growing list of venues to ban the psychedelic stalwarts. According to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article, the promoter instated the ban to ease tensions with local authorities who had grown tired of the ticketless masses who flooded the parking lots and jammed up traffic when the band made its annual pilgrimage.