Police pause concert permits after drug deaths
Police in the Malaysian state of Selangor have temporarily suspended concert permits following the suspected drug-related deaths of four people at last month’s Pinkfish Countdown.
The casualties – aged between 20 and 40 – died after attending the New Year’s Eve festival at Surf Beach, Sunway Lagoon. All victims had drugs in their blood according to local police, with toxicology reports since referred to the University Malaya Medical Centre. Three other festivalgoers were also hospitalised.
“For now, the police are suspending the approval of any permits for concerts like this until organisers can demonstrate control and ensure such elements do not occur,” Selangor police chief Datuk Hussein Omar Khan told a press conference. “In the future, for any concert, organisers must ensure that they can prevent the entry of drugs at the event. If they fail to do so, we cannot allow it to proceed, as it may result in fatalities.”
The festival, which was curated by Hitman Solutions and Happy Moon, featured acts including Sarah Landry, Showtek, Blasterjaxx, Cosmic Gate and Nifra and attracted around 14,000 fans.
Promoters said they were “deeply saddened” by the deaths and pledged to fully cooperate with the authorities.
They also sought to “reassure the public that every precaution has been taken to ensure the safety of our events”, pointing to the presence of more than 100 police officers and the deployment of trained security personnel and K9 units.
Speaking earlier this month, Malaysian Artistes Association president Datuk Freddie Fernandez noted a similar tragedy occurred in 2014, when six people lost their lives at Future Music Festival Asia in Kuala Lumpur.
“Following the incident, several new policies were implemented, including the stipulation that EDM concerts could only be held in enclosed venues to facilitate better control,” he said, as per The Star. “Yet, such a tragedy has happened again. I am unsure about the changes in regulations that now allow concerts in open venues, which are clearly more difficult to manage.
“Losing lives due to drug abuse while enjoying music is deeply distressing. This also tarnishes the concert industry, which serves as a source of livelihood and a vital ecosystem for music practitioners.”
“How can a professional career like music… be labelled as hedonistic culture simply because of the actions of a few?”
Fernandez is calling for closer collaboration on drug awareness campaigns between event organisers and agencies, such as the National Anti-Drugs Agency.
He added: “How can a professional career like music, which is taught in universities worldwide, be labelled as hedonistic culture simply because of the actions of a few? Enjoy entertainment healthily, like engaging in sports. You can sing and dance happily without associating with drugs or a state of intoxication.”
Furthermore, the South China Morning Post reports that Selangor executive councillor Ng Suee Lim has floated the possibility of conducting urine tests on attendees, as well as installing airport-style security scanners in a bid to keep drugs out of events.
There have also been pleas for drug-testing infrastructure to be introduced in the country, similar to that deployed in other markets around the world – the recent launch of a landmark new pill-testing trial at Australia’s Beyond The Valley was hailed as a huge success by promoter Untitled Group.
Investigations are also ongoing after two males – a 32-year-old American and 28-year-old Canadian – died after attending Electric Daisy Carnival’s debut in Phuket, Thailand, over the weekend.
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.
Ireland’s Electric Picnic presses gov for reopening plan
Electric Picnic is calling on the Irish government to interrupt its summer recess and “immediately issue reopening guidelines,” after the festival was refused a licence for this year’s event.
The event, which would usually take place with 70,000 attendees per day, was scheduled to go ahead from 24–26 September at Stradbally Hall Estate, County Laois.
However, despite the organisers’ proposal to ensure that everyone attending the event would be fully vaccinated and registered in advance for contact tracing, the local council has declined to issue a permit based on “the most up-to-date public health advice”.
The council cited current government guidance in relation to “events of this nature being restricted to an attendance of 500 people only”.
“This was a very difficult decision for the council to make and I’m sure it will be disappointing to thousands of music fans and the live music industry,” says Laois County Council’s chairman, councillor Conor Bergin. “However, in the current climate, it’s the lack of certainty over Covid. We’d all love to see it go ahead but with no certainty, it’s very hard.”
The promoters, Festival Republic and MCD, described the news as a “huge blow and set back to our entire sector, which was mandated to close on the 12th March 2020 (over 500 days ago).”
The statement said that the decision means “the further loss of employment for over 3,000 people, who had clung to the hope that Electric Picnic would bring an end to their period of hardship”.
“This is a huge blow and set back to our entire sector”
“To see Scotland, a country with a similar population and virtually identical vaccine rollout and uptake as our own, only announce yesterday that they were easing restrictions and allowing events such as Trnsmt in Glasgow go ahead in September makes this decision even more difficult to accept,” it said.
It was announced yesterday that Trnsmt was granted ‘gateway event’ status by the government, exempting it from the capacity limit for outdoor events.
The three-day event will take place this September with up to 50,000 non-socially distanced fans per day.
Electric Picnic is now calling on the Irish government to reopen the live music sector “on a phased basis” from 14 August, building to the lifting of restrictions from 1 September onwards.
The organisers say they’re now “reviewing their options” and will be in contact with ticket holders over the next week.
Should Electric Picnic 2021 be cancelled, it will mark two years in a row without the festival. The festival has been staged annually since 2004.
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.
Woodstock organisers blame permit rejection on “politics”
The organisers of the beleaguered Woodstock anniversary festival have blamed “certain political forces”, following the denial of a temporary event permit from the town of Vernon in New York State.
The small town rejected the festival’s request for a permit yesterday (10 July), on the basis that its application was late and incomplete.
In a statement released today, Woodstock organisers stated that “certain political forces may be working against the resurrection of the festival.”
The Woodstock 50 team also denied that they had submitted incomplete filing for the permit.
“Woodstock 50 officials were informed by the town of Vernon that most questions had been answered and asked only that Woodstock submit medical, safety/security and traffic plans by this past Sunday, which it did,” reads the statement.
“Certain political forces may be working against the resurrection of the festival”
Organisers indicated that they plan to file an appeal of the decision, saying they were “hopeful” that such a reapplication would “prevail without further political interference”.
The permit rejection followed a meeting in which officials raised concerns over the ability to ensure safety at the event, given the short timeframe available.
Woodstock 50 is scheduled to take place from August 16 to 18. Tickets are yet to go onsale.
The future of the 50th-anniversary celebration of Woodstock has been in doubt ever since its financial partner, Dentsu Aegis’ investment arm Amplifi Live, pulled its support in April.
The event has since lost two production partners – Superfly and CID Entertainment – and its original venue, Watkins Glen International.
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.