Live Nation has confirmed that a male attendee passed away due to “cardiac distress” after the opening night of Hard Summer music festival. The incident seems to have occurred prior to Flying Lotus’ set, where he event tweeted “Damn. I saw a guy die before I played my set. Heavy.”
A representative from Spin Magazine was there and accounted for what happened,
SPIN was there as well, waiting for Lotus’ 10:25 set to begin when we heard sirens and saw flashing red lights heading in our direction. We followed the emergency vehicles to the scene, where police were making room as medics performed CPR on the man, who’d apparently been lying near the edge of the field. Responders worked to resuscitate him but seemingly to no avail, as they lifted him onto a gurney, loaded him onto a cart-like vehicle, and rushed him through the nearest gate alongside the stage. A hundred or so HARD patrons had gathered on the hillside above him, mostly sitting quietly. One young woman had buried her face in a friend’s chest and was clearly weeping.
There’s no word whether drugs were involved or not, but expect the incident to undergo intense amount of scrutiny given that it is being held at Los Angeles State Historic Park. Los Angeles has a dark history when it comes to electronic music and deaths, highlighted by 15-year-old Sasha Rodriguez who passed away from a drug overdose at Electric Daisy Carnival 2010.
According to LA Weekly,
A 25-year-old male was found unresponsive, pulseless and non-breathing at the venue by a team of veteran LAFD paramedics. He was transported in grave condition to L.A. County-USC Medical Center.
Drugs are being blamed as the catalyst for the death, but until a toxicology report is returned it’s all speculation at best.
Live Nation’s statement:
During Saturday evening’s event held at Los Angeles State Historic Park, a patron experienced cardiac distress and sadly passed away at the hospital. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.
Our guests’ safety and well being is of paramount importance at every Live Nation event. We have skilled EMT’s, police, and security staff deployed on site to respond to any emergency situation and last night members of this emergency team were with this patron and administering CPR within two minutes of notification. We work closely with local health and safety authorities to plan for emergencies and set the appropriate staffing levels for each event.
For more information please contact LAC+USC Medical Center.
Hard Summer was sold out this year with headliners including Knife Party, Flying Lotus, Bassnectar and Justice. The festival is restricted to those 18+. There was also a death recorded at Paradiso Music Festival earlier this year.
We will continue to post more information as it is released.
(H/T DaD)
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