Concertgoers describe chaos at Electric Zoo Festival in NYC as lines shut due to overcrowding – New York Daily News

Video posted online shows ticket-holders appearing to overwhelm security at the Electric Zoo Festival on Randall’s Island after organizers attempted to turn away concertgoers due to overcrowding on Sunday.

The footage shows hordes of music fans dashing past ticket checkers as cops appear to get out of the way of the unruly crowd.

Event organizer Avant Gardner announced around 6:30 p.m. that admission to the annual techno fest, which was in its third day, was closed. It cited capacity issues caused by previous setbacks that saw the event’s opening night canceled due to “global supply chain disruptions.”

“It is with deep regret that we need to inform you that due to the challenges caused by Friday’s cancelation, we have reached our venue’s capacity earlier than anticipated for today, Sunday,” organizers tweeted. “For the safety and well-being of everyone on-site, we will not be admitting any additional attendees today.”

That announcement was quickly followed by tweets from the NYPD’s 25th Precinct announcing that all “shuttles and roadways leading to the venue” would be shut down.

A spokeswoman for the police department could not say how law enforcement would manage civilian access on and off the island, but said routes would remain open for MTA busses and emergency vehicles.

Would-be concertgoers described dealing with combative security guards, saying they hurled objects at music fans and threatened violence.

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“One of the guards took a picture of us and threatened to punch me in the face,” Andrea Gonzalez, who was denied entry, told the Daily News. “She tried to climb over the fence to hit me.”

Ticket-holders who managed to make it inside the venue didn’t fare much better, according to one concertgoer who decided to leave early due to sound problems.

“There was a lot of sound bleeding,” said Shelly Wang. “All the stages were really close together.”

Sunday’s capacity issues follow massive lines that plagued Saturday’s event, with fans waiting up to four hours in will-call lines to pick up tickets purchased ahead of the show, AllTime EDM wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Music fans took to social media to hurl criticism at Avant Gardner, which obtained ownership of the Electric Zoo Festival during its 2022 takeover of New York music promoter Made Event. They compared the Randall’s Island event with the notorious Fyre Festival of 2017 in which ticket-holders promised luxury digs were forced to squat in refugee tents and subsist on cheese sandwiches.

“Fyre Festival but like for New Yorkers: Electric Zoo,” wrote Twitter user After the Afters.

Electric Zoo organizers promised full refunds to anyone turned away from Sunday’s event.