Randall RobertsView more photos in the “HARD Summer: From Party to Riot Police?” slideshow.
Here's what we know, via Twitter. The police and fire marshals have shut down Hard Summer. Not sure about the truth to @anhnguyen, who Tweeted: “Hard Summer got shutdown and tear gassed out.” Just swapped texts with LA Weekly photographer Timothy Norris, who's processing photos. We'll have them in the morning.
Most intriguing non-Tweeter right now is @destructohard, which is Hard founder Gary Richards feed: His final one of the night is this: “@destructohard: Underworld sound checking now.. Fuck yes @Hardfest #Hard.”
Others checking in:
@ b_fizzle Hard summer less than a minute ago from mobile web
@Cody2 Best night turned into worst night when the swat team came. Fuck hard summer. 2 minutes ago from txt
@Funny_369 Pfistasaur Hard Summer got shut down? 3 minutes ago from web
@YTC_mofo: Wow HARD summer fest is turning into Summer nightmare!!!!!!!! 3 minutes ago from TweetDeck
@danlatham Leaving HARD summer fest. Got shut down by the fire marshall. Four hours of no music and riot police. https://twitpic.com/d9bqn 4 minutes ago from Tweetie
@ghettofresh182 HARD summer is dunzo already? Suckkkkas. 6 minutes ago from txt
@deborahn00b FAIL! on hard summer.. get shut down before mid night. makes me not wanna rave anymore. waste of 80+ bucks for those who went. :/ 7 minutes ago from PockeTwit
@hgparra Well, sucks for HARD Summer! The Bloody Beetroots in SD tomorrow. I just feel bad for the people that wanted to experience Underworld. 8 minutes ago from web
@Angel_red_normal hard summer in Los Angeles canceled by police and event staff only two hours into the show 13 minutes ago from web
@NajmaSubira The 40404 text shit is back on, finally. Had a great day at the samo beach with Skip. Hard Summer got shut down. Sucks for you guys. <3 15 minutes ago from web
@RiotheLeo fuck the fourm! fuck Hard summer! that blew! never again! -Rio the Leo 16 minutes ago from txt
@rknthefreewrld Hard Summer shut down. All access meant nothing tonight, but bad fashion and tonsa security 17 minutes ago from UberTwitter
@ShortySmokes I'm super mad/sad that i'm missing hard summer right now. . . 20 minutes ago from txt
@06posseobey Hard summer got shut down 22 minutes ago from txt
@vZa Hard Summer shut down early?!?!? 28 minutes ago from txt
@jisantos https://twitpic.com/d99yl – Hard Summer cancelled 28 minutes ago from TwitPic
@ashleylovsyou hard summer much ?? eric ! 28 minutes ago from web
UDPATE/CORRECTION: Last night we IDed the police as Los Angeles police. The Forum is in Inglewood, and it was the Inglewood PD who have jurisdiction.
UPDATE 7 A.M. SUNDAY: The Hard website has posted a statement on its website:
Dear Los Angeles,
We are terribly sorry. Inglewood PD made the decision to shut down the event tonight much to our astonishment and yours. There are many questions to answer; rest assured you will not be left hanging. Please check back soon. The show must go on…
UPDATE: Pop & Hiss is reporting the following: “Saturday's all-night electronic event Hard Summer at the Forum was shut down by midnight. The event was declared a “hazard” by the Los Angeles County Fire Department, according to an Inglewood police representative. Based on the LAFD's recommendation, Hard Summer was called off.”
UDPATE: Video is starting to come out of Hard Fest 2009, which was shut down by Inglewood police last two a few hours into it. No solid news yet on why, but word is traveling that the fire department made the call after seeing kids jumping from the balcony onto the floor — and video now backs this up. (That's from our photographer, Timothy Norris.)
Video of people jumping from the balcony (begins at 2:20). “Oh shit” is right. This explains a lot.
UPDATE (9:30 A.M): Bluecomet.TV's Leona Laurie has a good rundown of the event: “I think it was at about the 90-minute mark that a crew member removed a laptop and a keyboard from Chromeo's setup, and I knew that was a bad sign. A little while later, someone discreetly tossed a cover over the turntables. That was definitely a bad sign. Then we started seeing action from the folks behind the sound board- but they weren't getting ready for the big show- they were packing up. The mother of bad signs.”
UPDATE 11:03: This from Hard promoter Gary Richards' Twitter, @destructohard: “Full refund will be made available for those who purchased tickets to HARD SUMMER more info coming ASAP. @HARD”
Credit: jessethatguy
Also: Jessethatguy has a great flickr set of photos here.
UPDATE (12:55 P.M): Rumors of deaths at Hard Fest last night remain just that: RUMORS. Spoke with the Inglewood PD watch commander, who, when asked to confirm a commenter's claim of ten overdose deaths, dismissed it. “If there were ten deaths, I'd know about it by now.” Awaiting official response from Inglewood police department.
UPDATE (1:30 P.M.): We've got more coverage on last night's fiasco. Dennis Romero watched as the Inglewood police department ordered Hard's Gary Richards to close the event once and for all. Read the account, along with information on capacity issues, here. Inside the Forum, Lizzie Azran captured the scene from the balcony (replete with a security guard donning spiked brass knuckles). Read her account here (scroll down). Headliners the Underworld has explained how their evening went down here. Timothy Norris was shooting the fashion scene at Hard when a clusterfuck broke out. See what could have been here.
Were you at Hardfest last night? Comment on it below. Specifically: Was security preventing people in the balcony from exiting? Is it really true that Hardfest removes caps from all water bottles? Were the drinking fountains really shut off? (We find this last rumor, posted in a comment, to be a little far-fetched, but are looking for confirmation.)
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