LA County To Cap Ticket Sales, Require Anti-Drug Messaging At Electronic Music Events

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — An effort by Los Angeles County officials to make electronic music festivals at county facilities safer is forcing one of the biggest concert promoters in the U.S. to change how they do business.

Live Nation has cancelled an event scheduled for Sept. 10 at the Fairplex in Pomona and agreed to "significant conditions to address health and safety concerns" at a second two-day event scheduled for Oct. 31 - Nov. 1, according to officials with L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis' office.

The move comes on the heels of a motion introduced by Solis and Supervisor Mike Antonovich earlier this month directing officials to report back on several health and safety issues involved with electronic music festivals, more popularly known as "raves".

KNX 1070's Pete Demetriou reports the Board of Supervisors passed the motion with a unanimous 5-0 vote in what Supervisor Don Knabe believes will lead to changes for public safety at concerts countywide.

"You want people to have a good time, you're not trying to prevent that, it's a unique kind of concert, event, whatever you wanna call it," said Knabe. "But at the end of the day, you just can't allow craziness."

One of the requested changes agreed to by Live Nation includes a 21-and-older age limit with limited ticket sales and security enhancements.

There will be also be increased cooling stations, shaded areas, misting stations and free water readily available to all attendees at such events.

In addition, officials say anti-drug and drug education messaging will be produced and distributed at the Live Nation event in consultation with the County's Department of Public Health.