August 9, 2009 14:18

Crystal Castles festival show shut down by riot police

LA dance event is closed amid safety concerns

Photo Gallery: Crystal Castles
Photo: Tom Martin

Crystal Castles found themselves at the centre of an emergency when their show at Los Angeles' Hard Festival was shut down after fans began jumping from the barriers and the event was closed down.

Around 1am last night (August 8), the Canadian electro duo were opening what was set to be all-night rave party in front of 17,000 people in the Inglewood area. But the event was over before it had barely begun when fans started jumping down from the bleacher section onto the floor.

As Crystal Castles finished their set, the show was shut down over safety concerns, with riot police escorting the crowd out of the arena. The audience had included Red Hot Chili Peppers' frontman Anthony Keidis and producer Rick Rubin.

A blogger for Club Soda, who was there, wrote: "Crystal Castles followed with an... uh... interesting set laced with a touch of intentional audio feedback and static. That's when it got crazy. Douchebag raver kids started jumping off the second level into the pit. Thanks fuckers. Even after countless warnings this shit continued until the fire marshall decided to boot everyone out. It wasn't official until the special tactics unit of the LAPD made an appearance. What an evening it was indeed."

A statement on the festival website simply reads: "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 get back soon. The show must go on..."

Underworld, Tiga and Rye Rye had all been due to perform.

You can watch amateur footage of events unfolding below.