Hard Time For Hard Summer

Fans attending a recent all-night electronic concert at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif., got a rude awakening when authorities shut down the show early over safety concerns.

In a statement, organizers for Hard Summer at The Forum explained they’d been forced to pull the plug on the event after it was declared a “hazard” by officials for the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

Fire and police officials apparently got nervous when they saw fans “jumping from the balcony to the floor, along with numerous other potentially dangerous activities.”

Another issue for authorities was an over-capacity crowd.

Promoter Gary Richards, who told LA Weekly he’d been planning for a 15,000 turnout at the event, was given an official tally of 17,500 by police around 11 p.m. the night of the show, the paper said.

“This kind of event you’re doing for 17,000 people might work for 5,000,” Inglewood Lt. Steve Overly told the promoter as he ordered the event to be shut down. “I feel bad for you. This is probably our only safe opportunity to get everybody out.”

Richards told the Los Angeles Times that every attempt had been made to ensure adequate security for the concert.

“The Forum typically hires I think 200 security guards for events,” he said. “We had 320 guards. There were 36 Inglewood police officers and nine fire inspectors. My partners had 10 to 15 meetings with these people to go over the plan.”

But even the best laid plans sometimes go awry.

“We learned that the Forum is just not the right place for an event like this,” Richards said. “Knowing now that people will jump from balconies onto the floor, the Forum is not good for us. … My brother and I used to manage Slipknot back in the day, and those fans weren’t doing that.”

Hard Summer, which was set to feature dance and electronic acts including Underworld, Chromeo, Crookers and Crystal Castles, offered refunds to all concertgoers through their point of purchase.

An Oct. 31 dance event that Richards booked at the venue will reportedly be moved to another location.