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Fantazia Cancellation Costs University
The University of Massachusetts Amherst may be on the hook for as much as $18,500 for an electronic dance party concert the school recently canceled over concerns about drugs.
The “Return to Fantazia” was scheduled to take place at the campus’ Mullins Center Sept. 21 but campus officials thought twice about hosting the event following a string of “Molly”-related deaths at venues throughout the region.
Campus spokesman Daniel Fitzgibbons told The Republican about 1,371 tickets had been sold at the time of the cancellation, adding that full refunds will be provided at the box office. The school has no plans to reschedule the event.
“The university, we’re trying to take a proactive approach,” Fitzgibbons said. Comcast-Spectacor, which manages the Mullins Center, sided with the school regarding the cancellation.
“We, along with the University, felt that, at this particular time, in light of recent incidents, that it would be in everyone’s best interest to cancel this particular show,” the company said in a statement. “It’s unfortunate as we know a lot of people have been looking forward to it, but we all felt it was what needed to be done at this time.”
The concert was being produced by NV Concepts, which co-promoted a Zedd show last month at Boston’s House Of Blues where one woman died following an apparent drug overdose and two others were hospitalized with related issues.
In other Molly-related news, the New York City medical examiner recently ruled that two fans who died at the
Officials shut down the last day of the fest on Randall’s Island. Following the concert deaths, New York legislators overwhelmingly approved a law that cracks down on the sale, use and possession of Molly and added the drug to the state’s banned substance list.