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LOS ANGELES—Twenty years after their heyday as an underground phenomenon, the drug-fueled dance parties known as raves are making a comeback as massive, commercial events.
But a recent wave of ecstasy-related deaths and hospitalizations tied to such events have left some officials skeptical about their makeover.
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Associated Press
Attendees dance to the music of "Laidback Luke" at the Electric Daisy Carnival rave in L.A. on June 26.
Last week, a 15-year-old girl died of apparent drug-related causes following an enormous rave held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, prompting a temporary moratorium on such gatherings at the municipally owned venue.
An estimated 180,000 people, many of them teenagers, attended the two-day party, known as the Electric Daisy Carnival.
The joint state, county and city commission that oversees the Coliseum is to meet July 16 to consider extending the moratorium or imposing other limitations. Officials in the San Francisco Bay Area are also mulling similar steps in the wake of their own rave-related deaths.
Unlike the original raves in the late 1980s and early '90s, which were often staged without permits in hard-to-find patches of desert or abandoned industrial warehouses, today's version has gone aboveground. Events have been held at other city buildings, at the Cow Palace in Daly City, Calif., near San Francisco, and at New York City's Randall's Island. Promoters charge as much as $85 a day admission, set age restrictions and impose relatively early closing times.
The soundtrack for the events remains the throbbing electronic dance music known as electronica, spun by DJs.
Another thing that hasn't changed: The drug of choice for many attendees is still ecstasy, an illegal stimulant/hallucinogen also known as MDMA that is often cut with other substances.
Taken as a pill or powder, the drug, whose full chemical name is 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, can induce euphoria and doesn't typically cause the kind of traumatic overdose symptoms associated with drugs such as heroin. But ecstasy can cause dehydration—potentially a serious health problem for people dancing all night in hot, cramped conditions.
Doctors say many ecstasy-users end up in emergency rooms because they try to combat dehydration by drinking too much water, causing water intoxication—which can lead to seizure and coma.
The promoters of today's biggest such events often seek to downplay the ecstasy connection and ban paraphernalia typically associated with the drug. Banned items have included pacifiers, used by rave goers on the drug to minimize the effect of grinding their teeth, and Vicks VapoRub, believed to enhance the effects of the high.
In fact, promoters typically insist that their massive dance parties aren't raves. Instead, they bill the affairs as "electronic-music festivals" and market them as safe events.
Event promoters, such as Insomniac Events and HARD, both based in L.A., say they work with city officials to ensure safety, buying permits and hiring private security, undercover narcotics officers and other law enforcement.
Gary Richards, president of HARD, who says his events aren't raves, puts attendance at the HARD Summer in Los Angeles event at 16,000 last year, up from 6,000 in 2008.
"We're trying to create a party element but encourage people to be responsible," Mr. Richards said. He added: "You don't have to be on drugs…to enjoy electronic music."
But city officials aren't buying it. "A rave by any other name is still a rave," said Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who requested the moratorium at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and Sports Arena. "It's the atmosphere and the culture of the event, and the resultant behavior that is the concern—not what we call it."
Although last weekend's Electric Daisy rave was supposed to have a minimum age requirement of 16, attendees say it wasn't enforced. One hundred fourteen attendees were also hospitalized, and 118 were arrested, largely for drug possession, according to local authorities. Some say the rave was chaotic and oversold, with insufficient security.
"They don't really enforce the age limit because if they were to check everybody's ID, the line would take forever," said Alex Pastor, a 21-year-old attendee of the Electric Daisy rave.
Videos circulating on YouTube show crowds of scantily-clad people crashing through gates to stampede into the event, trampling over other attendees, security and police officials.
Pasquale Rotella, owner of Insomniac Events, the promotion company in charge of the Electric Daisy Carnival, didn't respond to requests for comment.
The rave scene waned in the mid and late '90s amid changes in musical tastes and other cultural shifts. The 2003 Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act further dampened enthusiasm for hosting raves by increasing the liability of anyone involved with organizing events whose purpose included the distribution of drugs.
But in recent years electronic dance music has gone mainstream in the U.S., with popular artists such as Kanye West and the Black Eyed Peas embracing the sound in hit songs. That, in turn, has helped fuel a resurgence in the massive dance parties that feature the music.
Last year, the French electronic-music DJ David Guetta released his album "One Love," which has sold about two-million copies and featured mainstream hitmakers such as the Black Eyed Peas and Akon.
"I think what happened is the scene was very underground and then a few people like me had crossover hits that were being played on the radio, and then it started to touch a different audience," said Mr. Guetta in an interview. Mr. Guetta says he has a whole new fan base in "popular-music fans."
Promoters took advantage of the renewed interest, booking more and bigger DJs. Thousands of rave-goers donning colorful, homemade bead bracelets started popping up on the streets again to attend the events.
As electronic music has started to influence mainstream pop genres such as hip-hop, interest in the U.S. has surged. Booking fees in the domestic electronic-music market are expected to hit about $180 million this year, according to Joel Zimmerman, managing director of William Morris Electronic, a large electronic-music booking agency. That's up from $100 million in 2008. Also, he expects that the country will go from representing 20% of the global booking market for electronic artists in 2008 to 35% this year.
"It's just at its fever pitch— it's beyond anybody's wildest dreams, that it could be this big," said Mr. Richards of HARD.
At the same time, medical complications related to ecstasy have soared.
Since 2005, seven-and-a-half times more Los Angeles County residents using drug-treatment facilities are listing MDMA as their primary drug of choice, according to a June report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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At the Electric Daisy Carnival
The report also cited findings from the Drug Abuse Warning Network that MDMA-related emergency-room hospital visits rose nationally almost 75% from the 2004-08 period. In contrast, visits related to other drugs—including heroin, amphetamines and methamphetamines—decreased markedly over the same period.
Marc Futernick, medical director of emergency services at California Hospital Medical Center in L.A., said the hospital has averaged about one death a rave in the past few years. Patients who arrive from raves come in with a mixture of MDMA and amphetamines in their system, he said, because ecstasy pills are often cut with multiple substances. This has led to comas, seizures and high blood pressure in children as young as 13.
When raves happen, he added, "it's the only night we see this level of overdose."
But a recent wave of ecstasy-related deaths and hospitalizations tied to such events have left some officials skeptical about their makeover.
View Full Image
Associated Press
Attendees dance to the music of "Laidback Luke" at the Electric Daisy Carnival rave in L.A. on June 26.
Last week, a 15-year-old girl died of apparent drug-related causes following an enormous rave held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, prompting a temporary moratorium on such gatherings at the municipally owned venue.
An estimated 180,000 people, many of them teenagers, attended the two-day party, known as the Electric Daisy Carnival.
The joint state, county and city commission that oversees the Coliseum is to meet July 16 to consider extending the moratorium or imposing other limitations. Officials in the San Francisco Bay Area are also mulling similar steps in the wake of their own rave-related deaths.
Unlike the original raves in the late 1980s and early '90s, which were often staged without permits in hard-to-find patches of desert or abandoned industrial warehouses, today's version has gone aboveground. Events have been held at other city buildings, at the Cow Palace in Daly City, Calif., near San Francisco, and at New York City's Randall's Island. Promoters charge as much as $85 a day admission, set age restrictions and impose relatively early closing times.
The soundtrack for the events remains the throbbing electronic dance music known as electronica, spun by DJs.
Another thing that hasn't changed: The drug of choice for many attendees is still ecstasy, an illegal stimulant/hallucinogen also known as MDMA that is often cut with other substances.
Taken as a pill or powder, the drug, whose full chemical name is 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, can induce euphoria and doesn't typically cause the kind of traumatic overdose symptoms associated with drugs such as heroin. But ecstasy can cause dehydration—potentially a serious health problem for people dancing all night in hot, cramped conditions.
Doctors say many ecstasy-users end up in emergency rooms because they try to combat dehydration by drinking too much water, causing water intoxication—which can lead to seizure and coma.
The promoters of today's biggest such events often seek to downplay the ecstasy connection and ban paraphernalia typically associated with the drug. Banned items have included pacifiers, used by rave goers on the drug to minimize the effect of grinding their teeth, and Vicks VapoRub, believed to enhance the effects of the high.
In fact, promoters typically insist that their massive dance parties aren't raves. Instead, they bill the affairs as "electronic-music festivals" and market them as safe events.
Event promoters, such as Insomniac Events and HARD, both based in L.A., say they work with city officials to ensure safety, buying permits and hiring private security, undercover narcotics officers and other law enforcement.
Gary Richards, president of HARD, who says his events aren't raves, puts attendance at the HARD Summer in Los Angeles event at 16,000 last year, up from 6,000 in 2008.
"We're trying to create a party element but encourage people to be responsible," Mr. Richards said. He added: "You don't have to be on drugs…to enjoy electronic music."
But city officials aren't buying it. "A rave by any other name is still a rave," said Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who requested the moratorium at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and Sports Arena. "It's the atmosphere and the culture of the event, and the resultant behavior that is the concern—not what we call it."
Although last weekend's Electric Daisy rave was supposed to have a minimum age requirement of 16, attendees say it wasn't enforced. One hundred fourteen attendees were also hospitalized, and 118 were arrested, largely for drug possession, according to local authorities. Some say the rave was chaotic and oversold, with insufficient security.
"They don't really enforce the age limit because if they were to check everybody's ID, the line would take forever," said Alex Pastor, a 21-year-old attendee of the Electric Daisy rave.
Videos circulating on YouTube show crowds of scantily-clad people crashing through gates to stampede into the event, trampling over other attendees, security and police officials.
Pasquale Rotella, owner of Insomniac Events, the promotion company in charge of the Electric Daisy Carnival, didn't respond to requests for comment.
The rave scene waned in the mid and late '90s amid changes in musical tastes and other cultural shifts. The 2003 Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act further dampened enthusiasm for hosting raves by increasing the liability of anyone involved with organizing events whose purpose included the distribution of drugs.
But in recent years electronic dance music has gone mainstream in the U.S., with popular artists such as Kanye West and the Black Eyed Peas embracing the sound in hit songs. That, in turn, has helped fuel a resurgence in the massive dance parties that feature the music.
Last year, the French electronic-music DJ David Guetta released his album "One Love," which has sold about two-million copies and featured mainstream hitmakers such as the Black Eyed Peas and Akon.
"I think what happened is the scene was very underground and then a few people like me had crossover hits that were being played on the radio, and then it started to touch a different audience," said Mr. Guetta in an interview. Mr. Guetta says he has a whole new fan base in "popular-music fans."
Promoters took advantage of the renewed interest, booking more and bigger DJs. Thousands of rave-goers donning colorful, homemade bead bracelets started popping up on the streets again to attend the events.
As electronic music has started to influence mainstream pop genres such as hip-hop, interest in the U.S. has surged. Booking fees in the domestic electronic-music market are expected to hit about $180 million this year, according to Joel Zimmerman, managing director of William Morris Electronic, a large electronic-music booking agency. That's up from $100 million in 2008. Also, he expects that the country will go from representing 20% of the global booking market for electronic artists in 2008 to 35% this year.
"It's just at its fever pitch— it's beyond anybody's wildest dreams, that it could be this big," said Mr. Richards of HARD.
At the same time, medical complications related to ecstasy have soared.
Since 2005, seven-and-a-half times more Los Angeles County residents using drug-treatment facilities are listing MDMA as their primary drug of choice, according to a June report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
More
At the Electric Daisy Carnival
The report also cited findings from the Drug Abuse Warning Network that MDMA-related emergency-room hospital visits rose nationally almost 75% from the 2004-08 period. In contrast, visits related to other drugs—including heroin, amphetamines and methamphetamines—decreased markedly over the same period.
Marc Futernick, medical director of emergency services at California Hospital Medical Center in L.A., said the hospital has averaged about one death a rave in the past few years. Patients who arrive from raves come in with a mixture of MDMA and amphetamines in their system, he said, because ecstasy pills are often cut with multiple substances. This has led to comas, seizures and high blood pressure in children as young as 13.
When raves happen, he added, "it's the only night we see this level of overdose."
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