- On Sunday, Electric Zoo organizers announced that the festival had reached capacity and would close entry early.
- Viral videos showed fans who had been waiting in line stampeding into the venue regardless.
On Sunday evening, fans waiting to enter New York's Electric Zoo music festival were informed that the venue had already reached capacity and its doors were closing early.
Hoards of festivalgoers did not accept the news. Instead, viral videos showed them rushing gates, hopping fences, and pushing their way into the festival.
This wasn't the only mishap of the festival, which was held on Randall's Island between September 1 through September 3. According to Rolling Stone, the first day was canceled due to issues with the global supply chain and the second day started two hours later than scheduled.
In a statement sent to Insider, an Electric Zoo representative said that "the vast majority of Electric Zoo attendees had a great experience."
Upset festivalgoers stampeded the venue
At 6:35 p.m. on Sunday, the final day of the three-day event, organizers posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the venue reached capacity "earlier than anticipated."
"It is with deep regret that we need to inform you that due to the challenges caused by Friday cancelation, we have reached our venue's capacity earlier than anticipated for today, Sunday," the festival organizers announced. "For the safety and well-being of everyone on site, we will not be admitting any additional attendees today."
The festival said it would be issuing refunds to those who would no longer be able to go.
—Electric Zoo Festival (@ElectricZooNY) September 3, 2023
Shortly after, videos began emerging from social media showing large crowds gathered at the festival's entrance as they received the news. The videos depicted fans stampeding through the entry point and running past security.
The TikTok user @suitelifeofcody posted a video of festival-goers running and screaming. "Holy fuck," one person is heard saying in their video.
@suitelifeofcody EZoo Sunday: stopped people at the gates because they were over capacity. wouldn’t let anyone leave to use the bathroom. saw multiple people carried out of the crowd after passing out or becoming sick. they made everyone wait there for over an hour before the crowd started shoving through. saw multiple security guards shoving and tackling people trying to get away from the stampede. hope everyone is okay #electriczoo #ezoo #ezoo2023 #avantgardner ♬ original sound - carltoncody
"They made everyone wait there for over an hour before the crowd started shoving through," the TikToker wrote in the caption. "Saw multiple security guards shoving and tackling people trying to get away from the stampede."
Another TikToker, @renergy203, posted a series of videos depicting the scene leading up to Electric Zoo's announcement.
In one video, fans are heard chanting, "Let us in, let us in." The user said there were "thousands of ticket holders" waiting to be let in.
In another video, people are seen aggressively pushing each other through metal detectors.
@renergy203 Electric Zoo 2023 kept ticket holders trapped in line for hours with no water or escape route packed together in 90⁰ heat
♬ original sound - Ren
According to Rolling Stone, there were still three-and-a-half hours left of the festival when the announcement was made.
"Every single staff that is at EZoo is mad at EZoo," a security guard told the outlet on Sunday. "Why would you oversell the tickets?"
Beyond these capacity issues and multiple cancellations, social media users have been sharing their overall disappointments with the festival this year.
In one TikTok video posted by @dannyllenium, the user flagged several issues they noticed on-site.
The opening clip depicts a pile of uncooked fries near a row of port-a-potties. Later in the video, viewers see a medical tent that doesn't offer earplugs, a four-hour will-call line, and broken water stations.
@dannyllenium Replying to @Electric Zoo LETS GO Learn from my mistakes and DO NOT go to ezoo please French fries video provided by @Daniel #ezoo #electriczoo #ezoocanceled #raveslave ♬ original sound - dannyllenium
When reached, a spokesperson for the festival told Insider they believe most attendants had a "great experience" overall. But it will look to "review the planning and execution" from this year's blunders.
"The vast majority of Electric Zoo attendees had a great experience," they said in an email statement. "But our job is to make sure everyone's experience is phenomenal. We'll be working closely with our partners to review the planning and execution of the event from start to finish."