Outcry over security clashes, overcrowding, and canceled sets at this weekend’s Beach Goth festival in Santa Ana continues to grow in the days since the event went down at the Observatory fairgrounds in Santa Ana, culminating in a fan-launched petition for refunds.
A separate refund petition was launched in the weeks prior to the festival, after organizers announced a last minute venue change from the more expansive Oak Canyon Park in Silverado to its compact parking lot location at the Observatory, where the growing festival took place in years past. No explanation was offered for the switch, though Oak Canyon Park offered its own set of nightmarish logistical snafus this summer at the inaugural Day N Night festival.
Videos by VICE
Even before a sudden storm flooded one of the festival’s stages on Sunday, forcing Grimes to cancel her performance and sending the day’s remaining schedule into a tailspin, fans took to social media to voice their frustration over what many saw as an oversold space with insufficient oversight on the part of its organizers to match the larger scale to which the event aspired in its fifth year.
Complaints included dangerous overcrowding at both the outdoor and indoor stages, as well as insufficient drinking water and broken plumbing; the entrance to the festival itself was marred by long, confusing lines and limited parking options.
Others called out the festival’s security setup for being either too lax and unknowledgeable, or overly aggressive. One video from the event shared on Twitter and via OC Weekly shows two men being beaten up by security, with one possibly left unconscious, after what appears to be a verbal confrontation.
Today The Growlers issued a statement via Facebook acknowledging the backlash and assorted problems at the festival:
“To all who attended Beach Goth this weekend,
We saw it in your eyes. We hear you. We feel you. We want to sincerely thank you for supporting us – and each other – at this year’s festival.
We started Beach Goth in 2012 and have watched it grow into a strange and beautiful party larger than we could have ever imagined. After last year’s Beach Goth, we reflected on some of the challenges we experienced, and we set out to create a better festival for our fans in 2016. We wanted low ticket prices, a peaceful space for fans to hang out, quality food and drink options, and creative and thoughtful art and vendors. We settled on the beautiful Oak Canyon Park: we toured the space, planned the festival of our dreams and got beyond excited to share a new venue for Beach Goth with you. In the months that followed, as we recorded our new album and continued to tour, the plans shifted, due to various reasons, many of which were beyond our control. Eventually Beach Goth was moved back to the Observatory grounds.
We witnessed so many amazing things at this year’s fest. The spontaneous dance party that broke out during Future Islands’ set, right after the rain stopped. The guys who carried their ladies over the puddles. Meeting those of you in person who traveled wild distances to be a part of the adventure. Hearing Patti Smith say the words “Beach Goth!” to a crowd of thousands. In the past 48 hours, we’ve listened to your comments on email and social media, and we’re taking your words to heart. If we invite you to a show or party again, it will be for the fans first and foremost. We want you to feel the love that we have for you.
In the words of Saturday night’s legendary headliner Patti Smith, “People have the power / the power to dream, to rule / to wrestle the earth from fools.” Let’s stand up for what we believe and make a future experience that we can all be proud of.
With love and respect,
The Growlers”
Many fans were not satisfied with the band’s statement, countering the post’s optimistic tone with a slate of angry responses detailing their own experiences.
“Did you witness my friend getting her hair pulled by security?” wrote attendee Jason Giffen in a comment to The Growlers’ post. “Did you witness another friend getting choked out because he had a go pro? Did you witness security basically locking people inside and breaking every fire code violation possible? Did you witness there were zero water stations? Did you witness someone basically start a stampede prior to She Wants Revenge playing? Did you witness women getting their breasts over searched in the security line? Did you witness security selling garbage bags to people when it started raining? Did you witness a festival being over sold? Did you witness there was only two fucking lines for will call on day one causing people to wait hours for tix that should’ve been sent in the mail? Y’all fucked this one up.
I’m standing up for what I believe and I believe you owe us a fucking refund.
That was the sorriest excuse for an apology when so many of your fans were treated terribly this weekend.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Andrea Domanick is the West Coast Editor of Noisey. Follow her on Twitter.
