It seems that the “all ages” moniker really is leading to more kids doing stupid shit. After Avicii’s hospitalization back in March, I was terribly concerned I wouldn’t get to see Avicii evolve as an artist. He’s back on his feet, but apparently it seems the kids at a recent show in Canada are the ones who needed medical attention. 29 needed medical attention, many before the event even began. This news story illustrates two issues that I’m sure not a lot of producers and promoters consider when creating events. First, they didn’t have additional EMS on standby for a 20,000 person party. To kick the ballistics on that, that meant the event was calibrated to handle .0145% of its attendees needing help, with no one on standby. I mean, I don’t know who their actuaries are, but that seems an under spend that was made as a quick decision.

This issue is compounded by the fact that it was an “All Ages” event. I want to emphasize that the plural of anecdote is not data here, but the 18+ & 16+ events I’ve been to (yes 16+ events exist, and they’re weird) are generally fraught with more inexperienced decisions. This comes because of the dual amplifiers of “more young kids at the party” which leads to “older people going – fuck that party,” which skews the population into noobville. These kids, if they’re drinking, are both generally drinking hard liquor cause it’s easier to hide/faster to drink AND bartender can’t cut them off. The other kids who don’t want to risk fucking with fake ids or bartenders, either slam a bunch of Red Bulls (which is as annoying as it sounds) or just DO DRUGS. This is the thing. The stricter the atmosphere and the younger the population, more heads are going to be broken by dazzling lights & oppressive bass.

29 is a noticeable number only because it proves structural weaknesses in the event. Essentially, their support system was overwhelmed with no REAL problem, except “wooo party!” This means people need to have some frank conversations up in Toronto. I’d be interested in seeing a culture really ask and answer hard questions about events. They’d have better parties I think. I know the USA has no idea what it’s doing, so I will keep looking. (via EDMTunes, photo via CTVNews)