Electric Zoo’s organizers face lawsuits for false advertising and breach of contract, among other things.
A fourth lawsuit has been filed against Avant Gardner, the company responsible for the 2023 edition of New York City EDM festival Electric Zoo. The gathering, which was slated to take place from September 1-3, was mired in controversy starting with the cancellation of its first day.
The latest legal action has been taken on behalf of five attendees named Jeffrey Wang, Billy Ting, Garry Huang, Duoc Vo, and Joshua Chin. As a class-action lawsuit, however, it aims to represent all ticket holders. Among their grievances are Electric Zoo’s “late start and poor staffing… long lines, massive overcrowding and a literal stampede of people when it was discovered that the organizers oversold tickets.”
Prior to this lawsuit, plaintiffs Nicole Brockmore and Lauren Bair had taken legal action against Avant Gardner after buying tickets to Electric Zoo but finding themselves unable to get in. Their complaint is also meant to represent “all affected patrons” who it claims suffered “a nightmare” due to the event’s mismanagement. After that, Billboard reported that at Connecticut man sought damages as a stampede caused by overcrowding made him “fear for his life.”
Electric Zoo inagurated in 2009. While it has remained on Randall’s Island throughout its lifetime, the event only expanded to three days in 2011. EDM headliners like Above & Beyond, Skrillex, The Chemical Brothers, Porter Robinson and Pretty Lights have performed at the annual event, which often draws crowds in excess of 100,000.
The 2023 edition of Electric Zoo got off to an unfortunate start as the first day was cancelled (organizers cited production delays, but Billboard cited unnamed sources who attributed the delays to vendor nonpayment). Additional reports suggested that the festival was oversold and not properly permitted. On Sunday, the festival stopped admitting attendees, which led frustrated ticket holders to rush some of the entrances.
It remains to be seen whether additional lawsuits will be filed against Avant Gardner in relation to Electric Zoo 2023.
