Electric Zoo Reportedly Lacked Permits Friday and Oversold Sunday

After a weekend filled with mishaps at Electric Zoo, NYC Mayor Eric Adams suggested the city will take action against the festival’s organizers.

This past weekend saw thousands flock to New York City to experience Electric Zoo, but few could’ve predicted the chaos that would unfold surrounding the festival. The festival organizers canceled the first day hours before the gates were set to open on Friday, citing global supply chain issues leading to production delays. Then, Saturday saw lengthy lines at will call, leaving many stuck outside the festival for hours while waiting to get their passes. Sunday was also not without issues, with Randall’s Island reaching capacity midway through the evening, leading to ticketholders crashing the gates in response.

While Electric Zoo released official statements throughout the weekend to address the cancelation of Friday and the gates closing on Sunday, reports from around the scene have offered added insight into the situation that unfurled. Yesterday, PIX11 reported that the NYPD stated that the festival had oversold its capacity of 42,500 by 7,000 people, which is why the gates were closed so abruptly. According to NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell, the overselling of the festival was the direct reason why attendees stormed the gates on Sunday.

NYC Mayor Eric Adams addressed the situation over the weekend and suggested that action might be taken against Electric Zoo. “It’s unfortunate that the organizers wanted to turn our city into a zoo, and we were not going to allow that to happen. And we will be dealing with them in the next few days based on their behavior and actions,” he said during an NYPD briefing.

This year is the first in which Electric Zoo was operated under the ownership of Avant Gardner, who purchased the festival and Made Event from their previous owner, LiveStyle, in 2022. Detailed reports have surfaced from Gothamist this year surrounding Avant Gardner’s battle with the State Liquor Authority and the overcrowding issue at their venue, as well as the calls for changes to be made outside Brooklyn Mirage after recent deaths and kidnappings.

Today, more news surfaced surrounding Electric Zoo from Billboard, with the festival organizers confirming that they did not have proper permits from the Department of Parks & Recreation to operate on Friday. According to their sources, the main stage caused the most issues during an inspection of the site, with NYC officials demanding that safety and security issues were fixed before it could open to the public. A rep told the outlet on September 5 that the permits had been made “well in advance” and that the issue was resolved on Saturday after the gates opened. That day, the festival kicked off two hours after the original start time.

As of publishing, details surrounding the refunds for Friday’s cancelation have been sent to Electric Zoo’s attendees, further enlarging the total cost of this year’s edition, which includes payments to artists set to perform that day that, according to Billboard‘s sources, could reach $25 million.

Stay tuned for more news on the developing story surrounding this year’s edition of Electric Zoo.