Xavier Lassiter – Arts and Entertainment Editor
A breeze blew through the back patio and scattered the first few leaves to fall from Matt Clapis’ oak tree—the beginning of autumn drew nearer. He reminisced about summer music festivals of the past, and though he mostly had fond memories, he said some concert goers might not have.
“At Coachella 2012 we were walking across the field and there were literally bodies just strewn about like a Civil War battle aftermath,” he said.
Clapis is the 23-year-old guitarist and singer of the Hartford band Mystical Space Typhoon. He frequently attends music festivals, and said overdoses are a common occurrence among younger attendees.
“A lot of the problems that arise at these festivals are from uneducated kids who are buying what they think is clean ecstasy, and are getting something very different,” he said. “That’s where overdoses come in, because they’re not prepared—It’s really just their ignorance about taking a drug and actually knowing what you need to do to make sure you’ll be okay.”
This past summer, overdoses at music festivals were reported by news sources across the United States. CBC News Calgary reported six people were treated for overdoses at the Chasing Summer festival; Baltimore Sun reported one death and 20 hospitalizations at the Mad Decent Block Party festival; one death at HARD Summer in Anaheim via OC Weekly.
Clapis said the security at major music festivals only decreases drug prevalence slightly, and security is almost nonexistent at non-commercial concerts.
“There was this underground rave in New York City in Chinatown, in a restaurant that said capacity 400, yet there were 2000 people packed into this room,” he said. “Security found drugs on us—they found pills and weed, and let us in.”
According to Clapis, concerts that play electronic dance music (EDM) are guaranteed to be rife with MDMA. Moreover, he said most people who frequent EDM concerts specifically go for the drugs instead of the music.
“It’s about the experience, it’s not necessarily about a bunch of people going because they connect emotionally to a piece of music and they’re seeing it played,” he said. “EDM is like the hype.”
Clapis said to combat audience fatalities bands are beginning to help their fans themselves. He said the alternative rock band, Flaming Lips, stopped mid-performance to make sure a fan in their audience was okay.
“A kid in the front had an epileptic attack and they stopped the show for 20 minutes,” he said. “They stopped the show and told the crowd to be quiet for 20 minutes until the kid was okay and able to walk off.”
Craig Watts, the bassist of Mystical Space Typhoon, said that type of compassion is void at EDM concerts.
“The people at the raves really don’t care about you,” he said. “But if something like that happened at a show where a band like the Flaming Lips are playing, people would be more prone to taking care of you because they want you to have a good experience, and it’s more than just making money.”
Clapis said although drugs will inevitably be part of music festivals, overdoses can be avoided if people are responsible, educated, and surrounded by good friends: “It just comes down to the abuse of any substance. It’s about the abuse and not being informed enough to know that if you’re going to do that much, you have to be prepared for the consequences. You have to have a comfortable setting. You need people you can rely on.”
Photo Credit: Mixtribe
