It was nice not to have to drive to Downtown LA or Hollywood, as we here at DGAF are not used to going to cool events that are local to us. The lines, when we got there, of course were ridiculous because it was sold out. Luckily for the DGAF team, we found a short line that for some reason no one was going into. I assumed it was VIP, but it turns out it wasn't. We weren't very happy at the prospect of missing Busy P's set, and had hoped that doors would have opened before he started playing. But whatever, we were more than happy to be in at 8:15, which was like an hour earlier than we thought we'd get in.
I wondered how stuffy it would get in an indoors venue, and I wondered why they decided not to have it at the Shrine. But as we entered the Forum, my doubts disappeared. I was ready to party, and so was everyone else. The place was already jumping, and Busy P himself even announced from the stage that he'd never seen a crowd that crazy at 8:45. This is Busy P, he's been around. He's been doing this shit for how long now? You could tell how excited the whole place was. I'd waited all summer to see Crookers, my personal addiction of 2009, and I knew it was going to be one of the best nights I'd ever have.
Crystal Castles came on after with their assault on the senses, and Alice Glass proved yet again to be quite the badass. When she came out onstage carrying a strobe light, I knew whoever had epilepsy was going to be seriously fucked. They ended their set with noise and feedback (we found out later that apparently their equipment broke?) and Shimosh and I were already thirsty, as the dancefloor was getting hot and we'd already been rocking out for over a good hour.
We decided to go get some water from upstairs, which we thought would be simple and easy. When we looked up, we saw that the seating area was packed, and the stairways were being blocked. Oh shit, how were we going to get upstairs to get water? What the hell was going on? Some people were jumping the stair railings to get onto the dancefloor. Whatever, we just wanted to go get some water and get back onto the dance floor, in time for Chromeo!
So we navigated around to get upstairs, got our water, and... came back to the stage area where the lights were on, no music was playing, and someone was making an announcement from the stage??? WTF? We weren't allowed to go downstairs, and it turns out that the stairs were being blocked for a reason. A guy was announcing from the stage for people to sit down, and not block the stairways, and calm down or the music wouldn't continue. It turns out that the place was becoming a fire hazard, and that people had to clear the stairways and the first 5 rows of seats, and if people wouldn't cooperate, the event would get shut down. Wow. That was NO joke. I'm sure it didn't help that we'd seen people jumping the railings to get to the dance floor. But it got even worse when a HUGE bum rush came out from the VIP area entrance, and then people fucking took it a step further by jumping from the fucking BALCONY to get to the dance floor! Yeah, good move! You're on the dance floor now, but you can't fucking dance because now you're INJURED! And the place is already being called a safety hazard, so like that's gonna improve anything!
"Shit!" I said to Shimosh. "Now this place is really gonna get shut down!"
But... it seemed like there was hope, there was no announcement of a cancellation, and it seemed like people were cooperating and there were announcements that Chromeo were ready to go on as soon as everything was cleared. It sucked that the rest of the sets were gonna get cut short, but we still had the rest of the night, we just wanted it to start up again! Hope had dwindled however, by the time there was still no music 2 hours after Crystal Castles played.
Shimosh and I went to the bathroom, and before we even came out back into the stage area, we found out that our fears were confirmed, and the place was in fact, shut down. Finding that short line that allowed us to catch Busy P's set was even more siginificant now, and we were even more grateful for going to Discotheque the night before.
Outside was chaos, complete with riot police (wtf?!), ghetto birds flying in the sky, fire trucks, ambulances, and the biggest, most disappointed crowd I'll probably ever see. People were throwing bottles but it was fairly peaceful, as most people were still rolling (what a waste!) and bumping Bloody Beetroots from their car stereos and holding their own little mini raves in the parking lot. It was like the aftermath of an electro armageddon.
Despite all the craziness, we met some cool people at Hard. We met a couple guys and gave them a ride back to the Custom Hotel, where they were staying. We decided to hang out at Hopscotch, the bar at the Custom, where the Suzanarchist got a bit drunk and called everyone a sassy bitch (including a janitor who was cleaning near us, who told the manager, who told us to get out (please)). Before we got kicked out, we got to meet Phra of Crookers, which made our night. She also asked Ethan Kath of Crystal Castles if he knew ODB. DGAF indeed.
But we hope that you'll be DGAF but not to fuck it up for everyone else. And HARD will be back on track with a vengeance for Halloween at the right venue this time. It was tragic, it was a disaster, but shit happens. Move on, get your refund, keep dancing, and stay responsibly DGAF.
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