Another class action lawsuit has been filed in relation to last month's Electric Zoo festival in New York. It alleges that the cancellation of the first day of the event, and other issues on the following two days, were the result of failings by the festival's owner.
A number of other lawsuits have already been filed in relation to Electric Zoo 2023. Those were filed with the federal courts in New York last month, whereas this new case is being pursued through the state courts.
The first day of this year’s Electric Zoo was called off at the last minute because of delays in constructing the event's main stage. In a somewhat unconvincing statement at the time, organisers blamed "global supply chain disruptions" that had caused "unexpected delays".
Last week's lawsuit notes that Electric Zoo is one of several major dance music festivals that take place in the US. Others, it adds, "include EDC Las Vegas, EDC Orlando, Dreamstate and Ultra Music Festival Miami - none of these other major [dance music] festivals were delayed because of the so called 'global supply chain disruptions'".
In addition to the cancellation of the first day, the lawsuit also claims that the Saturday was “marred by [a] late start and poor staffing”, while Sunday was "spoiled by long lines, massive overcrowding, and a literal stampede of people when it was discovered that the organisers oversold tickets".
The lawsuit also notes that Electric Zoo’s promoter Made Event was last year acquired from LiveStyle by the business behind New York nightclub and venue Avant Gardner. Under new ownership, the lawsuit alleges, the organisers of Electric Zoo made a number of cost-saving decisions that directly led to the problems that occurred last month.
The delays in constructing the main stage, it states, “were because of Electric Zoo’s attempts to increase their own profits by decreasing expenses, including the hiring of less experienced, non-union contractors for the assembling of the stages and the inexperience of the new management team responsible for coordinating with respect to the setting up of the event".
"Therefore, the cancellation was not actually due to any sort of 'global supply chain disruptions'", it claims, "but purely as a consequence of the organisers’ own negligence and avarice".
We await to see how this and the other Electric Zoo lawsuits now proceed.
