LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Hard L.A., an electronic music festival that had been planned for July 17 has been canceled. Set to take place at downtown's Los Angeles State Historic Park, the event's bill featured M.I.A., Die Antwoord, Flying Lotus, Sleigh Bells among others.
Organizers for the event denied initial media reports suggesting that the event was canceled due to 'security concerns' in the wake of another electronic music festival, the Electric Daisy Carnival, which took place last month, leaving one girl dead and several hospitalized from apparent drug overdoses.
The festival was also dogged with rumors of mediocre ticket sales, which may be more credible as organizers say they decided to merge the festival with another, similar event they are staging, called Hard Summer, set for August 7th.
"Hard LA M.I.A…been cancelled, but not due to the lack of support or the full approval from the personnel at the City of Los Angeles and California State Parks who have signed off on our comprehensive security plan. We have decided to instead produce one massive event on August 7th at the same amazing location, the Los Angeles State Historic Park in Downtown Los Angeles." the festival's organizers said in a statement.
"We’ve been working with the city for months and all our security plans were approved. The city was pleased with our plan. The LAPD had asked for some more cops, but most of this was the exact same plan as before. We just thought it would be better to put both events together. This didn’t have anything to do with security issues." Gary Richards, the event's producer, told the L.A. Times.
Other 'Hard' events, such as Hard NYC, set for July 24 and a touring festival event called Hard Summer Tour, which runs from August 6-22nd are also still on the books. – CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
