Now in its seventh year of existence, the Hard Summer festival once again grabbed Los Angeles’ State Historic Park by its cojones over the weekend. Featuring a roster of artists from across the electronic spectrum, the music was spread across four stages and two days, and performed for some 70,000 people. Somewhere between a high school rave and a state fair that you really wouldn’t want to bring your parents to, there were many things in abundance. Among them: syncopated hi-hats, undergarments disguised as clothing, and young people absolutely on one. Or two.
Man dies at HARD Summer from ‘cardiac distress’
Moments before Flying Lotus’s set on Saturday of HARD Summer, a man was transported to the nearby LAC+USC Medical Center for what has been reported as cardiac distress. According to SPIN Magazine, who were on the ground at the event, paramedics were unable to resuscitate the man on site. LA Weekly reports that; “A 25-year-old male was found unresponsive, pulseless and non-breathing at the venue by a team of veteran LAFD paramedics. He was transported in grave condition to L.A. County-USC Medical Center.”
Flying Lotus, who also witnessed the tragic event, expressed his shock on Twitter.
Damn. I saw a guy die before I played my set. Heavy.
In response Live Nation, who currently owns a portion of HARD, has issued an official statement.
During Saturday evening’s event held at Los Angeles State Historic Park, a patron experienced cardiac distress and sadly passed away at the hospital. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends. Our guests’ safety and well being is of paramount importance at every Live Nation event. We have skilled EMT’s, police, and security staff deployed on site to respond to any emergency situation and last night members of this emergency team were with this patron and administering CPR within two minutes of notification. We work closely with local health and safety authorities to plan for emergencies and set the appropriate staffing levels for each event.
For more information please contact LAC+USC Medical Center.