SMO — Cops shut down an underground music event at Santa Monica Airport Tuesday night after thousands of revelers without tickets overwhelmed police and firefighters on call for the concert, law enforcement officials said.
Between 2,000 and 3,000 people gathered to see DJ Flux Pavilion at the Hangar 8 event space at SMO, filling up parking lots and jamming traffic, said Sgt. Richard Lewis of the Santa Monica Police Department.
Police decided to disperse the outside crowd, the majority of whom could not get in because they did not have tickets to the show. Some of those individuals tried to climb the fence, which led to the runway at SMO, Lewis said.
SMPD officers called in outside help from other police departments, dispersed the crowd and shut down the event by 10:30 p.m., he said.
Two concert-goers were arrested or public intoxication, but there were no other arrests and officers did not use force, Lewis said.
Fans and even the artist himself took to Twitter and other social media, posting pictures of police and messages about the concert.
"So... Helicopters and LAPD with riot gear outside this airport hangar right now," Flux Pavilion, aka Joshua Steele, posted on Twitter.
The event was one of four "secret" Music Experiment concerts put on by MTV Iggy, an effort by the cable network to showcase global music. Previous events took place in New York City, Raleigh Durham, N.C. and Portland, Ore.
Concert-goers used social media to unlock a secret location to pick up tickets for the event the Saturday before, and only those with tickets could get into the Flux Pavilion show, MTV Iggy spokespeople said.
The event had a 1,000-person capacity, and at least 700 of those got inside, according to police.
Doors were supposed to open at 8 p.m. A crowd began to gather, and those with tickets were able to enter between 8:15 and 8:30 p.m., according to MTV Iggy spokespeople.
The main act, Flux Pavilion, was scheduled to take the stage at 10:30 p.m. The DJ got on at roughly 10:35 p.m. and played a 35- to 40-minute set. At that point, MTV Iggy officials made the decision to shut down the event earlier than planned, a spokesperson said.
"Fans filed out in an orderly fashion, and no one was hurt," MTV Iggy staff said in a statement. "MTV Iggy thanks the fans who showed up for the performance and regret any inconvenience caused by its early end."
The police say that they required that the event be shut down and stayed until 11:45 p.m. because additional people showed up for the concert after it had closed.
City Hall is now looking into the details given by MTV Iggy in the permit issued for the event.
ashley@www.smdp.com
