Dance promoter Insomniac hits city with seven-figure lawsuit over canceled Tiesto concert

 

Tickets never went on sale and promotions were never staged, but a planned headlining concert by electronic artist Tiësto is the center of a seven-figure civil suit filed against the city of Los Angeles on Friday. Local dance promoter Insomniac Inc. claims the city breached its contract when it canceled what would have been an Oct. 30 concert by the well-known trance artist in the West Hall of the Los Angeles Convention Center.

On Monday, the mayor’s office referred requests for comments to the convention center, and a spokeswoman for the facility said no statement or comment would be forthcoming. In its filing, Insomniac --  the company that also staged the now-controversial two-day Electric Daisy Carnival in and around L.A. Memorial Coliseum in late June -- claims that the city did not have proper cause to terminate the concert, for which tickets were to go on sale Aug. 17.

Insomniac writes in its complaint that the city cited the rampant use of the drug Ecstasy at Electric Daisy, as well as the death of a teenage girl who attended the concert and died of a suspected overdose, as its reasons for calling off the Tiësto appearance. In its claims for damages, Insomniac cited more than a dozen recent deaths at or after major music or sporting events, including that of a 27-year-old man who died after being punched at a Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim game, essentially arguing that the Tiësto appearance was unfairly singled out because of public perceptions of dance and electronic rave-like concerts.

“Events like [Electric Daisy] and the Tiësto concert are held at legal venues and are planned in conjunction with law enforcement and medical personnel,” reads the claim. “[The Convention Center’s] unilateral termination of the contract will send the wrong message by suppressing the popularization of electronic music, encouraging it to revert back to its underground, unsafe beginnings.”

Insomniac is asking for damages of at least $1,015,180, citing a loss of profit of $436,250 and an estimated production cost of $668,750. Court documents state that Tiësto was guaranteed $250,000 for the single-night event. The artist’s management, Complete Control, did not respond to requests for comment.

Insomniac, which promoted five sold-out Tiësto shows in and around Los Angeles in 2008 and 2009, noted that its planned convention center event was no different from Sunday’s concert at the Hollywood Bowl, which featured dance act the Chemical Brothers.

“I can’t help but draw comparisons to the ’80s movie classic ‘Footloose,’ where dancing and rock music were banned,” Insomniac founder Pasquale Rotella is quoted in a statement. The company believed as recently as Aug. 4 that the Tiësto concert was a go, but less than two weeks later, the city returned Insomniac’s second rental payment of $14,400.

“If this breach is allowed to stand, Insomniac will be known as a promoter that cannot follow through on its commitments,” reads the filing. “As a result, artists of Tiësto’s caliber may henceforth by unwilling to contract with Insomniac.”

A copy of Insomniac’s rental agreement with the convention center notes that the city may terminate the contract for the reason of “good cause.” Should it do so, reads the contract, the “tenant agrees to waive and forgo any and all claims for damages against City by reason of such termination... Tenant shall have no recourse of any kind against city.”

The dance community has faced strict scrutiny in Los Angeles since the Electric Daisy Carnival, which drew an estimated crowd of 80,000 to 100,000 people per day, and led to more than 100 hospitalizations. Two days after the event, 15-year-old Sasha Rodriguez died of suspected drug-related causes.

The Coliseum Commission then imposed a temporary ban on rave contracts, although three events scheduled for the remainder of 2010 were granted approval to continue. The commission -- the joint state, county and city panel that oversees the venue -- has, however, imposed new restrictions on the promoters of dance events.

Going forward, promoters must enforce a strict age limit of 18 by checking identification, hire a team of emergency-room doctors to work on-site and warn rave-goers about the dangers of the illegal drug Ecstasy. The July 17 electronic-focused Hard L.A., which was to feature appearances by M.I.A. and Die Antwoord, among others, was canceled, and promoter Gary Richards noted that the city forced “a lot of extra stipulations and requirements” that “resulted in unforeseen costs to the event.”

A heavily policed Aug. 7 festival, Hard Summer, went off as planned, and resulted in only four arrests. An Aug. 21 dance concert at the L.A. Sports Arena didn’t fare as well, resulting in more than 80 arrests and three hospitalizations.

-- Todd Martens

Photo: Tiësto at Coachella. Credit: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Patricia]

This is not fair for the electronic music fans! Especially Tiesto fans! I am a big fan if his and I was really looking forward to his show! This is what happens when people start being ignorant and people really need to move on with life! I am just so sick and tired of hearing Sasha's story over and over again! It might be tragic, but the city and the people need to move on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Sarah]

Good job insomniac. The city of LA has gotten way out of line with this. Really, this was going to be an 18+ event and yet the city still has the nerve to cancel? Thats ridiculous. People get injured, arrested and yes I know it sounds crazy but they even do drugs outside of electronic music events. They're just making a big fuss out of it because it looks like a rave. As far as I'm concerned raves happen in warehouses..these are concerts for FANS of electronic music.

[seriously]

The City of Los Angeles is already strapped - thank you Insomniac for adding to our inability to provide core services to needy individuals by suing us. Have you looked around and seen the conditions we are living in? Come off it, you stupid selfish clown. It was a concert - what a tragedy that it was cancelled in its early stages and you could have found some other location for it. Boo hoo.

[Steve S]

Every event will have a few bad examples in the crowd. Instead of blocking large-scale events where people can dance & forget about the sucky economy for a night, how about putting that energy into educating young attendees how to prevent overdoeses & what to do if something goes wrong.

[Jimmer]

This concert is just a front for those who want to use illegal drugs. I attended a rave once and it was just a bunch of young kids out of their minds. Shouldn't we utilize firefighters and paramedics to save the lives of those not trying to kill themselves?

[jason]

Further overreaching by a corrupt government...can we please consider banning laker games since fans have riots after winning championships? how about banning rock or hip hop concerts since there are rare instances of bad things happening? this is a joke...

[Derby Sheldon]

City officials thought they had "good cause" to terminate the contract. My money is on Insomniac for a ruling that they did not have good cause.
The are emotionally spooked by the events related to EDC. Insomniac changed their policy making events 18+ in response to that concern.

Hey city of LA: Irrational fear is not the same thing as "good cause" you guys blew it on this one

[Tiesto]

Looks like insomniac is going to court instead of having me come do my thang.

[Josh]

I still cannot believe that the electronic music scene is still being looked down on by others. It does not matter what type of event you have, there will ALWAYS be someone there acting foolish or taking drugs (Whether it's ecstasy, marijuana, vicodin, xanax, heroin, alcohol, etc...) I'm sorry, but there is no way to stop it. If any electronic music concert is canceled, then I agree with the other person who posted above: All concerts, professional games, or any type of event that draws a crowd of more than 10,000 needs to be shut down. The sad thing is that our music festivals draw larger crowds than any other event that I know of here in Southern California. The only reason the community looks down on electronic music, is because the media is associating it with drugs alone, which is not the case. And yes, I know I am not the only one who noticed the media changing their stories about the little girl that died and the hospitalizations from the Electric Daisy Carnival. Before the girl died, all the hospitalizations were related to dehydration or hyponatremia, then the girl dies and all of a sudden all of the hospitalizations were drug overdoses?!?! Sounds like the media is manipulating the community into believing what they want them to believe. If you look at the total number of deaths/arrests per capita for any type of event, then Insomniac is doing pretty damn well for themselves, and the city needs to back off and let the community enjoy themselves in a manner that they choose. Tiesto needs to be here on October 30th to represent not only Los Angeles, but the entire world. His music speaks to people, boosts moral, and brings people together! I see Los Angeles getting hurt horribly by this lawsuit alone, maybe they should rethink their plan and set a new objective!!!

[Jelly]

In response to Jimmer:
Speaking as a raver myself, not all of us go to do illegal drugs, we go to dance.
For us not "trying to kill our selfs" we need paramedics and fighters present as well , incase of fire or a random injury such as being trampled.

[EDM-Love]

Hopefully Insomniac wins this case. Most events I've attended held at the Sports Arena/Coliseum, I always get a hotel in downtown for the weekend and I encourage friends to do the same. These events bring revenue for small businesses and hotels in the area, There's already hotels completely booked over a month ago because of Monster Massive 2010. Even though I live 20 minutes away, I stay responsible and I know many others do the same, most of those who attend "raves" never mean harm to anyone and just wants to enjoy a great weekend in the heart of Los Angeles.

Let us party on please!.

[Stasis]

if you've actually been to any of insomniac's recent events, you know the terms "rave", "underground", and the connotations commonly associated with them no longer apply. insomniac events have evolved light years past dank and dimly lit warehouse parties...electric daisy carnival was a full scale music festival in true form, on par with other notable festivals in size and magnitude. the fact the performers were DJ's instead of bands is of absolutely no consequence. yet insomniac gets smeared as the seedy rave promoter providing a place for the youth of america to kill brain cells with drugs and evil techno music. right, back to reality. insomniac events is a business, the largest of its kind in the united states. it has the money and the experience to do things the right way, and from what ive seen in years of attending events, they get it right most of the time. they spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on event planners, security, medical personnel, and the logistics required to put on the safest festivals possible. they operate in concert with (not against) local authorities, businesses, and government organizations. it has become irrelevant since a teenager lost her life, but in comparison to other music festivals of its capacity, electric daisy carnival LA had an impressive safety record (in terms of hospitalizations, arrests, etc). more people are injured / arrested at most sporting events, rock concerts, and political rallies. out of 100,000+ attendees, one teenager fatally overdosed on drugs. call it insensitive, call it raw statistics, call it whatever you want to call it...but since all the critics want to generalize these events as massive drug-fueled orgies, id say the odds of making it out alive look pretty good. could the promoters have done more? maybe. but they didn't give her the drugs. she could have just as easily been denied entry into the festival and taken the drugs at a friends house, with the same result. insomniac events (and other legit promoters) does not deserve to be crucified on account of the unfortunate overdose of an attendee at one of their festivals. it doesnt mean they run unsafe events, and it doesnt mean the city can breach a legal contract for political reasons. good luck pasquale, if it were metallica people would be singing a different tune.

[Pauly Parret]

This is terrible for the industry. I can't believe how the fat cats in charge handle these things.

[Tom]

Good for Insomniac! These stereotypes are extremely disrespectful to the EDM scene. Im glad we have someone as big and well respected as insomniac to stand up for dance music!!

I am speaking as someone who as NEVER touched a drug in my life, and these events, and this scene are a HUGE part of my lifestyle.

[Chris Toms]

Looks like we better cancel all the Lakers games.. especially the finals. We don't want another riot and all those injuries again.... Who is paying of the LA officials in charge?

[Nightmareeeee]

Didnt read all the comments but the one about kids just being 'out of their minds and trying to kill themselves' was just stupid.
Did you go into that event and TALK to people??
Yes, there are a lot of people that are on different drugs//alcohol at these events but there are also a fair amount of sober people....Theres also a difference in A LOT of these people and you can tell by the way they TALK to you about it.
There are a lot of kids that do go and just get majorly messed up on random ish and dont know anything about it, but MOST of these kids do actually RESEARCH and know about what they are ingesting. Sasha was one of those that was uneducated.
Look at Love Festival though, there were signs that flashed the warnings of overdoses in the front for EVERYONE to see, Its little things like that that could go a long way and save a lot of people.
Theres also a lot of threads on 'rave' website forums that also talk about these warnings and ways to prevent overdoses, and a lot of the time these threads are the most active on these forums.

Not all ravers are as bad as you make us.
There are some that are bad, i'll give you that, but they are also the ones that are in this scene for the wrong reasons and will make the same mistakes as a lot of kids in the past have made and move on.
Theres also the fact that a lot of these kids are in it because its the newest 'TREND'
if your not 'raving it up' you're not cool.
just how it is these days.

[All Hallows Eve]

So does LAT SUPPORT this promoter??? I've noticed the article where there were opposing comments made AGAINST them, has been removed.

Looks awfully biased to me.

[All Hallows Eve]

How can this girl's death be ruled and "accident"??? From what I have read this girl was not known to dabble in drugs, and it's very possible her drink was spiked. Seems the word accident is awfully presumptuous AND careless.

And I firmly believe Insomniac is partly responsible for her death. There should be NO minors at an event like this.

The fact that these raves are even allowed is absurd and they should be stopped. These "promoters" are pimping the kids of LA. People need to wake the hell up and put a stop to this kind of activity. I feel their intent is far from innocent.

Did it ever occur to anyone to ask WHY adults would be creating and promoting events that teens could attend???

Ever hear the phrase SEX, DRUGS, and ROCK-n-ROLL?
What? IS EVERYONE STUPID NOW?

I support the city of LA 100%!

[EDMforLife]

The city of LA--I hope you know you have some angry EDM lovers now! You have been pissing alot of us off with you crap, saying all we do is bring drugs and make the city look bad. Im sorry, we do not. Our events are just like other events. You want our evets to be shut down because of some mistakes and irresponsible people, your just pointing us "ravers/EDM lovers" out. Other events/concerts, like for example; a Rap concert, someone could bring a gun or a knife in and hurt/kill somebody(i have been to a few rap/rock/etc. concerts who dont check or whatever;;and you can get drugs in to any event, festivals/concerts, clubs..and yes on the street. and trust more people do drugs out side of EDM events. So you have a more chance of dieing at home or at a friends house, you even have a more of a chance getting shot on the street or getting hit by a car walking home from somewhere..Also when you have our events in your city you make bank, and other businesses make bank to, because we will spend money on the gas to go to anevent, we will spend money on hotel rooms, we will spend money on fast food places and etc. when we have big events.. So stop point us and our events out and atcually focous on something that actually matters in the world, like maybe fixing our states/citys money issues/job issues. thank you

[Judith]

1st of all 100 hospitalized from 80,000 to 100,000 people attending EDC is like not even a pinch. Why u trippin LA, finally when EDC goes mainstream u notice 1 death from electric music festivals. Ur city swears like its the nicest, less violent place on earth huh (=

well its not....

[christoph s.]

The biggest crime here was that somebody was willing to pay Tiësto $250,000 to play other people's records for a couple hours.

[Jumper]

I really hope Insomniac wins this suit. The city DID NOT have good cause to terminate the contract.

[Naldo]

"This concert is just a front for those who want to use illegal drugs. I attended a rave once and it was just a bunch of young kids out of their minds. Shouldn't we utilize firefighters and paramedics to save the lives of those not trying to kill themselves?"

ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!?! If kids want to do drugs, they will do drugs. They don't need these events to do it. Plus, this was an 18+ event and everyone there is old enough to understand the consequences to the wrongful actions caused by drugs and alcohol. This isn't a front to anything. Plus, It's not like they have the whole county fire/police department there. It's mostly hired security and roving LEO's. Going to a "rave" does not mean that your going to do drugs. Get that out of your head.

[RDUB]

all those people at "EDC" and only 100 hospitalizations, if you ask me thats not so bad. Yea it doesn't look good on paper but if you took into account how many people were there that makes only about 5% of the people that attended were injured. I'm not saying that this is acceptable by any means, but that 5% can be reverted to maybe 1% or even less with the right planning and organization. For instance a few ideas off the top of my head:

1. better crowd control and more staff (which insomniac definitely can afford to accommodate there loyal customers)
2. a more qualified and specialized team of medics that are prepared for these sorts of events. (I've seen "get up and dance" teams hired to keep kids from sitting on the floor why cant they have a team of first aid available around the dance floors)

Now that the city has put on all the new restrictions for the dance promoters they should make sure the promoters stick to the rules set fourth, and keep the wonderful events that insomniac puts on every year.

[Elise]

Way to go Insomniac. It's about time someone stood up for the Electronic Dance Music scene.