Why Authorities May Close a Music Festival Before its Scheduled End.

Any large-scale music festival attracts thousands of people into a relatively small space, making any event prone to safety risks. Authorities may order an event to be shutdown prematurely if there is an unacceptable risk to public safety. What is the impact of such decisions for organisers and how can they plan for and handle these situations.

For music festival organisers having their event shutdown before it officially finishes can have serious reputational and financial implications. The powers of local police and licensing authorities vary by jurisdiction and location so the level of shutdown could be anything from a partial closure of one zone to an entire festival site. Having contingency plans in place and robust processes and procedures for handling emerging risks can prevent complete closure. What are the typical reasons authorities use to shut down a music festival and how can organisers manage them.

The Shutdown Process.
The local police may use powers linked to public order or criminal law if any legal conditions are being breached, often coordinating with licensing authorities who originally issued operating permits. Fire services and health and safety organisations may identify dangerous conditions that could harm festival-goers and these can be escalated to the police and licensing authorities. Depending on the level of breach or risks identified there is sometimes a legal process involved to obtain a court order to close an event or in urgent situations police and fire services may order an immediate evacuation and closure of a site. When any risk or breach is identified authorities and the police will coordinate with organisers to assess severity, likely escalation and available control measures. If any identified problem can be corrected and continued operation is lawful and safe it may prevent the complete closure of a festival site.

Adverse Weather.
Extreme weather conditions can be unpredictable and are out of the sphere of control for organisers. Even summer festivals in Europe and North America can experience unusual summer weather, usually from thunderstorms which result in lighting, high winds, heavy rain and flash floods, for example. More recently the increased incidence of wildfires which can move rapidly across open dry ground have been a particular concern. These extreme weather occurrences can affect the integrity of temporary structures and stages potentially making them unsafe. Authorities may request a site evacuation and event closure if the danger from unstable structures and ground conditions cannot be stabilised and made safe.

Overcrowding and Safety Risks.
Festival organisers do their utmost to implement crowd control measure for their events with careful site planning, real time crowd monitoring and assigned crowd control teams. However, crowd safety continues to be a major concern for authorities who may intervene if they believe that approved crowd capacities are being breached or clearways become obstructed and crowd control measures are failing. Less common are illness outbreaks that overwhelm medical resources, sometimes caused by food poisoning or the circulation of dangerous narcotics with unknown additives, for example. Health and safety inspectors sometimes monitor festival sites in real time during the event live dates where they are looking for safety threats, these can include unstable stages, electrical faults, exposed wiring, trip hazards, blocked emergency exists and inadequate firefighting equipment, for example.

Criminal Activity and Terrorist Threats.
Local police sometimes may act on intelligence about organised criminal activity on a festival site that can include unlawful ticketing, pickpocketing or drugs distribution. These can usually be handled as local incidents but if such occurrences become a wider threat, it may require event closure. Other safety issues because of criminal activity are often related to organised mass gate crashing where event capacities can suddenly surge. Credible threats about potential terrorist activity can be a good reason for an immediate site evacuation and festival closure until the threat level has returned to normal.

Handling Ticket Refunds and Customer Support.
If a festival is shut down prematurely it can often result in high numbers of ticket refunds and contractual disputes with artists, vendors and sponsors. It will depend on the reasons for the early closure of the event, where some incidents exclude claims (natural disasters) because the reason was out of control of the organisers. All music festivals are required to have insurance and depending on the type of policy expenses and refunds may be covered by an insurance claim. However, many policies contain multiple exclusions, and settlement can take a long time. If the festival was closed because of the actions or breaches made by organisers their reputation may be damaged causing a loss in confidence and support from sponsors and future ticket buyers. A serious breach of licensing arrangements can lead to authorities refusing to issue permits for future festivals.

Planning and Contingencies.
Whilst organisers do their utmost to build in contingency plans for most anything it is impossible to plan for every eventuality. As a minimum they should build robust processes and procedures to handle the most common issues that can threaten the safety and continuance of their event. Having operational oversight of crowd monitoring, weather conditions, site infrastructure safety and emergency protocols can minimise incidents from escalating. A close relationship with authorities, the police and safety inspectors can ensure that escalation procedures and communication channels are agreed and established before the event opens.

For festival organisers planning their next event using a software management platform like Festival Pro gives them all the functionality they need manage every aspect of their event logistics. The guys who are responsible for this software have been in the front line of event management for many years and the features are built from that experience and are performance artists themselves. The Festival Pro platform is easy to use and has comprehensive features with specific modules for managing artists, contractors, venues/stages, vendors, volunteers, sponsors, guestlists, ticketing, site planning, cashless payments and contactless ordering.

Image by Andrius Simkus via Pexels

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