The episode occurred between 8 and 9 p.m. during Jamie Jones‘s performance. All of a sudden, people from the crowd started to experience compulsive coughing and difficulty to breath, and ran away from the stage as confusion began to raise. One of the witnesses stated,
“Everyone around me was coughing and crying. Then a big crowd of people just started running, and I ran with them because I had no idea what was going on.”
Although security guards quickly arrived on the scene, they were unable to identify the root of the issue. The noxious substance has been described by different attendees as coming from somewhere on the right side of the stage. It’s believed to have been either tear gas or pepper spray, which has a toxic taste when inhaled and an eye-watering and choking effect on people.
As of today, no official report has been released about the incident, yet the question remains of how come that a canister of tear gas entered the premises. Security checks have been reportedly extensive during the whole weekend, which doesn’t leave much room to speculation on how the product was brought in. Just a month after a 19-year-old British student died at Elrow’s Barcelona, the news of a toxic substance brought into the festival would definitely do even more damage to Elrow’s brand.
Was this a joke by a festivalgoer that went too far? Nothing is confirmed at the moment. But for the sake of all the EDM community, we certainly hope it doesn’t happen again.
