With the biggest celebration of the year approaching, many students have already purchased tickets for various raves happening in the Los Angeles city.
In June of this year, a 15 year-old girl died a the Electric Daisy Carnival at the Los Angeles Sports Arena and consequently, raves have been under much scrutiny. A similar event occurred after the Halloween weekend when an 18 -year-old USC student died as a result of jumping out of a six-story building after raving for two days straight at the Hard Haunted Mansion, according to LA Times.
“He probably wasn’t using good judgment,” Loriana Mitchell, 20, communications major, said. “You can’t just take everything to the extreme; it is about everything in moderation.”
Although only two tragedies have been reported, L.A. County is underway in creating further guidelines to make electronic festivals safer, according to the Beverly Hills Courier.
“I definitely don’t like the bad perspective these deaths have on ravers in general to the non-raving public,” Evyn Blair, 20, journalism major, said. “It upsets me to read about people believing that the raves are the cause of these deaths, rather than looking for other connections.”
It is indeed true that there are many people who attend raves that have fun, and continue on with their normal lives once the lights have turned on and the rave is over. The next electronic festival happening at the L.A. Coliseum is Together as One, for New Year’s Eve.
“I thought about TAO this year but I don’t think I’m going to go,” Blair said. “Not because of the deaths, but because it gets too crowded and it is a lot of money to be spending.”