NEW YORK CITY: Dance Music Festival Canceled After Suspected Drug OD Deaths

Organizers have canceled the final day of the Electric Zoo Festival on Manhattan's Randall's Island after two attendees died of suspected drug overdoses yesterday. Four others are in critical condition.

Citing “serious health risks,” the city recommended canceling the event, hours before the third day of the festival, known as the Electric Zoo, was to begin, and the festival’s organizers agreed, the mayor’s office said. The announcement said that both deaths had appeared to involve the drug MDMA, also known as ecstasy or molly, though the causes of death had not been officially determined. “The Electric Zoo organizers have worked with city officials to reduce health risks at this event, but in view of these occurrences, the safest course is to cancel the remaining day of the event,” the mayor’s office said in a statement.

This was the fifth year that the Electric Zoo festival was held over the Labor Day weekend; last year, it drew crowds of more than 100,000 people to Randalls Island, according to the event’s Web site. The festival was to feature more than 125 electronic music acts on five stages this year, including Avicii, David Guetta and Krewella, as well as a series of official after-parties, according to its Web site. The two concertgoers who died were identified as Jeffrey Russ, 23, of Rochester, N.Y., and Olivia Rotondo, 20, of Providence, R.I.

Billboard notes that the promoters had tried to stem drug abuses at their event.

Made Event was known to be one of the most diligent event promoters where attendee safety was concerned. Throughout Electric Zoo’s first two days, messages broadcast over loudspeakers onsite and sent to all attendees via the Electric Zoo smartphone app reminded fans to be safe, often breaching the don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy that promoters frequently adopt in regards to drug use. “If you see someone sick or struggling, be a friend to a friend in need,” said one. “Seek out a medical professional at one of our Medical Aid tents marked with a Red Cross.”

Among the big name acts that performed this weekend were Tiesto, David Guetta, and Benny Benassi.