http://www.404audio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14814
Last night, I was booked to play an event about an hour outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. The hype behind this show was huge, they presold 700 tickets and they expected up to 3,000 people total. The promoters did an amazing job with the show.. they even made slipmats with the flyers on them to promote in local shops.

So, we got to the show around 11:15 or so and it was really cool. It was all outdoors, in a valley surrounded by huge mountains. They had an amazing light show flashing on to a mountain behind the site, the sound was booming, the crowd was about 1500 people thick and everything just seemed too good to be true really. Well...

At about 11:30 or so, I was standing behind the stage talking with someone when I noticed a helicopter pulling over one of the mountain tops. I jokingly said "Oh look, here comes big brother" to the person I was with. I wasn't far off.

The helicopter dipped lower and lower and started shining its lights on the crowd. I was kind of in awe and just sat and watched this thing circle us for a minute. As I looked back towards the crowd I saw a guy dressed in camoflauge walking by, toting an assault rifle. At this point, everyone was fully aware of what was going on . A few "troops" rushed the stage and cut the sound off and started yelling that everyone "get the fuck out of here or go to jail". This is where it got really sticky.

No one resisted. That's for sure. They had police dogs raiding the crowd of people and I saw a dog signal out a guy who obviously had some drugs on him. The soldiers attacked the guy (4 of them on 1), and kicked him a few times in the ribs and had their knees in his back and sides. As they were cuffing him, there was about 1000 kids trying to leave in the backdrop, peacefully. Next thing I know, A can of fucking TEAR GAS is launched into the crowd. People are running and screaming at this point. Girls are crying, guys are cussing... bad scene.

Now, this is all I saw with my own eyes, but I heard plenty of other accounts of the night. Now this isnt gossip I heard from some candy raver, these are instances cited straight out of the promoters mouth..

- One of the promoters friends (a very small female) was attacked by one of the police dogs. As she struggled to get away from it, the police tackled her. 3 grown men proceeded to KICK HER IN THE STOMACH.

- The police confiscated 3 video tapes in total. People were trying to document what was happening out there. The police saw one guy filming and ran after him, tackled him and his camera fell, and luckily.. his friend grabbed it and ran and got away. priceless footage. That's not all though. Out of 1,500 people, there's sure to be more footage.

- The police were rounding up the staff of the party and the main promoter went up to them with the permit for the show and said "here, I have the permit." The police then said, "no you don't" and ripped the permit out of his hand. Then, they put an assault rifle to his forehead and said "get the fuck out of here right now."



Now.. let's get the facts straight here.

This event was 100% legal. They had every permit the city told them they needed. They had a 2 MILLION DOLLAR insurance policy for the event. They had liscenced security guards at the gates confiscating any alcohol or drugs found upon entry (yes, they searched every car on the way in). Oh, I suppose I should mention that they arrested all the security guards for possession.

Oh another interesting fact.. the police did not have a warrant. The owner of the land already has a lawsuit against the city for something similar. A few months ago, she rented her land for a party and the police raided that as well. And catch this, the police forced her to LEAVE HER OWN PERSONAL PROPERTY. That's right. They didnt arrest her, but made her leave her own property!!!

Don't get it twisted, this is all going down in probably THE most conservative state in the USA. And this is scary.. a gross violation of our civil liberties. The police wanted this party shut down, so they made it happen. Even though everything about this event was legal. The promoters spent over $ 20,000 on this show and did everything they had to to make it legit, only to have it taken away from them by a group of radical neo-con's with an agenda.

This was one of the scariest things I have ever witnessed in person. I can't even begin to describe how surreal it was. Helicopters, assault rifles, tear gas, camoflauge-wearing soldiers.... why? Was that really necessary?

This needs to be big news across the USofA. At least in our music scene (edm as a whole)... this could happen to any of us at any time. When we're losing the right to gather peacefully, we're also letting the police set a standard of what we can get away with. And I think that's BULLSHIT!

The system fucked up last night... They broke up a party that was 100% legal and they physically hurt a lot of people there at the same time. The promoters already have 6 lawsuits ready to file with their lawyers and the ACLU is already involved.

I'm sure some pictures (and hopefully some video) will surface soon. I'll make sure to post them up here on 404, so you can see the Police State of America at work.




p.s. - there are more stories of police brutality that i'll post up later. gotta hit the airport soon. can't wait to get the fuck out of this shit hole state.
VIDEO http://media.putfile.com/utah-spanish-fork-canyon-rave-bust
you can find more on http://www.demockery.org

it's funny, I read that the day after, saw the videos and just forgot to post it.
I see so much crap!

raving is gay, glad that shit got shut down.

If this was a metal show, I'd be pissed at the cops. But since it was a rave, I couldn't care less. Haha.

Exactly.

he peed in his skirt... ghey!

ehh good riddance fuck rave

largefreakatzero said:

I agree, but metal is next

don't ya remember the PMRC?

litacore said:

finally someone sees eye to eye with me.

thats lame

litacore said:

Larrissa, I wouldn't expect some of the mental midgets here to figure out that connection. Even if you explain it to them they won't get past "yeah, but raves are gay!"

Rusted Angel is the same person who said Gibsons aren't metal guitars and when I posted a picture of Tony Iommi playing an SG he didn't get it.

no, i see a massive difference between a rave and a metal show. i think this is sort of like saying, well they ban pitbulls now, parakeets are next. (except in real life metal is the pitbull and raves are the gay parakeets. ya dig?)

anyways, i remember the PMRC. and so does this guy:

dan_bloodblister said:

Of course YOU see a massive difference. I do too. But you think the cops do?
We're all just freaks to them. Metal shows are filled with drugs just like raves. That's what this is really about. Right now the gov. is all up in arms about ecstacy. When that blows over and they go back to overreacting to pot and underage alcohol use, this will come back to bite us in the ass unless people have more intelligent things to offer than "raves are gay dude!"

All I know is that people out here are still squaking about it. Rave or not, seeing a 16 year old getting booted in the chops is classic comedy.

you'd think one of the kids has a dad or somehing in the force

Josh_Martin said:


HE SAID WHAT?!

dan_bloodblister said:

True. People go to raves.

RichHorror said:

+10 points for rich

Josh_Martin said:

OK, so I guess I am a "mental midget". Yes, you are correct, the cops had no right to bust this "party". My point is, this happened in Utah, which is a Mormon-infested waste of a state. I don't plan on going there anytime ever, so I really don't have the time to care. Your point is that the attitude of the country is scarily turning into a right wing perversion of the 1950s thanks to our fearless misleader and his cohorts. I agree with you to a certain extent. I like to smoke weed. I also like my guns. I fall somewhere in the middle. But I still think it would be hilarious to see a raver getting kicked in the face.

I think its hilarious seeing anyone get kicked in the face. Especially 16 year old girls.

Shit, I've gotten kicked in the face myself and laughed about it.

MORE TWISTED SISTER
LESS RAVING FAGGOTS

Josh_Martin said:

okay Mr. Ramrod himself, Iommi is teh most brutal death metal guitarist evar.

Josh_Martin said:

Josh Martin is sticking up for ravers....OMFG. LOLZ!

This isn't about liking raves or ravers, it's about gov. totally controlling and dictating peoples lives. I personally hate most ravers but this is bullshit. You can't turn your cheek and look away but I doubt you'd be all lolz if this happened to a metalfest. Not caring about it is almost welcoming them do to it to us.

1984-wise this is scary.

rave-wise tom, its weds. xtc & ight shirts at your place tonight?

largefreakatzero said:

Federal police/troops are not constrained by state lines dude...

Raves blah blah whatever...


...Gibsons aren't metal guitars? Holy shit.

cookies are a sometimes food

if they shut down the coos county show you guys {and girls} would be singing a different tune

i think they should of rioted

I've seen video of it, they woulda been massacred.

BestialOnslaught said:

all the better!

^^^^^^
I know hippies with more of a spine than this kid here, log in.

BestialOnslaught said:

fuck...

I see a lot of whats going on in the hardcore scene to be much like the rave scene - underground music - when it goes pop - slipnot - other pussy fake hardcore bands .. it puts the spot light on the scene and when they don't like how your teaching lil billy how to act they shut you down. (shrug easy as that)