Teargas? Really?

[Linde]

what the fuck happened out there? that's the way they threat visitors? this will be my last time here in this shit hole
for people from Baltimore, is this what happens if you don't leave within 10 minutes after a games from the Ravens? I don't think so but why do you threat people from all over the world like criminals? I think that we can at least ask for an explanation
saw Curby afterwards and he was looking for words for this mess so what the fuck happened?

on behalf of 9 people from Germany and Switzerland

[anubis_99]

Okay, I live here in Baltimore and just came home from the fest. What are you talking about teargas? Rumors, or a joke?

[Schwenger]

Some girl at the HIE apparently got maced for yelling at a security guard that was beating the shit out of someone.

[BeerDiablo]

I saw almost everything that occurred in each instance and things turned ugly once Ghost finished as GTFO seemed to be the policy, rather than turning on the house lights and making announcements asking people to leave. For the record, I did not drink last night [plane rides suck hungover].

Working security for four days in this environment, dealing with tired -and possibly drunk- metalheads isn't fun but what I saw -Security doing their job- could've been more professional. Sonar had the brawn but not too much brains.

1. Security ejected a small thin Hispanic kid from the main room -no idea what went on in there but after body slamming him on the merch table outside the door, one defensive lineman sized Security guy jumped on top of the kid and laid waste to his face. Security then had to restrain their own guy. A number of woman in the crowd were yelling that the guard struck the woman that was with the man.

2. The beating victim's friends were then ejected from the property as they were livid. Finally after much back and forth shouting, they made the mistake of rushing Security. One guard pepper maced those in the vacinity -this is common police response to dealing with multiple assailants. There will be "blowback" and innocents did get sprayed.

One guard broke out a telescoping baton and soundly beat a 18-22 year old male until blood came from his head.

Another guard ran after a woman to completely pepper mace her head.

Security could've double-teamed these people to restrain them and use zip cuffs to hold them until police arrive or the perp calms down.

I don't know which was worse, this violence or how bad the sound was in the main room. ;>

[Palabra De Dios]

Glad I got out of there after Ghost finished...holy shit. I do know that when their set was over people kept rushing up toward the stage like there'd be something there for them (picks? setlists?). Either way, if the security felt threatened it's well within their right to use the pepper spray.

I thought for the most part the security did a fantastic job...but there were a few of them that were a bit unprofessional and took shit personally when a rowdy person came about and acted out.

[squeapler]

BeerDiablo, thanks for filling in the details of what happened. Last night, like a number of other people I was one of the "innocent bystanders" standing right outside the exit gates waiting for somebody else to come out. Then this small crowd of angry people, including one big guy who was yelling and beet red in the face, came out and as you said, got into a shouting match with security for 10 minutes. They were yelling about having to leave the club, which given that it was closing time anyway made no sense if, like me, you hadn't seen the preceding altercation inside. It appeared likely that this was going to erupt into a big fight as people kept yelling at security and one or two of them kept running back to get in the face of the security guys at the exit.

As it turned out, my friend who I was waiting for had already exited and was in the same general area by the exit gates as me. Yet we couldn't find each other partly because of the disturbance being created by the angry group, which was causing us both to move around the exit area trying to stay out of the way of whatever might occur, and thus miss connecting with each other (and getting the hell out of there) several times. When the fight finally did break out we both ran out of the garage area and eventually connected with each other outside.

I did not see what happened with the guy inside the club who reportedly got beaten. May have been totally unjustified, I have no knowledge. However, in defense of the Sonar security, I witnessed several other situations over the weekend where the security guards were cool and handled people gently, including several really drunk people, one of whom was pushing others and causing a disturbance. So to characterize them all as thugs over one incident seems unfair. I have also been at the last two Deathfests in addition to this one, and security (including some of the same guys who worked this year, I recognized a few faces) has likewise been reasonably laid back.

Regarding the situation outside the exit that I did witness: it appeared to involve a group of festival patrons who were angry, possibly drunk, and looking to rumble. It was not a case of people peacefully talking to the guards who then suddenly started throwing punches out of the blue. It was a scary situation and the people who were storming around being angry contributed to the problem. Maybe their anger was justified based on whatever happened inside the club, but still, forcing a loud physical confrontation with security in the midst of a group of bystanders who are just trying to find their friends, their rides, etc. is not cool. I don't know whether the security guards felt threatened (probably) but my friend and I definitely felt threatened, and not by the security guards (who were at least sober) - rather, by the drunk people yelling and provoking.

Edited to add: Also at the point I witnessed this I was sober and had not had a drink since about 7 pm, only Coca Cola from Coroner on.

[Coma]

Anyone who stuck around and watched Ghost deserved to be maced.

[LastRites]

Wow thats intense. I left after Coroner and didn't see any of that. Sounds kinda fucked. For the most part security seemed pretty cool though, the beatdowns sound totally fucked but the mace sounds kinda justified if anyone actually "rushed" security.

[avenger]

Security was so hit and miss there. I can only beleive that this was due to angry security guards.

During exhumed I got dragged out by three of them while standing at the side of the pit and roughed up pretty good. When they got me outside the sonar one of them jumped in my face telling me he was going to fucking kill me etc etc and was dragged away by their own security. I still dont knwo what I did to spawn this attack.

Yes another case of security dragging security away.

I went to the front gate to complain about the random beat down and unprofessional manner that security approached me (see: fists in my side) and things started getting scary with more security coming and yelling at me when I was sober being completely calm with them. I was then told to do them a favour and leave with which I complied for fear of more random violence towards me.

Had I reacted badly to the situation it could have easily gotten out of hand like this situation seemed to.

Just my thoughts, security needs to be security but if they cant control their own people then they shouldnt be in charge of anything.

[SARDoniscorn]

And this is why I am glad I left after LDOH. Fucking pigs.

[avenger]

Great to hear Ryan.

I will definitly be coming back to MDF regardless of the one bad experiance I had with one of the bad apples in the bunch of overall decent security guards.

Sucks that afew meatheads turned off some people from the great fest that is MDF.

[hostishumani]

Couple things.

I drank with a lot of the crusty train hopping travelling punks outside and the security was actually really cool with them. They were allowed to drink beers, were left alone for the most part and everyone of them for the most part only said good things about them, which is a lot considering they are typically cop hating kids.

There was another group of kids 'oogles' who usually are around 16-20 who the people that have been travelling for years hated and kept fighting each other and getting passed out drunk, and the security did pretty good with them as well considering how fucking annoying some of those kids are.

On Saturday night there was a pretty brutal display that I saw first hand. Apparently a chick told a security guard that a big dude hit her, and what I saw was the big dude and a big ass security guard yelling at each other about going around the corner to fight to see "who the real man was." Security dude took off his shirt yelling about how he was going to fuck the guy up with the dude getting into a fighting stance, with a couple cops and security guys not letting anyone walk up and basically letting the two push each other and shit. They walked down the street with an entourage and I have no clue what happened (no fucking way I am going anywhere near that shit) but it was incredibly unprofessional and really looked like it was going to get violent with support from the other guards in front of everyone in the parking lot.

Same couple guards that were dicks last year when almost every single one of them is pretty damn mellow and cool.

[mystlyfe]

With the uncertainty and rumors regarding the future of Sonar, this year has really driven me to hoping for a new venue in the future. Preferably one with a parking lot, exit, and tailgaiting scenario that doesn't encourage people to work against security (and thus also helps resolve some of the crustie/oogle issues).

[euronymous2005]

wow this is so fucked up! I also left after LDOH and I'm kinda glad I did.

[Deadite]

Originally Posted by Coma

Anyone who stuck around and watched Ghost deserved to be maced.

Heh, gonna have to agree here.

In all seriousness....wow. I can't believe something like that happened. Cheers to you Ryan; glad to hear you're taking steps to prevent this in the future.

[Virg]

The same shit happened last year with the guards going overboard, so I am not too surprised.

[squeapler]

Ryan, thanks for promptly checking into things and for your response. It's good to know the organizers care about situations like this and are going to take steps to have things handled differently in the future. For sure, anybody who is becoming a "problem" needs to be more promptly separated from the group of uninvolved people who are just trying to go about their business. And by "separated" I mean peacefully restrained, not taken off and beaten to a pulp.

I would not let this turn me off coming to another Deathfest in the future. For one thing, it was 10 minutes out of four days of fun that I had without incident. For another, I attend a lot of shows at all kinds of venues in the Baltimore/ DC area and in other cities, and you're not going to get perfect, incident-free mellow security anywhere. By comparison to other venues, Sonar security (including at the regular, non-Deathfest metal shows it supports) is generally average to good. Does security sometimes overreact at other venues? Yes. A couple years back I attended a metal show at the First Mariner Arena a few blocks away and got physically frisked by security for weapons or booze like I was some sort of terror suspect, which if you saw me (a very ordinary-looking jeans-and-t-shirt-wearing, sober, middle-aged female) you'd know how silly that is. I was once harassed at the 9:30 club at an Opeth show for putting my legs, clad in clean jeans, across a non-fancy vinyl chair in their coatroom because I was "putting my feet on their seats" even though my feet weren't anywhere near the chair in question, it was not an assigned seat but just a random old chair sitting in a back room, etc. I go to Sonar probably twice a month to see metal shows and have never had stuff like the above happen to me there.

Sonar's done a good job of supporting this festival and has been getting a little better each year as it learns from its past mistakes. For example, they didn't run out of so much beer this year. Hopefully they can weed out the bad apples from the security for next year and we can all continue to have a good time.

[BeerDiablo]

I realize Patrick Swayze won't be able to do a "Roadhouse Makeover" with the staff but as the fest grows - a security coordinator with some of their own people managing Sonar staff would help keep situations going over board - mace, telescoping nightsticks.
[Don't go the Hell's Angel's route, I hear that doesn't work out either].

Post last call & closing detail on the website and announce it at the shows so a majority will get a clue. Last night's GTFO was before 2pm.

Turning up house lights and PA announcements would've cleared things up.

I wouldn't be surprised if the crew modeled MDF after some of the Euro fests.
A security & medical review could help avoid lawsuits - basic city permit requirements
might not be enough.

[Stevey Capri]

mace should NEVER be used at mdf unless it is being used on the crusty traveling kids

[Stevey Capri]

also

Originally Posted by Coma

Anyone who stuck around and watched Ghost deserved to be maced.

[Palabra De Dios]

Originally Posted by Coma

Anyone who stuck around and watched Ghost deserved to be maced.

Well, the room was packed for them.

Wonder how that compares to the turnout for The Kill? Hmm....

[donkeytron]

I'd say the Kill did fairly well putting folks in the room for being relatively unheard of. Without being an overhyped band with a corny gimmick, 30 mins of material but somehow closing the last night of "the biggest metal party of the year"...of course they had more people. To each his own though.

[mystlyfe]

Yay a pissing match in a security thread!

Ghost blows but people don't deserve to be maced for wanting to stick around and hang out with their friends until the end of the festival.

[donkeytron]

Definitly, I don't agree anyone deserves to get maced for something as dumb as that. Just an Ignorant comment. Albeit not as ignorant as the comment from death to security, that seems to have been removed. Wow that was pretty racist.

[squeapler]

Originally Posted by donkeytron

Definitly, I don't agree anyone deserves to get maced for something as dumb as that. Just an Ignorant comment. Albeit not as ignorant as the comment from death to security, that seems to have been removed. Wow that was pretty racist.

I figured that was just a troll looking for attention. Anyone who actually thinks like that needs to stay the hell away from Baltimore.

[donkeytron]

I've never had any issue with security at MDF in 4 years. Use your head and don't act like an asshole and those dudes are chill as hell. There's a few that wanna play tough guy maybe, but it's the same with the crowd. There's a ton of cool people security and attendees, but there's always gonna be some assholes.

[xaidsx]

Originally Posted by Coma

Anyone who stuck around and watched Ghost deserved to be maced.

ha! you dick.

one of my staff was filming a dude getting beat with his camera, only to have security knock it out of his hand, throw it in the water, then proceed to beat him with batons.

he actually stayed right there and asked for his camera back. he's going to put it in some rice and see if it will work. if not, we'll get the information from the hard drive somehow and post when we do.

from what i hear, it's mad nuts.

also has silly footage from the fest as well. SILLY!

[avenger]

Cant wait to see that XaidsX, along with the silly footage!

[dickhead]

Originally Posted by squeapler

I figured that was just a troll looking for attention. Anyone who actually thinks like that needs to stay the hell away from Baltimore.

If you saw the kid in real life you'd understand.

[Stuka12]

It's too bad this shit happened - but I'm not altogether surprised. I don't know if it was just weekend fatigue, or some were just trying to get all the partying in they humanly could before the show was over, but the whole "vibe" started to get a little spooky Sunday night by around 10PM or so. I saw a LOT of REALLY fucked-up people stumbling around and just acting pretty stupid. People kept bumping into me everywhere, like fucking zombies in their own world. Friday and Saturday were nothing like that??? Too much heat, too much beer...whatever it was, you could just tell something stupid was bound to happen - I even mentioned it to friends.

Oddly, we left before it all...I had no interest in the Ghost business(and hung outside) and we split the second they were done.

Well, either way it was another great MDF and will be back as long they go on more than likely. Always have a blast and the security folks have been really cool to me - and I'll confess, I have had doubts about how they view a few thousand metalheads, etc...but again, they've always been cool to me. Just a few bad apples - you'll always have 'em.


Only complaint - Yuengling...uggghhhh! The five bucks is painful enough - but at least make it Bud or something!!!!!!