This year’s Nocturnal Wonderland will be looked at with an insanely careful eye from officials of San Bernadino County; namely Janice Rutherford, who has been the most vocal about banning events.
Here are some things Live Nation are doing differently at this year’s Nocturnal at the San Manuale Amphitheater
• Stationing a deputy on Devore Road to prevent rave attendees from parking in the community. A sign will be posted reading “Residents only.”
• Live Nation will be hiring a third-party professional sound monitoring service to respond to noise complaints.
“In the past, it’s been done by Live Nation/Insomniac staff,” spokesman Scott Vanhorne said in an email. “A staff member from (San Bernardino County) Regional Parks will tag along with sound monitors. They will have a handout with the county’s noise standards with them so everyone knows what’s allowed and what’s not in terms of noise from the event.”
• Additionally, Live Nation is distributing written notices to Devore residents with a phone number for a hotline people can call to report noise complaints. And the stages will be oriented to decrease the amount of noise, Vanhorne said.
• The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, which Live Nation contracts for security and traffic control, will be operating as it has at past events, with a slight change in the traffic plan: More than 100 deputies will be deployed to local neighborhoods, parking lots, amphitheater and park entrances, at the Glen Helen Park campground, and in the festival area, said Deputy Olivia Bozek.
• Finally, a sheriff’s medical helicopter will also be on-site, as mandated for all electronic music festivals at the amphitheater, Bozek said.
Rotella said in an email that safety has always been his top priority.
“I am so proud of our health and safety measures,” he wrote. “We have the best teams in the world working at our shows and we are committed to setting the standard and ensuring that everyone who walks through our gates gets back home safely. I need our events to be good enough for my own kids to attend.”
When local news reached out to Pasquale Rotella, he had this to say in relation to the potential ban:
“I think that banning established events from San Manuel Amphitheater so people are driven out to further cities is irresponsible and reckless,” Rotella wrote. “Dance music is loved by several generations and it has crossed over to the mainstream. Forcing the young people of today into unregulated underground parties or events in the middle of nowhere — just so it’s not your problem — rather than making these events safer, is something I cannot understand. I want my kids to step out my front door and not have to go far to experience the best produced, safest and supervised shows possible, instead of events that are far away and possibly not managed properly. We are not going anywhere.”
The standards of Insomniac’s health and safety are incredibly high: not only do they make every attempt to have trained and equipped medical staff, but they also do their best to be accessible through Ground Control volunteers and constant reminders to stay hydrated, safe and aware.
Check out their app’s pre-festival message here below.
Thank you