More than 400 people arrested at California electronic music fest

A good time became jail time for hundreds of attendees at a Southern California festival designed to be a “wonderland.”

There were 428 arrests over the weekend at Nocturnal Wonderland, according to
the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

The legions of ravers booked at the event included those taken into custody for alleged offenses including being under 18, possessing drugs, selling drugs, assault, battery and indecent exposure.

More than 18,000 electronic music fans packed a local amphitheater on Friday for the first night of the festival. Crowds swelled to more than 22,000 for Saturday and Sunday performances by acts such as Bassnectar and Chromeo.

The three-day event’s number of arrests — 111, 141 and 176 respectively — dwarfed numbers from festivals that are even larger.

This year’s four-day Lollapalooza extravaganza in Chicago, with more than 100,000 people attending each day, saw only 12 arrests, according to the Tribune,

The paper reported that there were 268 concert-goers sent to Windy City hospitals, mostly for alcohol-related illnesses.

Much of the security concern at the festival focuses on trying to find drugs such as Ecstasy and Molly, which are popular in the electronic music community.

In September 2013 an attendee at Nocturnal Wonderland named Arrel Christopher Cochon died from an Ecstasy and methamphetamine overdose.