The Goldenvoice-backed Portola Festival, which took place for the first time in San Francisco this weekend, had a crowd control problem that occurred during sets that took place at its Warehouse stage, which included performances by Jamie xx, Fred Again, Charli XCX, and more.
Videos on social media show attendees jumping over barricades in order to avoid being crushed while trying to navigate the entrance to the stage, which is an enclosed space on Pier 80 that had separate lanes for general admission and VIP attendees. Local publications like SFist and SFGAT also noted the festival's problems with crowd control.
"There was a minimal, isolated issue with a festival stage entrance yesterday," a representative for Goldenvoice's parent company AEG said in a statement to Billboard. "This occurred within the confines of the grounds and was quickly addressed and corrected. There were no reported injuries and the festival continued for another six hours without incident."
A big mess inside @PortolaFestival at Pier 80. Hundreds of people jamming up to get inside the warehouse stage with no real direction/crowd control from the venue staff. Some people were getting crushed (hopefully not hurt) @KPIXtv pic.twitter.com/9ZE5fjyWCE
— Sara Donchey (@SaraDonchey) September 25, 2022
The event staff in uniform was being told that people were smashed — most of them didn’t seem sure what to do. Saw one uniformed woman standing on the other side of a barricade say “I’m just doing my job.” Heard more than one Fyre Festival reference while I was stuck @KPIXtv pic.twitter.com/nHmjwFmvEI
— Sara Donchey (@SaraDonchey) September 25, 2022
https://twitter.com/ChrisSorta/status/1573842416041267201
@PortolaFestival @SFFDPIO @EDMIdentity @SFGate The entrances and exits to the warehouse stage were super dangerous and poorly planned. What happened?! #portola #portolafestival pic.twitter.com/KR2JNNz7Ny
— Tom Consolazio (@tom_consolazio) September 25, 2022
