UCSB police officers detained musician Mac DeMarco during his performance on Friday night in The Hub after he was crowd surfing and climbing in the venue’s ceiling beams. The performance was interrupted twice — first after two people were arrested for moshing and resisting police officers and a second time to detain DeMarco, which ended the show.
[Editor’s Note: Contrary to eyewitness estimates that put the crowd at around 100 people, the Associated Students Program Board reported close to 800 tickets were scanned at the door.]
About 10 minutes into the show, security officers reportedly got on the stage and shined light on the audience, some of whom were moshing. Attendees speculated they were looking for people smoking marijuana. Not long after, a 22-year-old male — not a student and from out of the area — was arrested for challenging concertgoers as well as security officers to fight. More officers were called in for backup, and several other attendees were escorted outside for fighting, according to UCSB police Lt. Mark Signa. UCSB police officers also arrested a 21-year-old UCSB female student for moshing. She was charged with resisting an officer and, according to Signa, later assaulted a jail staff member.
The show went on, but was interrupted again after UCSB police officers detained DeMarco for sitting up in the railings. DeMarco was propped up to the beams by attendees after he surfed the crowd. He climbed to the second floor of the venue and walked down the stairs back to the stage, where police officers detained him. According to Signa, it wasn’t until the police officers spoke to DeMarco outside that they realized he was the lead singer. Signa said there were four levels of security at the concert — event staff, hired security officers, Community Service Officers, and UCSB police officers.
Some concertgoers were taken aback by police and security presence from the start. “It was definitely not some Slayer concert,” said attendee Haley Snyder, who said the crowd was relatively small and mellow. “[Associated Students] wants to put on these on-campus shows as an alternative to kids partying in Isla Vista. What was supposed to be an intimate concert turned into ‘I can’t believe the police are acting this way’ …. There was no danger in the crowd.”