Violence Brings Early End to All-Night Wild Rivers Concert : Disturbance: Overflow crowd of 3,200 youths proves too much for security guards. Irvine police shut down event at 3 a.m.

Police shut down a “rave” concert at an amusement park early Sunday after fistfights broke out among the crowd of 3,200 youths, a man was pistol-whipped, a security guard was threatened at gunpoint and a van was set ablaze in the parking lot.

Noise complaints from surrounding neighborhoods ultimately caused police to order the early closure of the all-night “Battle of the Bands” concert at Wild Rivers water park, but not before they turned away people trying to attend the concert and dispersed large crowds milling about the parking lot.

Police made no arrests and reported no serious injuries. Two people were hospitalized for overdoses of LSD, Irvine Police Sgt. Tom Hume said.

“It’s amazing, the fact that it didn’t erupt,” said Police Sgt. Ron Flathers. “The potential was there. . . . We were pretty lucky.”

“Our concern was the weaponry,” Hume said.

It was the second time this month that an Irvine rock concert has turned violent. Last month, a Harbor City man was stabbed in the neck, chest and stomach during a heavy metal rock concert at the adjacent Irvine Meadows Amphitheater.

Irvine City Manager Paul O. Brady Jr. said Sunday evening that he was unaware of the events at the Wild Rivers park. He said the park has never had any problems with the city in the past.

Helen Wilson, mayor of Lake Forest, said she was also unaware of problems at the amusement park.

But Hume said the Wild Rivers security force of about 30 was inadequate for the crowd that turned out for the heavily promoted concert, the first of its kind at Wild Rivers. Hume said that he did not know the name of the promoter.

Police chose not to enter the concert, Hume said, to avoid provoking further violence.

“I think it’s a bad match between this facility and that kind of event,” Hume said, because the park is divided into separate sections, some of which are wooded and poorly lit.

The event was approved by the Wild Rivers management and a special events coordinator at the Irvine Police Department, Hume said.

Police arrived at the concert shortly before 11 p.m. Saturday. Noise complaints from Lake Forest residents prompted police to close one of four stages where disc jockeys were playing records, Hume said.

Almost immediately, police averted a fight between rival gang factions in the parking lot, where hundreds of youths were waiting to purchase tickets.

About the same time, an unidentified man held a gun to the head of an unarmed Wild Rivers security guard, threatening to “blow his head off” before leaping a fence with several friends to gain access to a picnic area adjacent to Wild Rivers, Hume said.

Police believe the same man later pistol-whipped a concert-goer inside the event. The attacker lost his loaded weapon during that altercation and park security guards recovered it, Hume said.

Police finally began shutting down the concert, one stage at a time about 3 a.m. Sunday, but it took more than an hour before the music was finally silenced, Hume said. The event was scheduled to end at 6 a.m.

Hume said one van was set on fire and totally destroyed. Three other vehicles were damaged before firefighters extinguished the blaze, he said.