Arrests, overdoses at Seaside Heights electric concert

SEASIDE HEIGHTS, N.J. (WPVI) -- A two day music concert this weekend in Seaside Heights delivered on its promise of good music, but police say it also delivered on dozens of drug overdoses.

Over 6,000 people packed the beach for the concert called Electric Adventure.

"You just feel like you're one with the music and the people and it was a great place to be," Anthony Massa of Hyde Park, New York said.

Videos posted on YouTube show the lights and music that filled the air.

But they don't document the 42 arrests and 34 drug overdoses that kept police and emergency responders busy.

"Most of the kids were just drunk, and then you had your usual kids high, but I never saw anyone passed out," Ruth Slobodin of Hyde Park said.

"There was like 12-year-olds, 13-year-olds, there was lots and lots of overdose and Mollys," Gerald Mercaldi of Seaside Heights said.

Molly is the powdered and sometimes deadly form of the drug ecstasy, popular at electronic music concerts.

"I think something bad could have really happened here," Mayor Bill Akers said.

Akers says while the clean up after the concert is almost finished, based on the dozens of arrests and overdoses, Seaside Heights won't host another concert like this again.

"We've been that town, that party town. I think that's played out. We need to reach a different market," Akers said.

"It does bring in money for us I would say over here, but I don't know if it's worth the overdoses and a lot of problems," boardwalk game operator Matthew Kiefer said.

The mayor says were it not for the extensive planning and security that went into the concert, those overdoses could have ended in tragedy and that is not a risk he's willing to take again.