Summer 2002 – the Fourth Fort

Dmitry Ashman:
«In 2002 a real upheaval happened. In a way that was unexpected for us, the Forts turned in people's minds into a mega-event that you absolutely had to attend. We simply turned out not to be ready for it, neither physically nor morally. We reasoned like this: if last year we had four thousand people, then this year there'd be around seven. At the very last moment it turned out there were twenty thousand standing on the shore. And the whole infrastructure was designed for seven. There were no boats, no security, not even any free space in the Fort itself.
As far as it was possible, we kept track of the situation. There was no chaos as such, but it was utter lawlessness. Boats were taken by storm, and some people tried to reach the Forts by swimming. It was a genuine fight for survival. But as far as I know, thank God, no fatalities were recorded. It all came down to broken arms during the storming of the overcrowded boats.
The problem was also that all the nearby villages and towns were heading to the Forts as if to a rally, with their whole families. Just to find out what it was all about. Naturally, they had no need for all this dancing, they were simply curious. They came with children, accordions, beer and flags, completely paralysing the traffic.
On top of that, someone put out a wild number of counterfeit tickets. Back then they had no special protection, and people simply printed their own run. By our estimates there were around 5 thousand fakes.
Morally I felt very bad. I could see loads of my friends on the far shore, but I was simply physically unable to help them. What's more, it was a problem to get the DJs themselves to the Fort. Many of them simply couldn't push through the human crush, and so the line-up had to be shifted around. Some never played at all. Even our headliner, the Dutchman Marco V, I had to deliver to the Fort by force. I tried to force my way through the crowd in a car, but it was practically impossible. A dense stream of people was coming the other way, and there was nothing to be done.
The result was a wild scandal. We were accused of having deliberately provoked the situation by selling more tickets than the Forts could hold, having decided to skimp on security. The Petersburg clubbers were furious. Radio «Metro» put up a photo of me on their site with the caption «Kill Ashman».
All in all, after that «Battle for the Boats» the Forts had a rather strange reputation. Although my friend Lyosha Gorobiy insists that those were the best Forts in history. He says, when there's a crush, when there's real frenzy — that's what real life is. I don't know… My memories of those Forts aren't very good. When you get called a faggot every 15 minutes, when people are pounding on your door at home — it's unpleasant».