What started off as an isolated incident at the Washington Avenue Armory turned into a five-month uphill battle for the venue that ended at the doorsteps of the New York State Supreme Court.

The problem began on October 18, 2012, when the Armory hosted a foam-party ran by the organization Barstool. “Barstool Blackout Tour Presents: FOAM” brought thousands of college-age students to the Armory’s door ready for a night of dancing to a pounding bass in a mess of foam.

But some ticket holders never made it past the front door.

As the Albany Police Department press release from the incident read, “At approximately 10:00 PM, a large influx of attendees overwhelmed the Armory’s capacity at its entrance and resulted in an extremely unsafe condition in which people waiting in line began to be crushed against barricades.”

The end result was a chaotic melee in which seven individuals we’re arrested, and the doors to the event were shut down mid-show, leaving many irritated ticketholders sent home.

The October incident caused the city to closely scrutinize the Armory, which led to a Cease and Desist order on their doors on March 8 three hours before the doors were set to open to a concert similar in type to that of Barstool’s FOAM called Electric Safari.

A half hour after they received the Cease and Desist, the Armory received a full three-page letter outlining the reasoning behind it.

“Basically they alleged we were operating as a nightclub and these events that we were doing were not concerts,” said Michael Corts, General Manager of the Armory.

In a ruling on March 28 by Supreme Court Justice Michael C. Lynch, the Armory won their case. In his decision, the justice wrote, “it is difficult to discern the security difference arising from a concert where patrons are assigned fixed seating, compared to a general assembly concert.”

Since the Barstool incident, the Armory had revamped their security measures and entrance procedures to work with the city to resolve their issues.

“We made changes to our entrance procedure, you don’t have people waiting to get inside, we open our doors a lot earlier,” said Corts. “We instituted new ticket windows and an entirely new entrance into the building as well, if needed.”

During the time that the Armory’s lawyers were fighting their Cease and Desist, the venue had to postpone one event and cancel another.

They were able to open their doors two days before another concert of similar caliber, Stuff Your Face With Bass, was set to occur. However, Corts noted that the event was damaged promotionally, due to the uncertainty in the building.

All of these shows are rave-style events, in which DJ’s spin a genre called Electronic Dance Music. Attendees come, often in odd outfits or costumes, ready to dance for hours on end.

In the Armory’s press release about the court decision, Corts said, ““Thursday’s decision by Justice Lynch isn’t just a win for the Armory, but it’s a huge victory for the arts and entertainment community here in Albany.”

Other venues in Albany have been hosting similar events, most notable the Times Union Center, which just recently hosted Life in Color, a paint party, which was attended by 4,500 people.