It's concert day. Fans are flying in. And not in the normal way they would for your typical Boston concert. Yesterday's scheduled concert had a very, very international appeal. With fans flying in from all over Latin America, and thousands more driving many hours away, concert day was ruined for somewhere around 37,000 excited fans. Normally this would be a horrible thing - and in many ways it still was - but given the circumstances, what could have happened may have been much worse.
A concert comes with many moving parts. The stage, and the local crew who builds the stage, is just one of many. For Shakira's Boston concert to be cancelled yesterday, and for the Jason Aldean and Brooks & Dunn show to be cancelled tonight, clearly the stage must have been extremely unsafe for this call to be made.
Last night we saw what certainly seems like the right call made, and although it is just one time, what does this say for future Fenway shows? Well for starters, Fenway Park has hosted many, many successful concerts. And to say these two shows cause a threat to future ones is a bit unfair. But still, it's 2025, and events of this magnitude happen daily throughout the world. Setting up staging in Fenway is definitely not the same as setting up staging in a modern venue like Gillette Stadium or Met Life Stadium. But still what happened last night should never have taken place.
Ultimately the right call was made, and we should be thankful no incident happened. That is the good that came out of yesterday. But with Gillette Stadium down I-95 and Harvard Athletic Complex hosting Boston Calling last week, there are other options for stadium shows. Hopefully Fenway Park continues to host concerts. And hopefully they and the promoters work with the right local crews to set up the stage correctly and safely. But again, it's 2025, and a situation like this, affecting millions of dollars and so many lives, is a situation that simply shouldn't happen.
Source: Billboard, WCVB-TV
No comments:
Post a Comment