Last Night's Riot: Organizers Speak Out On Drakegate

As we all know by now, last night's concert at the South Street Seaport was a total clusterfuck, with the NYPD coming to shut it down and control the riotous crowd before the show even really got started (reportedly Drake had yet to go on, Ninjasonik played one song, and Hanson had only soundchecked).

Before the NYPD had control of the situation, however, plants and chairs were being thrown, mace was being sprayed, tables were being tossed off a balcony, there was a legit stampede, the mixing board was broken, and dudes were swinging upside-down from Pizzeria Uno. It was a serious Rite of Spring vibe at the Seaport last night. So who's to blame?

Sure, concert-goers seemingly lost all ability to keeps things civil, but who books a show featuring both popular Canadian rapper Drake (who used to star on Degrassi: The Next Generation) and Hanson (their fans are hardcore)? What we're saying is, this thing was one Justin Bieber away from End of Days.

As previously noted, it was Paper Magazine who organized the show (they reportedly expected around 10,000 people, but they got over double that). The magazine's publisher David Hershkovits is expected to release a statement shortly, and a spokesperson from the South Street Seaport told us this morning:

“While the South Street Seaport and Paper Magazine were looking forward to a great kick-off concert for the summer season, our primary concern is always the safety of our guests. Unfortunately, by the announced showtime, both the Seaport management and NYPD estimated that the onsite crowd had greatly exceeded our safe capacity, was still rising, and the show could no longer be presented in a safe atmosphere. By 7:00 p.m., a decision was made in consultation with the police to cancel the event in order to foster the safe dispersal of the over-capacity crowd."

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By Jen Carlson in Arts & Entertainment on June 16, 2010 1:00 PM

Comments [rss]

El Izzy

Thank God I'm not a teen anymore. Seems like they're all two things that I hate -- and this is not a comment on race, class or ethnicity -- ghetto and spoiled. What a combo!

Gotham Extremist

whos drake? related to dre?

napalm

There's a difference between rapper and gimmick. . This Drake and lil Wayne guy are both gimmicks, as well as other current so-called artists..... I "did" like hip-hop, back when it was hip-hop. Now its just a big talentless pit filled with homosexual wierdos who use auto tuning as filler.

And since when did Canadians rap? Let alone rap with southern accents?

Drake = hip-hop = dead

jles

Dude....uh SNOW? Canadians churn out classics like "Informer". pffffffffft, yeah right you were a fan of hip hop.

DanielJ

Aleeky boom boom down

jles

DanielJ..... officially on my short list of people I like on this site.

graybanks

Jimmy from Degrassi.

henryhamilton

Greenday played a free concert on the Boston Esplanade back in 1994. They had agreed to the concert when they were just a blip on the radar screen, by the time the concert was held they were the hottest band in the country. Similar results, but more vandalism than fighting. 70 maybe 100 thousand people showed on a patch of grass barely big enough to play softball on.

teacherman

I was there for that Green Day show. The Hatch Shell on the Esplanade is where the Boston Pops does the July 4th fireworks show. Green Day had a July 4th size crowd mid-week (it was a Wed if I remember correctly).

It was the day I moved to Boston for college. Couldn't have been a better "Welcome to school" party.

Along those lines, a few years later Bare Nakes Ladies played the plaza at Boston's Government Center. A few thousand were expected, turned out to be a bigger crowd than the Super Bowl victory rallies.

jles

I can't even picture the demographic of this concert (even though they are actually pictured) let alone picture that demographic starting an actual riot. Are you sure it wasn't God opening for Bieber?