Boston Calling musical festival slammed for ‘dangerous’ event where thousands had extremely limited access to water as videos show ‘scary’ crowd size
Organizers of the annual Boston Calling music festival were widely criticized for not doing enough to stop dangerous overcrowding during the final day of the show, which featured acts including The Killers, Hozier, Chappell Roan and Megan Thee Stallion.
Video footage of the packed event on Sunday showed incredibly long lines to get water and tired concertgoers having to be wheeled out on stretchers.
In response, Boston Calling posted a message at Instagram promising to improve the layout of future events to ‘create a better environment for everyone’.
“We greatly appreciate the audiences, staff and artists who make Boston Calling possible and want to acknowledge Sunday’s feedback,” organizers wrote.
‘Although attendance numbers were several thousand below the venue’s official capacity rating, we never want anyone to feel uncomfortable or unsafe during the show.’
“The safety and well-being of our fans, artists, guests and staff is paramount,” the statement continued.
As the sun set over Boston Calling’s Red Stage, the size of the crowd began to become a serious hazard, with some reporting people falling, being crushed and fainting.
Pictured: A young woman attending Sunday’s Boston Calling was escorted from the concert site on a stretcher. The person who posted the video said many others should receive the same treatment
Sources close to the festival spoke with Boston.com, the outlet said 40,000 people attended Sunday’s sold-out set. One source said about 16,000 people attended the Allston event the day before on Saturday.
Nearly all of the estimated 40,000 fans stood around the Green Stage to see Chappell Roan at 4:05 p.m.
A drone video posted by the festival on Instagram during Roan’s set shows the large number of shoulder-to-shoulder fans.
And right next to the Green Stage was the Red Stage, which also featured popular acts that people didn’t want to miss, keeping concertgoers in the same spot for hours.
“The problem was that there were probably about 40,000 people stuck in one area, instead of being spread out across the entire complex as they had hoped,” said visitor Margot Lee. CBS News.
Megan Thee Stallion graced the Green Stage at 6:25 p.m., and that’s reportedly when many people discovered they were actually trapped.
Another TikTok user showed the absurdly long lines people had to wait in to get water, which later led to event organizers being forced to hand out water to the thirsty crowd
A Boston.com reader emailed the outlet describing their harrowing experience at the event, writing that they had been to multiple editions of Boston Calling but would not be returning.
“After Meg Thee Stallion and before Hozier, crowds of people moved from one area to another [the] red and green phases. The situation my family found themselves in in a crowd was a very frightening experience, we are lucky to have escaped,” the person wrote.
‘During the entire 20 minute ordeal there were people falling, being crushed/pushed, crying, having panic attacks and fainting.’
Even before that, a user posted on TikTok a video with the absurdly long lines you have to wait to get some water.
As a result of those long lines and congested crowds, festival staff began handing out free $5 water bottles to the crowd, Boston.com reported.
But based on first-hand accounts, this was not enough to stop the pandemonium that followed.
Another video Posted on TikTok shows a young woman being taken out of the event after nightfall.
Another woman Posted a selfie view of herself and her friends immersed in the crowd listening to Hozier’s set. She claimed her head hit the ground and that Hozier “almost stopped the concert” because of her.
She added that paramedics and police tried to escort her out, but she was given a liquid IV and an electric bar instead. She said in a reply to one of her comments that she told authorities she didn’t pass out just so she could stay for Hozier’s last two songs.
In the days following the music festival, Boston Calling’s Instagram apology was besieged by negative comments, with some saying it wasn’t an apology at all.
An overhead drone shot of the sheer number of people gathered in this small area to listen to Chappell Roan’s set. Roan performed before Megan Thee Stallion
The audience can be seen earlier in the day on Sunday, the last day of the festival, at Boston Calling
Boston Calling’s Instagram apology did not sit well with fans, most of whom felt it lacked accountability and had the hallmarks of ‘gaslighting’
One commenter said the post was “basically ‘Sorry if you felt unsafe.'”
Another wrote: ‘the sheer lack of accountability is shameful.’
Others seized on the organisers’ claim that the ‘number of visitors was several thousand lower than the venue’s official capacity rating.’
“Take another look at your drone footage of the Chappell Roan set and tell me where you think thousands more people would fit,” one commenter wrote.
The main headliners on Sunday, the day the crowds arrived, have not yet addressed this controversy on social media.
Boston Calling did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.