Entertainment
Concertgoers say they faced mixed messaging after the country star’s recent concert was evacuated due to severe weather.
Jason Aldean fans say they were mistakenly sent home after a bout of severe weather hit the country star’s recent concert in Mansfield, only to find out later that the show continued after they’d left.
The outdoor concert at the Xfinity Center faced heavy rain on July 29, and the National Weather Service later confirmed that a small tornado touched down that night in Foxborough, near the Mansfield town line.
“The venue is under a mandatory evacuation,” the Mansfield Police Department wrote on Facebook at 8:20 p.m., addressing concertgoers. “Attendees are encouraged to return to their vehicles and seek shelter until the storm passes. Unknown on whether the concert will resume.”
Mansfield police reported in a 9:40 p.m. update that the venue’s gates had reopened.
However, some concertgoers said they received mixed messaging during the evacuation, with several reporting that Xfinity Center employees and police officers at the venue told them to go home.
“We were told by several xfinity staff and PD that the show was canceled and we needed to leave so of course I got in line with the hundreds of other cars leaving,” Facebook user Kaleigh Ann commented under the venue’s post about the concert.
“So not fair! We were told to leave!” Colleen MacKay Hertler wrote in another comment. “15 minutes till we got home and we see that he’s taking the stage!!! It should have been rescheduled!!!”
“is anyone addressing how poorly the #JasonAldean show [weather] eval was handled and how staff told us it was canceled, but then still happened?” BJ Corey wrote on X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter. “Refunds? Credits? It was really bad.”
Asked about the complaints, an Xfinity Center spokesperson said in a statement that Aldean fans were able to reenter the venue and see the rest of the show after the storm passed.
“The safety of our fans, artists and crew is our priority,” the statement read. “Weather events are dynamic situations, and we consult with meteorologists, experts and local authorities to make decisions about how to respond to severe weather. Due to the forecast, we evacuated the outdoor amphitheater out of abundance of caution.”
Concertgoers with concerns can reach out to [email protected], the spokesperson said.
How was the Jason Aldean concert evacuated?
In an email to Boston.com, Mansfield Acting Chief of Police Gary F. Sullivan provided further insight about the planning and preparation that went into monitoring the weather and evacuating the venue.
He said a general manager with Live Nation — the Xfinity Center’s parent company — and a deputy chief of police discussed the threat of severe weather leading up to the concert, and Live Nation also consulted with a meteorologist throughout the day.
Mansfield has an emergency operations plan for the Xfinity Center, and Sullivan said that staff followed its procedures. The decision to evacuate falls on the facility’s general manager and is based on input and recommendations from public safety officials, he noted.
“The Mansfield police department, fire department, and Live Nation staff worked together to ensure all patrons were safely evacuated from the venue to their vehicles due to the impending severe weather threat,” Sullivan wrote.
He said the Xfinity Center provided evacuation instructions through audio messages and posted signage at the venue. According to Sullivan, the center also gave updates on social media, with one post reportedly reading, “Severe Weather Alert … We are evacuating the venue, calmly proceed to the nearest exit and seek shelter in your vehicles. Please stay tuned to the venue social networks for updates.”
It appears the Xfinity Center has since deleted those posts.
“I believe some of the confusion may possibly be related to what is meant by ‘evacuation of the venue,’” Sullivan explained. “The venue itself includes the stage, seating area, lawn, alcohol sales areas, and anything inside the entry gates. It does not include the parking lot. In other words, people were not directed to leave the Xfinity Center altogether, just the venue to seek shelter in their vehicles.”
He added: “As you can imagine, evacuating 15,000 people from the venue in a short period of time, and without any reported injuries, was challenging for Live Nation staff and police.”
Aldean went ahead with his scheduled performance, during which he invoked the Boston Marathon bombing while introducing his controversial song, “Try That in a Small Town,” according to The Boston Globe.
The song’s music video juxtaposed images of Black Lives Matter protests with the lyrics: “Try that in a small town/ See how far ya make it down the road/ Around here, we take care of our own,” the Globe reported, noting that some of the BLM footage was projected onto a Tennessee courthouse where a Black teen was lynched in the 1920s. (The video has since been edited to remove certain clips.)
Connecting the song’s themes to the aftermath of the 2013 bombing, Aldean reportedly told the crowd, “I was laying in bed last night and thinking to myself, you guys would get this better than anybody, right?”
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