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Gillette country concert draws crowds, crimes, drunkeness
BY MATT KAKLEY SUN CHRONICLE STAFF
Sunday, July 27, 2008 1:50 AM EDT


Police arrested many who attended the New England Country Music Festival at Gillette Stadium on Saturday. (Photo by Stu Skerker)




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FOXBORO - State police were arresting people by the busload Saturday as a music festival once again dissolved into a block party of underage drinking and fighting.

Dozens of concert-goers were held for crimes ranging from underage drinking and drunk and disorderly conduct to assault and battery as police cracked down at the New England Country Music Festival at Gillette Stadium.

As of 11 p.m., police said about 40 people had been arrested, with about 45 more waiting to be processed in portable booking trailers. By the end of the night, police said over 100 people may face arrest.

Those waiting to be arrested were being held in prisoner transport vans while awaiting booking.

Last year's festival, also headlined by Chesney, caused problems when thousands of ticketless fans showed up and turned parking lots into block parties, complete with binge drinking. The day was full of fights and car vandalism.
Authorities guide those arrested at the New England Country Music Festival into the police station. (Photo by Stu Skerker)
To combat these problems, state and local police patrolled parking lots, checking the identification of those drinking and trying to keep tempers down.

This year marked the fifth anniversary of the annual festival. Kenny Chesney headlined the concert, which featured an all-star line-up, including LeAnn Rimes and Keith Urban.

The concert also caused traffic delays as concert fans flocked to Route 1, as well as Interstate-95 and Interstate-495.
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kb1254 wrote on Jul 30, 2008 10:32 AM:

" They let people in with no tickets,I was with people who were let right in and told to have fun. "

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realist wrote on Jul 29, 2008 7:54 PM:

" All day concerts attract the irresponsible crowd. The solution - let everyone know that you get drunk and rowdie, be it rap, country or rock, you will be arrested and, if found guilty, pay a price.
I'm not a huge country music fan, but a very small percentage of people ruin what was supposed to be a day of fun.

You can hardly blame the promoters for what happens on property not controlled by the venue or the promoters. "

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NaturalCasing wrote on Jul 29, 2008 2:55 PM:

" mmarcia - YOU seem to be pointing fingers at Rock and Rap, yet criticize the Sun for 'vilifying' country music. Have you not attended a concert in a while? During the summer months, I personally go to numerous rock concerts (I can not speak for rap as I have not been to one) and not once were there any issues like the one's pointed out in the few articles. It is not the police, it does not matter WHAT type of music it is - it's strictly the patrons that seem to think they can get away with doing anything since they are in a huge parking lot with minimal supervision. The music does not make people irresponsible. "

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mmarcia wrote on Jul 29, 2008 11:56 AM:

" What's bad is that the Sun is vilifying country music. You see worse at rock and rap concerts. You're right - those arrested are a small fraction of the crowd, but you don't see that mentioned in the article. "

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loun wrote on Jul 28, 2008 7:16 PM:

" mmarcia, that was part of the point of my comment. They did check cars parking in the Gillette lots for tickets, if anyone in the car didnt have a ticket they were turned away. This is a lesson they learned from last years event. So you are correct it would help and it did. They cant enforce that in the private lots that lien Rt1 however. As for who would tailgate without a ticket, its basically like having a huge BBQ with thousands of people around. Buff guys, bikini clad girls, lots of music, food and alcohol. Done responsibly it would be an amazing time. I considered it and I dont even drink... but I ended up buying good tickets so I went instead. 2 girls died in a car accident that night that wasnt mentioned in this article. God bless their families, in the end however it was unfortunately their choice that cost them their lives not anyone else at country fest, no matter how much you try to place blame elsewhere. "

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mmarcia wrote on Jul 28, 2008 1:22 PM:

" They have to come up with a way of not allowing admission to the parking lots for people without tickets! They have to pay to park, so why can't the parking attendants ask to see their tickets? And don't anyone start carping about the "freedom to do what you want" - the stadium is private property, adn thay don't HAVE to allow you on the grounds! "

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mc wrote on Jul 28, 2008 12:51 PM:

" Who the hell tailgates at a show you don't have a ticket for? "

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Loun wrote on Jul 28, 2008 9:50 AM:

" This was almost an 8 hour concert from 4-11:00 with gates opening at 1:30. Thats ten hours of tailgating, and music. This writer neglects to mention is that in order to get into any of the Gillette parking lots everyone in the vehicles needed to have a ticket to the concert to deter the people just there to party in the parking lots. There were 55,000 people that attended the concert, not counting the hoards of people tailgating in the private lots lining Rt 1. Out of those 55,000 + people of this crowds, crimes, drunkenness only 40 people had been arrested by 11pm when the concert had ended. The article states that 100 people may face arrest by the end of the night for crimes ranging from underage drinking and drunk and disorderly conduct to assault and battery. 100 people out of 55,000 means that 0.18% of the people were arrested. That is 1 out of every 550 people not considering everyone that was in Foxboro without a ticket. While we would all love to see an event run flawlessly with everyone having a good time and at the end they are all holding hands singing kumbaya, we have to be realistic, I think less than a 0.18% arrest rate is very acceptable and that the police departments and security personnel did a great job monitoring and controlling the event, keeping us all safe. Thank you! Great Show! "

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what i have to say wrote on Jul 27, 2008 4:13 PM:

" i was at the show and let me just say that most of the people there wearing cowboy hats and boots etc... looked like they would be back in thier oversized jeans, southpole shirts and backwards hats today....probabaly just there to get drunk and make fools of themselves. "

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kyraskye wrote on Jul 27, 2008 11:02 AM:

" These aren't real hillbillies- these are the wanna bes- They follow the trends not the music.... "

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wiegandr wrote on Jul 27, 2008 3:59 AM:

" I didn't know that Hillbillies could cause so much problems. "

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