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Boston Calling issues statement regarding ‘dangerous’ crowds at festival
Boston Calling 2024 faced swelling crowds on Day 3 of the music festival, with attendees calling the conditions "very scary" and "extremely dangerous."
Organizers of Boston Calling 2024 have issued a statement following a torrent of online criticism alleging unsafe conditions at Day 3 of the annual music festival, promising to continue working to “create a better environment for everyone.”
“We deeply appreciate the audience, staff, and performers who make Boston Calling possible, and want to acknowledge feedback from Sunday,” organizers posted on Instagram. “While attendee count was several thousand below the official capacity rating of the site, we never want anyone to feel uncomfortable or unsafe at the show.
“The safety and well-being of our fans, artists, guests and staff is paramount,” the statement continued. “We will to continue to work with public officials and our operations team to improve the experience, layout, and ultimately create a better environment for everyone.”
‘Dangerous’ crowds at Boston Calling 2024
While organizers did not specify how many people attended Boston Calling 2024, several festival sources told Boston.com that at least 40,000 people attended Sunday’s sold-out set, which featured popular artists like The Killers, Hozier, Chappell Roan, and Megan Thee Stallion. That was reportedly more than double the number of people who attended the festival on Saturday, which one festival source estimated at 16,000.
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Part of the reason the grounds felt so oppressively crowded on Sunday was that almost all of those 40,000 people were already in place to see Chappell Roan on the Green Stage at 4:05 p.m. The festival has a history of putting up-and-coming acts in a midday slot, which is a cool way to let fans say they saw a future headliner “before they got big.”
But the consequence of Sunday’s schedule was that almost no one left the area surrounding the Green and Red stages for seven consecutive hours. There was a brief surge for concessions after Roan finished her set, but by the time Megan Thee Stallion walked onto the Green Stage at 6:25, many people were essentially stuck in place.
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Logistics that worked seamlessly on Friday and Saturday were suddenly overrun. Staff began handing out $5 waters freely to the crowds, but the number of overheated concertgoers who needed medical assistance — which is something that happens at every outdoor music festival, to be clear — spiked.
On Sunday, Boston Calling’s Instagram was flooded with hundreds of negative comments from fans about the crowds.
‘We are lucky to have escaped’
One festival attendee emailed Boston.com Tuesday morning to share their experience of nearly being crushed by a crowd surge in what they called an “extremely dangerous situation.”
“The layout of the Red Stage and main stage in addition to a handicap viewing platform, fences, and the bar area all created an extremely dangerous situation for the attendees,” the reader wrote. “After Meg Thee Stallion and prior to Hozier, masses of people were moving from one area to the next between [the] red and green stages. The crowd crush situation my family found ourselves in was a very scary experience we are lucky to have escaped.”
The reader, who said they had attended multiple editions of Boston Calling and other music festivals in the past, said they would not be returning in the future.
“During the entire 20 minute ordeal there were people falling, being crushed/pushed, crying, having panic attacks, and fainting,” they wrote. “Throughout this ordeal, security from Boston Calling proceeded to push their way through and over attendees and did absolutely NOTHING to help the dangerous situation that was unfolding.”
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