Positively 4th. Street: The Recap The abrupt cancellation of a Saturday night music show at the Troy Atrium left a group of roughly 500 University at Albany students displaced and wandering nearby streets, prompting police to close three blocks on Fourth Avenue and Congress Street and call in seven outside departments for help. Fearful of the swelling crowd, some surrounding businesses closed their doors either temporarily or for the night. There were, however, no arrests, no one was injured and no property was damaged during the bizarre scene that lasted for nearly three hours as cops worked to get the stranded kids back to campus before the situation got out of hand, Troy Police Capt. John Cooney said. Police exercised high tolerance as long as there was no violence, Cooney said. It remained quite chaotic for several hours. ...This was not a situation that could not be resolved by everyone hopping into a cab. The students were stranded because they had been shuttled from campus to the purported show, billed online as The Official Homecoming Party, by several buses that were contracted by the promoter, Boss Cross Entertainment, Cooney said. The promoters advertised on a Facebook page, which as of Sunday appeared to have been taken down. Buses left after dropping students off and no one knew the show was canceled until they got to the Atriums locked doors around 9:30 p.m., the police spokesman said. The crowd then spilled over from Third Street to Fourth Street, cramming blocks between State and Ferry streets and parts of Congress Street, Cooney said. Kokopellis Night Club, on Fourth Street between State and Congress streets, was in the epicenter of the aftermath and closed its doors as it was hosting its own unrelated homecoming party for three UAlbany fraternities. Many of the displaced Atrium concert-goers caught wind of that show and tried to get into Kokopellis; however, the venue was open to ticket holders of that event only. Some UAlbany students still tried to push their way into the club, causing Kokopellis to deny entry to all but 150 patrons who were already inside, said Kokopellis owner Joe Glick. There were hundreds of people outside, Glick said. People were pushing and we could not keep them under control, so at one point we werent allowing anyone inside. Glick said that because all the ticket-holders for the Kokopellis show could not get in, he will offer to reschedule the show for the three frats. Those hoping to attend the Atrium show may not be as fortunate. One person named Ronnell listed as a contact on an online flier for the Atrium show could not say what caused the sudden cancellation. Ronnell, who would not give his last name to the Times Union when contacted by phone, said all the would-be Atrium show attendees paid in advance for their admission and that he did not know whether anyone would be reimbursed. The shows flier said the first 100 tickets cost $10, but its unclear how much tickets cost after that. Another person, named Francis, who was listed as a contact on the shows flier, could not be reached for comment. Police said there are currently no pending criminal charges against the shows promoters. Cooney said he reached out to Boss Cross Entertainment on Thursday to help get a feel for what Saturdays show was going to be like. Between 45 to 60 cops were on hand when the crowd was at its peak, Cooney said. About 25 to 30 of those officers were brought in from seven other departments as Troy cops tried to deal with the chaos around Fourth Street without stretching themselves thin around other parts of the city. Deputies from Albany and Rensselaer county sheriffs departments, officers from Watervliet, North Greenbush, Green Island and Cohoes police and troopers from five State Police barracks were called in, Cooney said. It was not a violent crowd, but it was potentially hazardous, Cooney said. The students began to clear out around 12:30 a.m., when buses were brought back in to take them back to campus. Cooney said SUNY officials were helpful. SUNY Albany spokesman Karl Luntta said that the show at the Atrium had no official affiliation with the school. This was not an event sponsored or promoted by the university, Luntta said. We were notified by Troy police about what occurred and were on hand when students returned to campus. Around 9:30 p.m., just as the Atrium show was set to start, one of the two DJs who were to perform Saturday, DJ TGIF, wrote on his Twitter account: UNFORTUNATELY, THE UA OFFICIAL HOMECOMING PARTY @ THE ATRIUM IN TROY IS CANCELED! ...PLEASE RT. The DJ did not say what happened, but just before posting the cancellation wrote in another tweet:,Tonight is either gonna be dope or tragic... im voting tragic. Hopefully im wrong.
Posted on: Mon, 21 Oct 2013 10:58:23 +0000