MANSFIELD, Mass. — When severe weather rolled through during the Jason Aldean show Saturday, the Xfinity Center displayed a message on its video boards telling concertgoers to seek shelter in the venue or calmly proceed to their vehicles.
But attendees who wanted to stay in their seats under Xfinity’s roof said they were ordered by police and staffers to leave the venue and return to their cars.
“Police officers started coming down and saying, ‘Nope, you have to go. You have to get up,’” said concertgoer Alayna Gaziano. “This wasn’t just your typical New England thunderstorm. The next town over got hit by a tornado.”
Less than five miles away in Foxborough, the National Weather Service confirmed an EF-1 tornado touched down around 8:17 p.m., several minutes after the Xfinity Center suspended the concert and issue a weather alert to its attendees. The NWS issued a tornado warning around 8:30 for central Plymouth County between Brockton and Plymouth, around 12 miles from the Xfinity Center in Bristol County.
“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 an abundance of caution,” an Xfinity Center spokesperson said.
However, concertgoers like Ray Carr said police and staff gave differing directions on where to go and what to do.
“There was no consistent communication whatsoever,” Carr said. “We had some staff in the venue telling us to stay where [we were], but then you had other staff was telling us we had to leave, we had to evacuate.”
“It was poorly handed,” concertgoer Samantha Black said. “Employees were trying to usher everyone out of the building. It was safer for use to stay under the canopy in our seats instead of walking the fifteen minutes back to our car during a lightning storm.”
Mansfield Acting Police Chief Gary Sullivan said all safety procedures were followed Saturday night.
“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. The town of Mansfield has an emergency operations plan for the Xfinity Center and the procedures were followed,” Sullivan said.
Gaziano believes the situation could have been handled better.
“The big thing for me is the way the staff and everybody in the building told us to leave. It was like, ‘No, get out.’ It wasn’t, ‘Try to go over here so you’re not in danger.’ It was like [they were saying] get off the property so we’re not liable for you,” she said.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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