Dead & Company fans miss show after traffic nightmare at Star Lake
"It was just wild. It was a really wild experience."
"It was just wild. It was a really wild experience."
"It was just wild. It was a really wild experience."
A traffic nightmare forced some fans of the band Dead & Company to miss their farewell show at The Pavilion at Star Lake Monday night.
Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 came across hundreds of comments on social media from fans about their concerns. Some sat in traffic for hours and never made it to the show.
“I have never experienced something like that. If ever there was a situation where a refund I think is warranted, it's a situation like this,” Katherine Ennis said.
After hours and hours of waiting in traffic, by 9:30 p.m., Ennis and her family decided it was time to go home.
“We saw elderly folks getting out of their cars, walking on the side of the highway. I have never seen anything like that,” Ennis said.
“People offering their yards for money to park. There was one man that was like, ‘Park here for $20.’ And a neighbor was like, ‘Don't go there, he doesn't even live there,’” Jennifer Kos said.
Video below: Traffic backed up for miles last year ahead of a concert at Star Lake.
Kos described the situation as a wild experience.
“Every time we looked at the GPS, it was like you have ten miles and an hour and a half, you have five miles and an hour and a half,” Kos said.
Kos and Ennis said they both felt it was ultimately unsafe.
“They should refund people. It is an astounding, this sounds dramatic, but it's an astounding abdication of responsibility the way that they just absolutely washed their hands of what they were paid to do,” Kos said.
The Pavilion at Star Lake released this statement: “We understand that traffic delays and parking issues can be frustrating for fans. When we have a sold-out show, we increase staffing and parking access, and we always encourage fans to arrive early and consider carpooling to avoid traffic. Our crew is proactively connecting with fans who entered the venue after the start of the show and will be working to make improvements to our parking operations.”
“I hope that they get things resolved. I hope that they can make things right, and I seriously hope that there were no injuries with people leaving last night. That was our biggest concern and why we ultimately decided to turn around,” Ennis said.
The next concert at Star Lake is on Saturday when Hank Williams Jr. performs, followed by the Dave Matthews Band on Friday, June 23.