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Fenway to host record eight concerts this summer; wanted to host more, but residents, city officials said enough's enough
By adamg on Thu, 04/06/2017 - 8:11pm
The Red Sox yesterday won city permission to host eight concerts at Fenway Park this summer, starting with the Dead and Company on June 17 and 18.
The Red Sox wanted to host twelve concerts, but city licensing head Christine Pulgini said nope after a hearing last month at which Fenway residents and City Councilor Josh Zakim said they didn't sign up for lots of concerts at Fenway on top of 81 Sox home games.
Lots of concerts were "not part of the bargain when people came to the neighborhood," Zakim said. He and residents cited public safety in general and noise, public urination and trash as particular concerns.
Sox officials said they had worked closely with neighbors to minimize the impact of concerts and would continue to do so.
They'll have to start with the Dead concerts, which raised Fenway neighborhood hackles.
Sox officials said Dead-specific steps will include overnight policing of Sox-owned parking lots to keep people from camping there before concerts and special cleanup crews to rush to them after the concerts.
Also, the Sox will look at installing extra portable toilets in the park area, possibly in the area of the Victory Gardens, for Dead fans. Oh, and they'll have "heightened" social-media postings, announcements and signs asking Dead fans to "respect the neighborhood."
In addition to the Dead concerts, Fenway will also hold concerts by Florida Georgia Line on July 7, New Kids on the Block with Boyz II Men and Paula Abdul on July 8, James Taylor on Aug. 11, Billy Joel on Aug. 30 and and Lady Gaga on Sept. 1 and 2. Rejected were four additional dates in July and August.
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Comments
Doesn't more legal weed mean
Doesn't more legal weed mean less public urination, since people smoke instead of drink?
Red Sox organization should
Red Sox organization should have a proposal for the entire Fenway neighborhood in exchange let Fenway have the concerts , every ticket they sell $10 from each ticket they sell will go to worthy local Fenway causes. Sound fair..
That amount can add up..
Great idea, but...
this is Boston. If we implement that in Fenway, it's bound to be only a few years away from a battle over an ordinance. And I understand the frustration, but stadium events aren't new and neither is the Fenway. It seems to me that they did kind of sign up for it...
Millions of dollars for lots of noise while City Hall smiles
A share of revenue for charity, you really think?
The residents in the Fenway were *never* asked about concerts in the past or before this ridiculous, but bold move to add another EIGHT nights + extra days of so-called SOUND CHECKS. Having privatized Yawkey Way under Menino, the Red Sox management wasted no time in in pushing the envelope to bring more disruption with the support of City Hall to those who actually live and pay taxes in the Fenway.
By the time the Licensing Board reviewed the Red Sox petition for more concerts, the acts had been booked and tickets were on sale. When representatives of Mayor Walsh and the Councilors-at-large showed up to support the Red Sox request, the additional concerts were a fait accompli. Shame on the elected officials who did not speak with neighborhood residents before they so quickly jumped to the tune of the Red Sox.
Annissa Essaibi-George, Ayanna Pressley, Michelle Wu, and Michael Flaherty will be remembered each day of lost parking, traffic jam and each summer night of concert noise and drunkeness outside the housing of Fenway. You never even thought to review the noise measurements that were taken last summer during the piped up volume of Kid Rock and other, particularly on their last night in town.
Whatever drugs they did that
Whatever drugs they did that came in a balloon were scattered for blocks by the hundreds around Fenway. Druggie slobs.
druggie slobs
yeah, throw them in the slammer along with the Dunkin Slobs, the McSlobs, the Slobbucks, and whichever stinky guy keeps leaving hundreds of thousands empty nips ! FIREBALL DOESNT EVEN TASTE GOOD
Don't forget the SMOKING
Don't forget the SMOKING slobs!
And just so the poster can have some info the empty balloons are called "whip-its." Or at least that is what they were called back in the day.
smoking slobs
damnit, i actually envisioned a bunch of cigarette butts & meant to include them as well
ty for having my back
Whip it Good!
Any chance of bringing Devo to Fenway?
I was looking at the lineup
I was looking at the lineup for the concert series and most of the performers and bands seem to be well established acts. Which brings me to the question are any of today's acts (say hit the scene in the last 10 years) capable of filling large venues such as Fenway or Gillette? Now I'll admit at my age I don't keep up with today's music scene, but the only performers I can think of the maybe have such capability would be Lady Gaga (who is one of the performers scheduled), Katy Perry, or Taylor Swift. However, these days it seems the large venues are mostly filled by legacy bands such as AC/DC, U2, The Stones, Springsteen, etc. If the newer acts do perform at such venues it's usually as part of a festival and not on their own.
Beyonce could probably fill the place
Beyonce been around longer than 10 years
Drake would certainly sell it out.
Romeo Santos
Romeo Santos
"Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” couldn’t do it, Jay Z got help from Justin Timberlake and Eminem, and Metallica didn’t try. Selling out consecutive shows at Yankee Stadium, with its capacity of roughly 50,000, is nearly impossible for any pop music artist not named Paul McCartney. But Romeo Santos, who will perform there Friday and Saturday nights, is about to achieve that feat."
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/11/arts/music/in-the-language-of-romance...
I was at that show
And surprisingly Jay Z got a bigger ovation than Justin, coincidentally he got more applause at Gillette than Beyonce did when they came there as well. Go figure
Ed Sheeran would easily sell
Ed Sheeran would easily sell out Fenway.
Maybe they should move to
Maybe they should move to Newton or Lexington then
Fenway was never supposed to
Fenway was never supposed to be busy year round. The neighborhood needs a break now and then from all the suburban slobs waddling in pretending Boston is sports Disneyland.
Year round
These concert dates are all during baseball season, on dates when the Sox are away. They don't extend Fenway's activity further into the year. (Frozen Fenway does, however.)
don't forget the other large events
..and the extreme skiing event, and the endless corporate functions that occur many nights each week all winter. I don't live there but I can see how that's frustrating since ti's mostly new in the last handful of years and keep growing in frequency. It's never a bad idea to put a limit on the big bully in the hood.
Winter corporate events
What do these consist of? It's hard for me to imagine that they cause much noise.
Away games were supposed to
Away games were supposed to be a break for the neighborhood to relax. Now that's been taken away from residents to line John Henry's pockets. I'm sure he doesn't have to put up with drunks and noise at his mansion during the summer.
John henrys mansion
Yeah he probably doesnt live next to one of the longest standing entertainment venues in the country either. Funny how that works. And lets be real, if you live near fenway, it is by choice.
Different event profiles
One big difference is the sound. Amplified concerts are much louder than any baseball game.
I can guarantee that I live
I can guarantee that I live closer to Fenway Park than anybody on here, and I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment. If you don't like crowds and noise, you shouldn't have moved to Fenway. Yes, my apartment sometimes shakes during the concerts, but guess what - I open up the windows and enjoy the FREE concert that people paid hundreds to see.
Sure the crowds can sometimes be annoying, and I have to time my vehicular comings and goings around letout, but it is part of living in a bustling city neighborhood. Plus the masses of suburban troglodytes that often make up the Fenway crowds are very predictable, so it is easy to get around them if I want to get something to eat or drink if you know their routines.
My only gripe on the concerts is I wish they had booked somebody that I actually would like to see, but overall I am for more concerts at Fenway.
That being said, I do wish they did not book dead and company again. The neighborhood felt like it was overtaken by thousands of homeless, and I had to shoo some of their patrons from sleeping in my apartment building vestibule. It felt like I was in downtown LA.
Fenway Concerts
Did the Romans complain about the games at the colosseum too?
Did the Romans use electronic amplification?
And if so, how was this knowledge lost over the subsequent centuries so that we had to rediscover it in the 19th and 20th?
rediscover electronic amplification
why not? we did it with scurvy and vitamin C.
They damn well would have
...if Florida Georgia Line and the New Kids were involved
Sox listened, more events are better for the neighborhood
Back in 2000 there was a lot of debate about the Sox former ownership's plans to build a larger venue in the Fenway. The neighbors were clear, "Clearing acreage for a venue that hosted only 81 events per year was a waste of resources. Economic viability required a more consistent flow of visitors to the Fenway."
Well, the team got sold, the expansion plans were shelved and the new owners listened to the community and are bringing more consistent crowds to the area.
I know because I was there and I said it. And the thinking was sound. The business environment in the Fenway is better. More people are now living in the Fens. In part that is due to the increase of event dates at Fenway Park.
Of course the Sox are obligated to address neighbors complaints and provide appropriate mitigation. But a well used neighborhood resource that generates business throughout the area is part of the bargain. Sorry Josh but the additional folks to have moved into the Fenway since 2000 are part and parcel of that bargain.
And as the Fenway grows economically the bargain also includes additional city and state resources to the area such as increased public transportation improvements like Yawkey Station and the so far unfulfilled need to locate city facilities in the neighborhood like an elementary school and a branch library.
Not buying that at all
"More people are now living in the Fens. In part that is due to the increase of event dates at Fenway Park."
People are buying/renting condo which are conveniently located on multiple lines of transportation near the colleges and financial district due to 8 concerts a year? Sorry, I don't buy that at all. I mean, that might your thinking but as a reason to live there vs. say the Fort Point channel or Brighton, it doesn't seem like the clinching factor for most.
not at all
I lived there, and I'm sure many others did as well, due to the proximity to BU, as well as the easy access to Copley via the 55 bus. It was also a lot more affordable (at the time) than similar apartments in and around the Back Bay. 0% of my reasoning was because of the stadium, and certainly not due to concerts. Red Sox weekend road trips were a nice reprieve from the onslaught of drunken suburbanites. Fenway is a shitty venue for concerts (and hockey games), anyhow, and its novelty is 100% "ooh, they're playing music where Big Papi works!"
oh yea
weekends at BU, definitely where i go to avoid the drunks lmao
come on lets get real here.
"ride boston's fabulous emerald B line as it saunters through historic kenmore square please note the indigenous ugg clad co-ed holding her jean jacket european imported friends hair as she gracefully vomits qdoba into the gutter. why yes great question, that IS the official popeyes of the red sox bullpen. in fact that basement liquor store we're about to pass is their official 30 rack sponsor"
I was taking classes there
I was taking classes there nights, not partying in its midst on weekends (the 55 isn't near the B line). Where I lived was largely devoid of any of what you're describing, and they generally didn't have open-air concerts while scarfing Qdoba from what I recall. And most of the students are generally gone when 100% of these concerts take place.
And come on--let's be fair to the 2011 team--it wasn't the bullpen drinking, though that would have been pretty ballsy considering they're in camera view most of the game.
Bullpen drunks
I was referencing a sign that Popeyes had displayed for awhile, forget exactly what it said but it was something about sox pitchers & chicken
With the Globe dying, give John Henry a break
With the Globe dying, give John Henry a break. I'm not a fan of John Henry, but with the Globe going broke amid fake pages about Donald Trump, you have to allow him an extra concert or two. I wouldn't walk to the corner to see Springsteen or Bon Jovi but some might. The "experts" told Henry to keep his hands off and allow "professional" journalists (far-left kids) run the show, alienating the subscribers who helped elect President Trump. Now the Globe is worthless.
As a fellow cop, you
As a fellow cop, you embarrass me.
anon-cop
don't worry the odds are you two aren't actually in the same profession. i'm pretty sure by 'cop' he means he knows a guy with a 3 car sales lot and an auto dealers license that got him a deal on a 2002 p71
400k miles, mostly highway. back seat like-new!
Going to follow my own mantra today...
"Don't feed the trolls."
Worth less than our lousy
Worth less than our lousy local MLS franchise.
Awwweee
It would almost be cute to think that your personal gripe with the Globe had a real impact on their finances if it wasn't so clearly antithetical to the facts of the slow decline of papers of record everywhere. But no, I am sure that, despite years of slow decline, and the fact that MA is majority liberal, Trump voters (who we all know are people who highly value unbiased news and personal enrichment through increased knowledge) are what brought the paper down.
"Failing" Papers
Readership is up in real newspapers, and so is employment.
The "Failing" President has been good for the "Failing" papers who vend actual reliable news rooted in actual reporting and reality.
-Donald Trump is hated in
-Donald Trump is hated in Boston. Hillary got 82% of the vote. Holding him accountable is their job and just good business
-Subscriptions are way up for the Washington Post. They are adding dozens more jobs
-Subscriptions have doubled for the New York Times
-Trump's approval ratings are pathetic and his presidency has been a scandal filled disaster
-You have no examples of "fake pages about Donald Trump" from the Globe so stop making crap up
Well...
FISH, much like his Oompa Loompa companion in the Oval Office, is physiologically incapable of forming a sentence without making shit up out of whole cloth. Every last thing he's ever said on UHub is a lie. Forget it Jake, it's FISH town.
That one flew over your head
First, the 'Fish made no reference to voting, popularity, the New York Times, or the Washington Post. He did, however, note the decline in circulation in the Boston Globe (a generally accepted fact) and the pathetic fake front page from the 9th of April 2016. Yes, this happened. About a year ago.
'Fish gives you guys so much material to knock him with. That you cannot do it right does not reflect well on you.
I brought up Trump being
I brought up Trump being tremendously unpopular because ignoring his many failures would be a terrible business decision for a newspaper, especially one in a liberal, educated city like Boston. I brought up the NY Times because Trump has repeatedly called them "failing" when they are doing the opposite. You would think a guy like Trump, who has over a dozen failed businesses, would know something about the topic.
Not every story here needs to be about Donald Trump
This one, for instance, is a purely local issue regarding a baseball team, its stadium, and the surrounding residential area.
Too many events?
Jeremy Jacobs is laughing his ass off that he doesn't have to deal with such NIMBYism.
Sure, The Garden is an indoor venue, but these complaints don't appear to be about the fact that residents can hear the concerts, but that they have to deal with the attendees.
There are 18 concerts (just concerts alone) at The Garden between now and mid-October for comparison. There's also wrestling, and both the Celtics and Bruins hosting playoff games (and could you imagine June by The Garden if they both won the playoffs this year?).
I'm sure the residential density by The Garden is lower currently, but the people in Fenway moved next to a baseball mecca. This is hardly the first year that they've had concerts there. You moved there knowing this was a possibility. And if you are still buying $30 tickets to the ballpark, guess who is subsidizing that? Concert goers paying $200 per ticket to see concerts at a very unique venue.
The only person who should be pissed is Kraft who is probably watching dollars go out the door from acts that Gillette thought they'd have all to themselves.
The Red Sox don't need to be
The Red Sox don't need to be subsidized by concerts. They make many millions per year themselves. And Red Sox tickets are more expensive than any other MLB team.
Ok, Paul Krugman
They have the 3rd highest payroll and the 5th smallest ballpark in the MLB.
That doesn't work well for keeping ticket prices down or needing extra events to help subsidize the ticket prices through the year.
5th smallest ballpark
what do they rank by total attendance?
e: realized i was actually curious about this and looked it up myself
going to a concert at fenway
seems like a nice time if it was dece weather
Been to a couple
It's actually a fun venue. Seeing Roger Waters do "The Wall" in front of The Monster was pretty cool.
You must be young
Possibly true for some definition of "the people" and "baseball mecca". In human terms, though, the "baseball mecca" popular status of Fenway is still rather recent. Before the pink hats and disneyification of the ballpark, it was a place where baseball fans -- people who actually know and care about baseball -- went to watch baseball games, not where people went to see and be seen because it was a trendy thing. It was not a corporate outing destination, a luxury box venue, or a major tourist attraction. Baseball fans went to games, maybe had a beer or two before or after, and then went home. If you're young, you probably don't remember those days, but I assure you, they are within living memory and they far outnumber the days of Disney Fenway.
You ever live near Fenway?
Those week to two week stretches in the summer where the Sox go on the road are a welcome relief from the constant activity in the area.
People living nearby signed on for the Baseball season. They did not sign on for losing those quiet weeks when one can have friends in town or your parents visiting and such.
And just how does an event at Fenway prevent
you having friends in town, your parents visiting, etc. Sounds like you're invoking the "Gee, others can't have fun because I find it inconvenient for ME" rationale here.
If you ever lived there
You would know.
It means that people can't use the T without huge crowds. Can't drive in without massive hassles or find a parking space. Can't go to dinner.
The list goes on.
But, hey LIVE THERE and I'll let you talk about it.
You don't have to love in
You don't have to love in Fenway to know what it's like, and the reasons above are why some of us don't live there!
you can see on another post here
my proximity to fenway. my parents retired some time ago and no longer live in MA, but when my mom comes she loves hanging out in the area. if the sox are playing it livens up the whole joint.
she also likes eastern standard, because shes smart and good
I'm disappointed, Adam...
How does this headline not have an Eight is Enough reference?
Unfortunate that selfish residents and spineless
City officials are allowed to invoke the WAAAHHHHmbulance to block an established venue from holding - OMG - concerts.
After all, it's not like Fenway Park just opened for business or that the residents aren't aware that it's there.
In a word - pathetic.
from my bedroom window
i say bring it on. don't even care if its not during the baseball season. seriously, don't live next to a ballpark, major interstate, major state roads, massive hub of activity, et cetera, if you dont like noise. i mean honestly.
That some prime real
estate ya got there, Scum.
You probably haven't lived in
You probably haven't lived in the Fenway very long and won't be here for long. Long term residents and voters knew about and enjoy the baseball season, but loud, disruptive concerts were added in a sneaky, underhand way.
?
i've been in and out of various neighborhoods in the city* for a long time, i dont know why you think that would change
*excluding stops in central square and newton
but uh, central square aint exactly quiet and living on the same street as riverside in newton, well, you get your fair share of shit.
but its a nice little trend you people have going on here where ANY dissenting opinion is invalid because _____________________
i suppose the red sox shouldnt be allowed to host deep post season games at fenway either, because of the relative dearth of those until recently lmao
Outdoor concerts are very different from sporting events
It's all about the noise. The murmur of the crowd punctuated by occasional cheers is a lot different on the ears from drums and guitars run through amplifiers and blasted into speakers.
But hey, you suburban folk need somewhere to go.
And as others point out, 15 years ago there were no musical concerts at Fenway Park.
About that Reading Stadium
The one slated for your neighborhood.
It will feature non-MUCTA signage ... and teenagers! Large numbers of Teenagers roving your neighborhood until 2am.