Will Backstreet be back again?
After officials pulled the plug on last night’s Backstreet Boys concert, the group said they’re going to find a way to make up for lost concert time.
In a video posted on their Facebook, the group thanked the thousands of fans who trekked out to Northerly Island for the Chicago performance but said they were abruptly cut off with five minutes of music left.
“We got shut down five minutes shy of the finish line,” said band member Kevin Richardson. “We’re so frustrated and we’re going to figure out how to make this right.”
Video footage of the performance shows band members starting a chant with the fans shouting “Hell no, we won’t go.”
Concert-goers said the band took the stage around 9:45 p.m. and were cut with several songs still on their setlist.
Members of the band could be heard asking the venue to let them do one more song, and even ignited the audience into singing their hit song "I Want It That Way," but ultimately the group left the stage without finishing their performance.
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Disgruntled fans immediately posted their frustrations with the shutdown on Twitter and Facebook.
“They didn’t let the backstreet boys finish their concert,” tweeted one unhappy fan. “That’s right, I got kicked out of a venue because of an 11 p.m. curfew on a Friday.”
"Backstreet Boys, Jesse McCartney, and Pauly D... Chicago sucks for shutting it down," another fan tweeted.
Other fans appreciated the message from the band.
“Thanks for the video! It means a lot,” one fan commented. “Sorry Chicago treated you this way.”
According to the pavilion, the show, which also featured performances from Jesse McCartney and DJ Pauly D, was scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. and run until “approximately 11 p.m.”
In response to a fan's complaint, the Chicago Park District tweeted, "Live Nation makes that call. They were hired to manage that concert venue."
FirstMerit bank Pavilion posted a message to fans on their Facebook page that read:
"As has always been the case, the Backstreet Boys production is unlike anything else on the road. Getting this new, state of the art show ready, however, caused the doors to be delayed and the beginning of the show to be pushed back. FirstMerit Bank Pavilion has a strict curfew of 11:00 PM. Given the artist was running behind on setting their production up, the show had to end before the set could be finished.
"There were erroneous reports of the Chicago Police shutting the show down. The venue on Northerly Island is bound to an ordinance that requires all performances to conclude prior to 11:00 pm. Venue management worked with the artist to complete their show within the allotted time and, when the show exceeded the curfew, the artist was asked to conclude the show."
Chicago Police News Affairs said they had not received any reports on the incident and that "they had nothing to do with it," according to Officer Jose Estrada.
A spokesperson from Live Nation said they were looking into the incident.
Despite the 11 p.m. curfew, a recent summer performance by Pearl Jam at Wrigley Field played well into the early morning hours after their performance was interrupted by severe weather.
