Jay-Z’s third and most hotly anticipated concert at Yankee Stadium on Sunday night was plagued by a nearly four-hour delay due to fans rushing the venue’s gates, with Jay finally taking the stage four hours after the concert’s listed start time (and around three hours after the previous two nights).
“I appreciate your patience. We gonna have a good time. I got some shit for you, I promise you,” Jay said when he finally took the stage after midnight.
“There was like ten thousand people outside,” he explained, “and they closed all the doors ‘cuz [people] rushed the door, and i didn’t want to start music and have people get trampled. I’m really sorry for the inconvenience.”
According to a report on New York’s ABC7, citing an unidentified police source (and multiple social media posts), a large number of fans rushed at least two of the stadium’s gates and got past security without being screened. A full lockdown of the stadium ensued, with fans neither being allowed out of the venue nor inside for an extended period of time.
Reps for Jay-Z and Live Nation, the concert’s promoter, did not immediately respond to Variety’s requests for comment.
A video making the rounds online appeared to show A$AP Rocky, Charlamagne Tha God and Fabolous waiting to get in, with the caption “Wow even celebrities are stuck outside the last Jay Z yankee stadium show tonight 😭.”
Sunday’s setback made for an anticlimactic finale to the three-night stand. On the first night, Beyonce joined Jay onstage during the concert’s first song, singing Mary J. Blige’s part on “Can’t Knock the Hustle.” The concert, a celebration of the 30th anniversary of his debut album, “Reasonable Doubt,” also featured guest appearances from their daughter Blue Ivy Carter, as well as Nas and Alicia Keys.
Night two, a celebration of the 25th anniversary of his classic “Blueprint” album, featured guest spots from Eminem and Pharrell.
Night three, however, had an open-ended theme: the tantalizingly titled “Extra Innings.”
Variety will have a show review soon and more on the situation as it develops.
