THACKERVILLE, OK and WATKINS GLEN, NY – Severe weather forced the cancellation and postponement of recent outdoor concerts including the Backstreet Boys’ Aug. 18 show at the WinStar Casino in Oklahoma, where 14 showgoers were injured by a wind-blown entrance truss, and the Aug. 17-19 Phish Curveball Festival in Watkins Glen, NY, where flooding from heavy rain compromised the safety of the drinking water.
Backstreet Boys Concert
The Aug. 18 Backstreet Boys concert, with opening act 98°, was set to take place, “rain or shine,” at 8 p.m., with gates opening to the 7,700 capacity outdoor Colosseum at WinStar at 6 p.m. Before doors, organizers opted to postpone the event to a future date, based on a forecast of severe weather. They released the following statement on what happened next:
“At 5 p.m., WinStar World Casino and Resort officials began evacuation of the outdoor concert venue after observing that lightning was within four miles of the casino. All patrons in the area were asked to move and to seek shelter from the storm. However, about 150 patrons who were standing in line for the Backstreet Boys concert did not heed staff’s warnings.
“At approximately 5:30 p.m., the storm hit and knocked over the concert entrance trusses with 70-80 m.p.h. winds and heavy rain. Fourteen people were treated at the scene and then transported to local hospitals.”
WinStar Casino informed ticket-holders that their tickets would be good for a Backstreet Boys show at a later date (TBD) and that show-goers could also request a refund from where they procured their tickets (the WinStar Box Office or Ticketmaster).
The Colosseum venue, built from the ground up each spring, is part of the WinStar World Casino and Resort complex, which is operated by Chickasaw Nation. Although the local population of Thackerville, OK only has 445 residents, the complex features the largest casino floor in the world, measuring 600,000 square feet. The casino and its concerts draw patrons mostly from Oklahoma City (125 miles to the north) and the Dallas-Fort Worth area (84 miles to the south) via I-35.
Phish Curveball Festival
The unwitting-yet-aptly-named Curveball Festival was set to be a three-day festival featuring jam band Phish from Aug. 17-19 – the eleventh of the band’s three-day festival events. It was set to return to Watkins Glen International Raceway in New York State’s Finger Lakes region, where previous three-day events had been held in 2011 and 2015.
This year, however, heavy rains prompted a state of emergency declaration from 14 counties in upstate New York, and on August 16, testing showed that the local water supply still required residents to boil the water before drinking it. With the safety of close to 40,000 concert-goers in mind, the permit for the event was revoked.
The timing was unfortunate, however, for both the band and its fans, leaving both, according to a statement from the band, in a state of shock. Fans already on site Aug. 16 were allowed to remain camping onsite for the night but would be required to depart by noon the next day.
“The four of us are writing this from directly behind the stage at Watkins Glen,” band members noted on Aug. 16. “We were about to walk onstage only moments ago for our traditional soundcheck jam for Curveball when we were told the heartbreaking news that due to the unsafe water conditions in the Village of Watkins Glen, our beloved festival is being canceled.
“We are still in shock. The entire site is already set up and ready to go after literally months of work by our beloved hardworking crew, many of whom have been here for weeks. Our families are here, our gear is set, our tents are up. We keep waiting for someone to come over and tell us that there is a solution, and that the festival can go on. Unfortunately, it is not possible.
“We are so terribly sorry for the inconvenience that this is causing so many of you. We hope from the bottoms of our hearts that at the very least this news will reach you before too much disruption takes place in your personal lives. We know that people traveled far, at great expense. We understand that people are missing work, and changing their schedules around…we wish so much that there was some way that this wasn’t happening.
“Please accept our deepest apologies for the disruption that this has caused all of you. We wish there was something else we could say… Travel safe and know that we are as heartbroken as all of you.”
