Jay-Z’s third and most hotly anticipated concert at Yankee Stadium on Sunday night was plagued by a nearly four-hour delay, apparently due to fans rushing the venue’s gates.
At the time of this article’s publication, Jay-Z’s bandmembers had taken the stage at around 11:50 p.m. ET, although it was unclear whether the show would go forward; Variety’s reporter at the show, who has been inside since 7 p.m., said the stadium appears quite full but evidently thousands of people are still waiting to get in.
“The band is still onstage and they’re just playing Ice Cube and Tupac songs over the sound system,” he said at 12:01 a.m. ET.
A partially unintelligible announcement said the stadium staff were “working as hard as we can to get people in safely,” the announcer said. “Safety is the number-one priority for us and for Jay. We thank you for waiting, please stick with us while we work through this.”
Read more Wai Ching Ho, Veteran Actor Who Appeared in ‘Daredevil’ and ‘Iron Fist,’ Dies at 82
Reps for Jay-Z and Live Nation, the concert’s promoter, did not immediately respond to Variety’s requests for comment.
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.
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 😭.”