ATLANTA-Some otherwise well-mannered people will do anything to see a hot show.
Last Thursday, fans of the Dave Matthews Band crawled through the
wall surrounding this city's Lakewood Amphitheatre and joined the crowd on
the lawn, or leapt over barbed-wire fences, landing in the VIP area.
Clay Schell, Lakewood's general manager, likens the wave of fans to
"a dike when it springs a leak. You can't fix it until you know there's a
problem."
Certainly, Lakewood's mangement now will try to plug the holes,
including one near a concession stand, where concertgoers waiting to buy
beer cheered on the invaders. At least 22 fans were seen entering through
the wall, and Mr. Schell says security guards eventually evicted 50 crashers.
However, he takes the intruders in stride, attributing much of the
problem to the fact that the popular rock band sold all 19,390 seats, raking
in more than $520,000 in ticket sales. Mr. Schell says the phenomenon is
"like a junior version of Jimmy Buffett [fans]. They're really nice kids.
We only had one arrest, and it was no big deal."
In fact, Mr. Schell shows empathy for the crashers, recalling a
similar escapade during his youth: He and his friends tunneled underground
to get into a football game between Louisiana State University and Tulane
University. "My only regret is that it rained, so we got really muddy," he says.