Car fire, taut security at MetLife Hot ninety seven concert Sunday
EAST RUTHERFORD – Security at Hot 97`s Summer Jam two thousand seventeen was taut on Sunday night as an estimated 82,500 people gathered for the sold-out event at MetLife Stadium.
Following a long history of incidents at the annual Hip Hop festival and the specter of terrorism in the wake of a blast that killed twenty two during an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, last month, state police were armed with automatic weapons at the gates of the stadium.
Troopers circled the stadium in a helicopter as the crowds entered the stadium, and police waited in an armored truck at one of the gates.
A 21-year-old Kenilworth man appeared pleased with the added security.
«I`m not worried about fighting, but about the Arianna thing. They’re strapped,» Aldo Alonso said, referring to the troopers’ automatic weapons. «I feel good with them having that.»
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James Smith, 48, of Queens, wasn`t at last year`s Summer Jam, during which a man suffered a non-life-threatening stab wound to his head.
But Smith has been at some five prior Summer Jams. He said he feels comfy partying with the «junior crowd» because of the stadium security.
«Since we`ve been coming, it`s always been slick sailing,» he said. «I don`t know if you`d call it the luck of the Irish, but I`ll take it.»
This year`s concert included a tribute to rapper The Legendary B.I.G. on the 20th anniversary of his shooting death. Fat Joe & Remy Ma, Migos and Chris Brown were among those to perform.
Tailgaters were caught by surprise at around seven p.m. when thick black smoke billowed from a car in the parking lot as the vehicle caught fire and the blaze spread to two other cars, including a white Maserati.
Security shoved the crowds back from the blaze as a tire on one of the vehicles exploded from the fever.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze within twenty minutes.
Jared Williams, Eighteen, of Newark, who was among the onlookers, yelled: «Summer Jam`s on fire.»
The fire remained under investigation Sunday night, but Meadowlands Fire Chief Kevin Meehan said he suspects one of the cars had parked on hot coals left on the ground by a tailgater, which then ignited underneath the vehicle in the above 90-degree warmth.
The warmth also took a toll on some concert-goers, one of whom passed out in the parking lot from exhaustion and was helped by her friends.
Carmelo Pirroha, the plumber for MetLife, had opened a fire hydrant and was drizzling concert-goers with a hosepipe.
«It`s a little hot today,» Pirroha said. «But that seems to be it. So far it seems like just good clean joy. But it`s early.»