The celebratory release day of Drake's full-length debut album Thank Me Later ended on a bit of a sour note, as a free show at New York City's South Street Seaport was shut down by the New York City Police Department because of crowd control and safety concerns. The good news was that an estimated 10,000 fans crowded into the space to try to get a glimpse of the rapper. When you combine that with the crowd that showed up to an autograph session at a New York Best Buy a few hours earlier, it looks like the fervor surrounding one of the most talked-about young stars in hip-hop is wholly justifiable as far as the fans are concerned.
For a dude with music as mellow as Drake's, it's a little bit weird that he finds himself in such strange company as a guy who has inspired a riot. Everybody knows about the chaos at Altamont, the lunacy that permeated Woodstock '99 and the destruction that fans laid down following Guns N' Roses' bail out of their infamous 1992 show in Montreal (the same night Metallica frontman James Hetfield nearly died because of a pyro accident). But there are any number of dust-ups surrounding artists you wouldn't necessarily associate with lunacy and destruction. The Drake riot — which featured at least one chair thrown from a balcony — slips into the top five of the least-expected music-related riots of all time. Here are the rest.
Justin Bieber's Mall Melee
In November 2009, Canadian pop superstar Justin Bieber was scheduled to make an appearance at the Roosevelt Field Mall in Long Island, New York. When the crowd got out of control, police canceled the show and inspired a minor stampede. There were no major injuries, though Bieber's manager Scooter Braun did get arrested on charges of criminal mischief and reckless endangerment.
Dave Matthews Band's Hartford Hullabaloo
Like the Grateful Dead before them, the Dave Matthews Band's concerts normally inspire good vibes and a laid back attitude. Such was not the case during a visit to Hartford, Connecticut during a weekend in August 1999. During one of the shows, 55 people were arrested during a melee that several cars destroyed (and at least one set on fire) in the parking lot. The twist? This all happened while the band was playing inside the amphitheater, and the 100 or so people responsible for the destruction did not have tickets.
Ra Ra Riot
A great band, to be sure, but this indie rock collective — whose 2008 album The Rhumb Line was one of the best releases of that year — are basically the opposite of a riot. After all, it's hard to break windows when you're quoting e.e. cummings.
Peekskill Riots
A truly horrible sequence of events, the Peekskill riots were a series of bloody incidents in Peekskill, New York in August and September 1949. The violence surrounded a series of shows by Paul Robeson, who was a controversial figure at the dawn of the civil rights movement. While certainly a lightning rod, Robeson was most famous for singing spirituals and Broadway tunes — not exactly the type of stuff that would stir people into a frenzy.