Chesney party hits Pittsburgh, 25 taken to hospital

Thousands of party-hearty tailgaters filled Pittsburgh's North Shore on Saturday afternoon ahead of country music superstar Kenny Chesney's concert at Heinz Field and, for the most part, they left happily but orderly.

The performance ended about 10:30 p.m., and concert-goers carried the merriment out of the stadium with them, singing and chanting through the streets to their cars.

Officers near the stadium said the night was relatively quiet, with most of the action coming as people walked to the stadium for the show bumping into each other and “flexing their beer muscles,” as one officer put it.

The party, for most, started hours earlier.

Parking lots began filling up around lunchtime. Traffic was heavy, and Tom Miller, an Alco Parking manager, said police directed him to open his company's lots an hour early — about noon — to relieve congestion.

Emily Farah, 25, of Shadyside, came to the concert with her parents — a tradition four years in the running.

“The atmosphere stays the same, but maybe a bit rowdier,” she said, noting she'd seen a fight broken up by police officers. “The police tackled them, but they were respectful about it.”

Outside Heinz Field, Nick Nickbolias, 24, of Monessen, kept cool by plunging down an inflatable slip-and-slide. He said it's the atmosphere that keeps him coming back each year.

“Everyone's so happy and so friendly,” he said. “You never meet a sad person at a Kenny Chesney concert.”

Public safety officials made sure additional medics and police were standing by to respond to potential problems or health emergencies, Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Sonya Toler said. In previous years, dozens of tailgaters suffered from heat exhaustion and faced arrest for fighting.

“We are encouraging the public to stay hydrated with water and to practice patience with crowds and traffic,” Toler said.

Public safety officials made sure additional medics and police were on standby for any problems or health emergencies, according to Public Safety spokeswoman Sonya Toler.

At least 25 people taken to hospital

By about 9 p.m., there had been 57 requests for paramedics and 25 individuals had been transported to hospitals, Toler said.

Most transports were for intoxication and intoxication-related injuries, Toler said.

Police reported about 6 p.m. that three people had been transported to the Allegheny County Jail from inside Heinz Field. One officer injured his thumb while breaking up a fight, Toler said. The number of arrests during the tailgate was not immediately available.

Officers near the Allegheny River, where boaters moored and partook in pre-concert festivities on the water, said the area along the river had been relatively quiet most of the afternoon.

Toler said numbers for arrests and EMS transports during Friday's Billy Joel concert at PNC Park were not immediately available.

All ticket-holders were supposed to be in the stadium by 7 p.m., at which point tailgaters without tickets were ordered to leave parking lots. Several fights broke out among tailgaters who did not attend the concert. One officer injured his thumb while breaking up a fight, Toler said.

The Chesney shows, which attract about 50,000 fans, have posed greater problems before.

In 2013, police arrested more than 70 people and paramedics treated about 150 people for mostly alcohol- and heat-related illnesses and injuries.

That year's concert-goers left North Shore parking lots buried under 30 tons of garbage, which spurred Mayor Bill Peduto to call for restrictions on tailgating hours.

Trash began accumulating in parking lots around 6 p.m. Saturday and clean-up crews began wading into the parking lots about 9 p.m. They were going to work until 11 p.m. and then pause to allow the crowd to clear the lots.

While some parking lots close to the stadium were heaped with trash, tailgaters in lots farther from the stadium put the trash bags that were distributed to good use. Bulging trash bags were tied and left in the aisles, with little loose litter remaining on the ground.

Alco officials made available 200 portable toilets in the area — double the number during the 2013 show — and handed out trash and recycle bags.

Froggy country radio distributed plastic bags made especially for the concert with the slogan, “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Litter” — a play on Chesney's hit song and 2002 album title, “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems.”

“I never thought I'd come into this crazy crowd,” said Jane Kirwin, 57, of Seneca, noting her daughter attended it a couple years ago and warned her things could get out of hand. She was elated to win four tickets on the floor from a radio station.

“There's a lot of different people here, but they all love country because they sing about everything, so I think anybody can relate,” said Kirwin, who slow-danced with her husband, Gus, 59, during a pre-concert free act outside Heinz Field.

“We may be old, but we still love to have fun,” Gus Kirwin said.

Mike Larrabee, 27, drove more than five hours from Corning, N.Y. He said it's his third Chesney concert, but his first trip to Pittsburgh. Though he had the opportunity to see the show in either New York City or Philadelphia, he wanted to see what Pittsburgh had to offer.

“He has the best show — it's one of the best concerts I've ever seen,” Larrabee said while tailgating before the concert. “Every time I've seen Kenny, it's been a sellout.”

Outside Heinz Field, Ashley Shanan, 23, of Whitehall, dispensed drinks from her family's refurbished ambulance, which housed shelves of paper plates, napkins, cups, drinks and a whole lot of black-and-gold gear.

“I've been going for nine years,” she said.

Haley Sutton, 20, has been planning for this day for months.

“I bought the tickets and parking pass at Christmas,” said Sutton, of Houston, Pa. “I come here because I love the atmosphere. Everyone is like family — but that's really just Pittsburgh in general.”

Among the earliest arrivals — their tailgate setup in place by 9 a.m. in a lot across from PNC Park — were Brandon Frazier, 27, of Richmond, Va., and his group of 20 Penn State alumni and fraternity brothers. Pittsburgh's nearly annual Chesney show has become a tradition for the group, who live across Pennsylvania, Virginia and New York.

“It's about the camaraderie and coming together,” said Frazier. Some of his buddies sipped on V8 and Pedialyte to hydrate before switching to brews.

“We just set a really good pace,” Frazier said. “Take a break at lunch, and then hit it hard right before the concert.”

Heinz Field opened at 4 p.m., with the first of Chesney's opening acts starting about 5 p.m.

Tribune-Review staff writers Natasha Lindstrom, Samson X Horne and Max Siegelbaum contributed.