New measures taken by the Cornell Concert Commission for Sunday’s Lupe Fiasco concert in Barton Hall resulted in significantly fewer student hospitalizations than the Kid Cudi concert on Nov. 6, according to CCC Executive Director Harris Nord ’12.
Nord said that “many crew members recognized that a lot of people had gotten sick” during the Kid Cudi concert, which was also held in Barton, and that they stressed the need for more cooperation between CCC and Cornell University Emergency Medical Service.
CCC and CUEMS declined to provide specific numbers about the number of hospitalizations at the Kid Cudi concert. Cornell Police Department Chief Kathy Zoner said one student was hospitalized during the Lupe Fiasco concert.
One change that Nord noted was that CUEMS foot crews were based by the weight room in Barton Hall, which he said helped provide emergency services access to students in need.
“At previous concerts, the CUEMS did not typically have a grounded area for basing their operations out of,” said Dan Cahalane, production director of CCC. “[At Lupe,] they could bring people back to a separate, well-lit area to help them.”
Nord said the CCC also provided concessions Sunday “for the first time in many years” in part to improve the health and safety of concert attendees.
“We thought providing food and beverages would be an additional benefit for the health and safety of concert-goers and that people would be less inclined to get intoxicated,” Nord said.
Cahalane said that the timing and number of attendees at Sunday’s show may have also played a role in decreasing hospitalizations.
“While the Lupe show was in the middle of prelim season, the Kid Cudi show was just after fall prelims, so more people were ready to cut loose and unwind, as opposed to normal shows,” Cahalane said.
The chances of sending students to the hospital may also been diminished because 300 to 400 fewer people attended Lupe, Cahalane said.
Nord said he was not sure if the fact that the Lupe concert was held on a Sunday night and the Kid Cudi concert on a Saturday affected the number of hospitalizations.
According to Nord, holding concerts on Saturday night would be “ideal for increasing attendance at concerts.” However, the University only gives the CCC access to Barton Hall on certain days that are usually dictated by the schedules of athletic teams and Reserve Officer Training Corps, decreasing the likelihood they will be held on Saturday.
Although she could not “speak to the number of [hospital] transports the CUPD has had at previous concerts,” Chief Zoner said that the number of transports “often depends on who is performing.”
“It’s hit or miss … but the number of hospitalizations that occur when Wynton Marsalis is here is much different from the number that occur at a Lupe Fiasco concert, where students are more likely to come in altered states,” Zoner said.
During the Lupe Fiasco concert at Barton Hall Sunday night, one student was transported to the Cayuga Medical Center, Zoner said.
Zoner was not able to disclose the cause of hospitalization or any further information on the condition of the student, who was transported because of “ongoing medical concern.”
A representative from Cayuga Medical Center said he did not know anything about the specific incident.
Original Author: Liz Camuti