The Drake/Hanson Concert Disaster: We Were There

Paper Magazine and Ray-Ban presented Sounds Like Paper, the first of what is supposed to be three FREE concerts at the South Street Seaport yesterday. Drake, Hanson, and Ninjasonik were scheduled to perform but after rabid Drake fans and middle-aged, Hanson T-Shirt wearing women scaled the booths for a birds-eye view of the event, all hell broke loose.

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According to concert-goer Will, it is not a good idea to host a free party boasting one of the hottest performers of the season (Drake) on the release date of his highly anticipated album, Thank Me Later. The Canadian hip-hop star who was made quasi-famous by his role as Jimmy Brooks in Degrassi: The Next Generation (fan, right here), never took the stage much to the dismay of the rambunctious crowd.

But what went wrong here, folks? Wasn't this supposed to be one of the biggest, and presumably successful events of the summer??

Well, Paper Mag and Ray-Ban had all the best intentions because not only is the South Street Seaport beautiful, the artists scheduled to be there satisfied so many different kinds of people that it was almost guaranteed that hipsters, prepsters, and vagabonds would all show up. Snaps for Paper Mag and Ray-Ban.

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But Aubrey Graham (Drake), we are not thanking you later for the chaos contained right behind the Havaianas and VIP tents. As soon as we stepped past the entrance a wave of good thoughts swept over us; then again, we had an inkling that that smell coming from the fog above us was weed.

We looked to our left and a slew of kids started climbing the walls of some of the buildings and merchandise booths inconveniently located right in the middle of the madness.

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The music stops so that all security personnel available could make their way to the front to control the crowd. But of course, no one above a size DOUBLE ZERO (yes the ever illusive 00) could really move through the fans... And then, management stepped in and announced that if people fail to calm down, the concert would be canceled.

At this, lawn chairs flailed, beer bottles flew, flower pots smashed:... and the concert was over.

(All photos by Leia Jospe via BrooklynVegan.com)