A power outage Saturday night silenced a classic rock concert at the Toyota Pavilion in Concord featuring co-headliners Styx and Foreigner, before an crowd of 9,500 music fans had the chance to rock out.
The outage occurred at 6:39 p.m. Saturday, according to Pacific Gas & Electric, and also affected some 1,500 customers in Concord and northern Clayton, including numerous areas around Kirker Pass Road, Concord Boulevard and Bailey Road. Reports said power was expected to be restored by 5 a.m. Sunday. The cause of the outage is still under investigation.
The show featuring two of the bigger pop/rock bands of the ’70s and early ’80s was scheduled to start at 6:45 p.m. with opening act John Waite, but was halted before anyone went on. By 8 p.m., the concert was called off. Since there was no power and no PA system, information spread slowly through the venue.
Concert organizers said Sunday they had rescheduled the concert and that tickets for Saturday’s scheduled performance will be honored at the new date. Refunds are not available yet. Check here for updates.
On Saturday, Aaron Hawkins, manager of the venue, announced the outage to the audience amid a scattering of boos.
“We will ride this out as long as we can. Let’s all cross our fingers. Please be patient,” Hawkins said.
Dan Yorke from Walnut Creek said he came out to enjoy the music he grew up on.
“I’m a big 80s rock fan. I used to love Foreigner — Styx too,” Yorke said.Yorke said he wasn’t too optimistic that the issue would be resolved quickly due to the time the outage occurred, saying that “a skeleton crew” at PG&E might be working to resolve the issue.
Jim Service, of Pleasant Hill, who attended the concert with his wife, Michelle, said he wondered why there wasn’t better preparation for a potential power outage.
“You would think that a venue like this would have backup generators for something like this,” Service said.
