The infamous Green Day show dubbed the “Boston Melee” or “Hatch Shell Riot” by the local new stations when Green Day played the Hatch Shell in Boston in 1994 for back to school. In anticipation of the concert, a large mosh-pit opened up in front of the Hatch Shell. What started out as a typical Generation-X style crowd-bump, quickly turned into a violent '70s style slam-dance. Much of the crowd in the pit were intoxicated, as the moshing got entirely out of control. Concertgoers started to get pushed up against the railing, and had to be helped (or removed) by security to escape the violent dancing. One of the members of Green Day had asked the crowd to calm down, which temporarily helped. About twenty minutes into their set, some of the crowd started to rip up flowerbeds, and also throw Snapple bottles at the stage. The lead singer, Billie Joe Armstrong, then jumped off the stage and tore up flowers himself, and the band was cut-off mid-song and the concert canceled. The September 10, 1994 Boston Herald describes the riot: "Requests for the crowd—estimated by State Police at 65,000—to disperse failed to move a hardcore group of about 5,000 people, who taunted police and began throwing bottles at officers and concert staff. At 9:30 p.m., a line of approximately 100 state troopers and Boston police officers formed a human wedge and drove the crowd out of the Esplanade and into the Back Bay. Calm was restored by 10 p.m. More than 50 people were arrested and roughly 50 more were treated for minor injuries—from sprains to drug overdoses—suffered during the concert and the hour-long fracas between police and the crowd, police and medical personnel said." #greenday #hatchshell #dookie #90s #security #riot #concert #crazystory #funny #trecool #boston