Fight breaks out in audience of Boston Pops

Opening night performance halted after struggle, screams in the balcony

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Fight breaks out at Boston Pops
May 10: Two audience members come out swinging at the opening night of the Boston Pops. WHDH's Ryan Schulteis reports.

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updated 1:47 p.m. ET May 10, 2007

BOSTON - Something else popped at the Boston Pops’ opening night concert — a brawl broke out at Symphony Hall.

Before rocker Ben Folds appeared as a special guest Wednesday night, two men did some rockin’ and rollin’ in the balcony as the orchestra performed a medley from the movie “Gigi.”

The fight started after one of the men tapped the other on the shoulder with a program to complain about noise, police said.

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Television video of the fight showed the two struggling — one with his shirt partially pulled off — as several people stood around them.

Conductor Keith Lockhart briefly halted the performance while the men were escorted out.

Witnesses said they heard a scream from the balcony, and the sound of chairs falling, then a second scream as the fight escalated.

“The first time there was a scream, Keith looked up that way but he kept going,” audience member June MacIndoe told Boston’s WHDH-TV. “Then about a minute and a half later ... there was a big scream and you could hear chairs falling over and you could see them up there, fists going.”

At that point, Lockhart stopped the performance for a couple of minutes, she said. “He just stood there, you know, quiet.”

The concert resumed, and Folds performed later.

“It was an unfortunate incident, but thankfully this kind of behavior is truly out of the ordinary at a Boston Pops concert,” the orchestra said in a statement. It referred calls to the Boston police department.

Boston police spokesman David Estrada said police officers on security detail at the hall escorted the men off the property, and no charges were filed. No injuries were reported, he said.