Bomb Threat Evacs Fine Line

The message in question claimed a connection with ISIS, which had already claimed responsibility for a park bombing in Lahore, Pakistan, the same day that killed more than 60 people. A crudely written Reddit post (in all caps) with the subject line: “Bomb attack Fine Line Music Café Yung Lean 27 Mar. , a Minneapolis nightclub, promoted the Fine Line show for the emerging Swedish hip hop artist. Police arrived at the venue, showed the promoter rep the threat and explained there were little or no options but to shut down.

“[Police] were already in the street, closing down the perimeter,” First Avenue GM Nathan Kranz told Pollstar. “They were taking the threat very seriously. They pointed out the threat to us so we could see it. You’d like to think it’s not true but at the same point in time, it’s not a chance you can really take.”

The Yung Lean show had sold out the 759-capacity Fine Line Music Café, and Kranz said about half the audience was already in the room when police arrived. They had to be evacuated not just outside of the building, but several blocks away where police had set up a perimeter that closed several city blocks, Kranz said.

“Once you have that discussion with police, there is very little decision to be made other than how to do this safely and in an orderly fashion without freaking people out,” Kranz said.

“It was a bummer for everybody. It stinks for the artist, who came all the way to do a sold out show on a Sunday night. It sucks for the venue, who was expecting – and all the people who work there – all the revenue. They’re losing. It’s really unfortunate.

“But it was an easy decision to make at that point, because you can’t chance the safety of your customers and coworkers,” Kranz said.

Police later swept the venue and surroundings, and determined there was no evidence of a bomb.  – Deborah Speer