All Over Albany

Washington Ave Armory suspends music events

/ photo: CC-BY-SA-3.0/Matt H. Wade at Wikipedia

The Washington Ave Armory announced Thursday that it's suspending all music events at the venue until further notice. A clip from the statement:

The suspension is effective immediately, as the Armory conducts a full review of arena operations, ticketing, and security procedures. The Armory will look forward to having a discussion with the City of Albany, neighborhood associations, and community organizations in order to work together.

All other programming, which includes upcoming sporting events, family-friendly entertainment, trade shows and exhibitions, and political demonstrations, will not be affected by the suspension.

Four events have been suspended -- two concerts and two dance party events.

The move follows the six stabbings and a reported assault at a concert there this past weekend. Earlier Thursday the Times Union reported that the state was investigating the Armory and its licensing (or lack thereof) for handling its own security. [TU]

The concert this past weekend wasn't the first time the Armory caught high-profile attention for trouble at an event. Back in 2012 Albany police said the crowd for a foam party event at the venue got "combative" and fought with police. That incident set off an attempt by the city to ban these sorts of events at the venue via zoning, an effort that ultimately ended up in court and was decided in the venue's favor.

Following this most recent incident, it sounded like city officials were again looking at options to address safety concerns at the Armory -- Kathy Sheehan called the situation at concert "unacceptable." [News10]