No, Adele is Not Performing at the Quincy Center MBTA Station
Updated at 5 p.m.: The mysterious organizers of the phony Adele concert at the Quincy Center MBTA station have announced that the event—which, let’s be clear, was a hoax—has been “cancelled.” The reason, according to a new banner attached to the top of the event? “Due to MBTA parking lot being unsafe.” The parking lot has been closed since 2012. A person claiming to be the perpetrator of the Adele concert prank told Metro earlier today that a making a dig at the parking lot was part of his or her plan all along. “This joke just illustrated what a joke the MBTA not to have a plan in service years ago,” they told the paper. Well-played, indeed.
This is the new banner on the Facebook page for the event.
Earlier: Gullible fans of British pop superstar Adele, wherever you may be: prepare to have your hearts crushed.
No, Adele, the Grammy Award-winning international superstar, will not be performing a free concert at the Quincy Center MBTA station tomorrow night.
This despite a very convincing Facebok event page—complete with a photo illustration of the glamorous singer posing in front of the train station and parking garage—which declared, “The tour will have multiple shows in most markets, including one special night at Quincy Center train station.” The concert, according to the page, would be “free.”
The MBTA Transit Police made sure that everyone was clear on this point: Adele is not coming to the Quincy Center T stop. Do not come to the Quincy Center MBTA stop at 6 p.m. on Wednesday night to see Adele. Adele won’t be there.
So went a trio of frantic tweets from the department Tuesday morning.
SCAM ALERT !!!!! Adele is NOT doing an impromptu performance at Quincy T station. Do not show up for Adele. Help us spread the word. #FAKE
— MBTA Transit Police (@MBTATransitPD) September 13, 2016
#FAKE Adele is NOT showing up to Quincy T station. She is playing at TD Garden only. False rumor please spread the word. TY #MBTA
— MBTA Transit Police (@MBTATransitPD) September 13, 2016
SCAM ALERT: We want to avoid any public safety issues. Adele is NOT showing up at Quincy T. FALSE RUMOR. Thank you. #MBTA
— MBTA Transit Police (@MBTATransitPD) September 13, 2016
“We routinely check social media for any type of issues that could adversely impact the MBTA,”says Transit PD Supt. Richard Sullivan, in an interview. “We came across a Facebook posting, which appeared to be authentic, saying that Adele was going to do an impromptu concert. We didn’t believe it, but we confirmed that it was not true and we wanted to get out ahead of it in the interest of public safety. We did not want hundreds, or possibly thousands, of people converging on Quincy Center station.”
Sullivan declined to say how TPD confirmed the concert was a hoax.
The misleading Facebook event page was hosted by someone going by the name Usual Suspects, who appears to be a DJ in Quincy.
Also listed on the event page are a series of other unlikely celebrity appearances: vintage hip-hop group Digital Undergound and Snoop Dogg in the bathroom of a Burger King in Weymouth; The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Korn, and The Cranberries performing live in the produce section of the Weymouth Whole Foods.
As for the Adele concert at Quincy Center, most people who who weighed in on the Facebook page appear to have been in on the joke.
“Yeah with the guy playing the insane Bucket drums for percussion,” wrote one commenter.
“This had me rolling,” wrote another. “In the deep.”
But the TPD may have reason to worry. A similar hoax earlier this year, promising an impromptu appearance by Limp Bizkit at a Sunoco gas station in Dayton, Ohio, really caught on. Police at the time tried to warn fans that the concert was a fake. Hundreds of people showed up anyway.
BE AWARE: There is NO Limp Bizkit concert Wed. 4/20 at Sunoco station at Keowee St. & Wayne Ave. These ads FALSE. pic.twitter.com/wMo7bYxa9p
— Dayton Police Dept. (@DaytonPolice) April 19, 2016
Asked about the Limp Bizkit incident, Sullivan says he had that case in mind when he decided to send out the tweets. “We would be remiss in our duties if we did not get ahead of this, taking into context something you just referenced,” he says.
And although Sullivan says his department isn’t trying to track down whoever came up with the event, he discouraged others from trying to pull something similar. “It’s not something that we condone or take as simply a prank.”
So, alas, Adele will be saving her vocal talents for ticket-holding fans tomorrow night at the TD Garden.
She will also not be joined at the station by the band fans were promised would be her opening act: Train.
This story has been updated with comments from MBTA Transit Police Supt. Richard Sullivan.
