Skip to content
Crime & Justice
Link copied to clipboard

'The old Elvis kind of thing:' Crowd shut down traffic, closed store

More than 1,100 people who showed up to see Hip-Hop artist Trey Songz sign CDs at a Center City music store during rush hour yesterday blocked traffic and forced the closure of the store and the cancellation of the artist's appearance, according to police.

More than 1,100 people who showed up to see Hip-Hop artist Trey Songz sign CDs at a Center City music store during rush hour yesterday blocked traffic and forced the closure of the store and the cancellation of the artist's appearance, according to police.

Through a promotion with radio station Power99, the FYE store at Broad and Chestnut was to hold a CD signing with Trey Songz yesterday in which the first 800 people who bought an album would get it signed by the artist, Lt. Frank Vanore, police spokesman, said.

Those 800 people all had yellow arm bands and were allowed inside of the store, but when an additional 300-to-400 people crowded around the store just to see his arrival, it shut down traffic in Center City, which was already congested with the President in town yesterday, police said.

The event was subsequently canceled, the store was closed and Trey Songz was rerouted away from the crowd, Vanore said. The store gave those individuals who had arm bands and already purchased an album the choice of being reimbursed or the option of taking a pre-signed copy of the album, according to police.

The crowd was mostly female and there were no arrests as a result of the disturbance, Vanore said.

"They were there to get a glimpse," he said. "It's the old Elvis kind of thing."

Trey Songz is known for songs like "I Invented Sex" and "Bottoms Up," which includes lines like "We drunk so let me be your alcohol hero."