Within the span of two days, Jackson Foster went from performing along with his nu-metal band Foolish Goose at Lollapalooza to sitting handcuffed at the back of a Chicago Police squad automobile due to a pop-up present at a Loop gasoline station.
“It was type of humorous,” Foster, 23-year-old vocalist for Atlanta band Foolish Goose, instructed the Solar-Instances Wednesday morning. “[Thursday] we had been taking part in this big pageant and [Saturday] I’m in jail.”
A crowd had been gathered at a BP gasoline station, at 50 W. Ida B. Wells Drive about 10:50 p.m. Saturday when police had been known as for a “giant disturbance,” based on police experiences obtained by the Solar-Instances.
“A number of individuals had been surrounding a van with a band on prime taking part in music at an especially excessive quantity,” the report stated.
The gang was “partying and mosh-pitting” within the car parking zone and blocking the sidewalk, police stated.
Responding officers displayed their emergency lights and performed a message stating “no loitering, please disperse” on repeat to the “unruly” crowd, the report stated.
Video of the arrest posted to Foolish Goose’s Instagram web page exhibits Foster telling attendees: “No one let me go to jail, don’t let me or any of my boys go to jail” from the highest of a van as officers stood behind them.
“That is the primary time that I’ve ever been arrested,” Foster stated days after the arrest. “I’ve performed like over 300 of those exhibits on the street [nationwide] over the previous three or 4 years and each time the cops present up and ask us to depart or simply give us a tough time.”
In Saturday’s incident, Foster might be heard repeatedly asking officers “What am I being arrested for?” as he was handcuffed, the video exhibits.
“They’re solely getting me, not the remainder of the fellows,” Foster stated moments earlier than two officers positioned him at the back of a police SUV.
Foster, 23, was arrested “to forestall additional disruption of the enterprise” and charged with felony trespass to property, based on the report, which stated the gasoline station supervisor known as police and signed complaints as a result of the “crowd had grown immensely.”
However Foster stated the band obtained permission to play on the gasoline station since 2023 in change for “a few hundred {dollars}.”
“It’s been the identical association every year the place every evening we pay him nevertheless a lot cash after which he lets us play,” Foster stated.
When reached by the Solar-Instances, the gasoline station basic supervisor stated no settlement had been made for the band to play.
“We don’t permit that type of factor as a result of it hurts our enterprise,” stated the supervisor, who didn’t need to be named.
“He was cool with it from the start, like he agreed to take cash and have us after which I assume he modified his thoughts,” Foster stated in response. “I want him one of the best.”
Foster created a fundraiser submit asking for assist with authorized charges and touring to Chicago. Up to now, over $4,500 of his $8,000 objective has been raised as of Wednesday afternoon.
Foster is adamant about eradicating the felony trespassing cost from his report as a result of they plan on performing abroad sooner or later.
“The help has been superior. We now have a variety of actually superb individuals who help our band and help us,” Foster stated. “They’re comfortable to help this trigger specifically as a result of that is how we acquired our title.”
Gasoline station performances are nothing new for the Atlanta-based group. Final 12 months, the band performed 4 pop-up exhibits in a row throughout Lollapalooza, drawing a whole lot of individuals and serving to them e book “actual” exhibits and excursions.
On the finish of final 12 months’s Sunday set, Foolish Goose made a vow to headline Lollapalooza in 5 years. On Thursday, the band carried out on the occasion.
The group had been doing pop-up exhibits to boost consciousness for his or her upcoming launch “Keys to the Metropolis,” accessible Oct. 17.
Foster stated the group in all probability gained’t return to the BP for an additional pop-up efficiency.
“We’re reaching a degree now the place we don’t need to play on the street. It’s not a necessity, it’s simply one thing we determined to do as a result of it’s enjoyable,” Foster stated.
“Subsequent time we come again to Chicago, it’ll be in a correct venue.”
