FOREST HILLS — It ended on a bad note.
Hundreds of fans that showed up to see Mumford & Sons play the first show at the West Side Tennis Club in years Wednesday night were shut out of the show after ducking out for a bathroom break, organizers admitted.
Bob Ingersole, the West Side Tennis Club's director, said some 300 - 400 people who left their general admission seats to go to the bathroom or buy food during the Grammy-winning British band's sold-out show Wednesday night were blocked from coming back inside.
“People went down to porta-johns and to buy some food and couldn’t get back up because there was a lot of people,” Ingersole said.
But he denied published reports that the event — held at the 17,000-seat Forest Hills Tennis Stadium, where the Beatles and other major rock acts once played — oversold the venue and turned away fans even though they had tickets.
The show's ticketing company, Front Gate Ticket, said Thursday it will refund those who were displaced.
A message on the company's voicemail system acknowledged “that there were some issues” at the Mumford & Sons concert in Forest Hills. “We do apologize for the experience,” the message said.
The message said that those with issues should email the company at info@frontgatetickets.com to see if they were eligible for refunds.
The tickets were priced at $70.