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Country Music Fans Flood North Shore For Concert At PNC Park

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Fans flocked to the North Shore Saturday evening to see several of country music's biggest stars take the stage.

Jason Aldean, Florida Georgia Line and Miranda Lambert drew tens of thousands of people to PNC Park. But unlike what Luke Bryan fans left behind a few weeks ago and Kenny Chesney fans left behind last summer, this time, the tailgate aftermath was dramatically different.

"If you look around, there's not a lot of garbage. Don't take these concerts away from us," said Sarah Langy, of Etna.

The crackdown and rule changes came from Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto's office this week.

"I agree with what the mayor did, and I think he did a very good job," said Kimi Mucy, of Charleroi.

Changes were made, like not opening the parking lots up until 2 p.m. Also, more port-o-potties were brought in as well.

"We were worried we were going to be stuck in a lot, a lot of traffic with it opening later, but we really, we didn't," said Katie Billy, a concert-goer. "We left home about two hours early and we got here right on time and we didn't really have to sit in any traffic at all."

Pennsylvania State Police say a total of 56 citations were handed out for underage drinking.

But not everyone was excited about it.

"We couldn't get in here until 2," said Alayne Toney, another concert-goer. "That's the first problem, and we came in here and everyone is not drinking as much as they would at a different concert. You want to know why? Everyone's scared to leave trash; everyone's scared to do anything because of the mayor."

"The thing they're doing is they're punishing the people that obeyed the rules," said concert-goer Charles Billy. "They're not punishing the people that actually didn't obey."

The mayor and his staff even made an appearance on the North Shore, making sure that the rules were followed.

"When we came in they gave us a recycling bag and a garbage bag, and we've definitely been using them around here," said Zach Reimheimer, of Ambridge.

At 7:30 p.m., police from the city and Allegheny County patrolled the area, telling people to bag their trash and either head into PNC Park or leave.

"I saw the cops riding through on the horse and that helped a lot," said one concert-goer.

"People weren't as crazy as they were at Luke Bryan for sure," added another.

"We're going to have fun. We're going to clean up our mess and that's how it should be," said Brittany Stein, a tailgater.

Once many fans got inside the stadium, a viewer sent us this photo on Twitter showing one of the parking lots:

Aldean_Concert_Parking_Lot
(Source: Megan Abbott/Twitter)

Also this weekend, soccer superstars from two of Europe's top club teams will take over Heinz Field.

AC Milan will face off against Manchester City Sunday afternoon. The match begins at 4 p.m.

RELATED LINKS:
What To Expect At This Weekend's Big Events (7/25/14)
More Local News
More Reports by Christine D'Antonio

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