A viral Instagram video shows the chaos faced by stranded Beyoncé fans who waited hours to get home after the Kansas City, Missouri leg of her Renaissance tour.
Traffic jams stretched for miles on the roads leading into and out of Arrowhead Stadium, in a stark demonstration of the travel disruptions major concerts can trigger.
With limited public transport to whisk fans away and backed-up roads limiting access for taxis, many were left with little other option than to walk along the interstate.
Instagram user Kristina Knowles (@bloomingwithkk) describes the mayhem she fielded alongside thousands of other concertgoers.
She and her friends waited until 12:54 a.m. to leave the stadium, hoping that the crowds would have dispersed, but hordes of Beyoncé fans were still scattered about the roads.
At 1:51 a.m., we see her wading through grass and hopping a fence to reach a gas station further away, where she hoped to hitch a ride more easily. Instead, she found more of the same. Ultimately, she reached home at 3 a.m. after splitting a $100 ride with a carpool.
"It felt like we were all on Survivor or the Hunger Games," said Knowles. "I started to believe I was about to watch the sunset out there as I shivered on the sidewalk."
A rare double event that day had swelled the number of cars parking in the complex — before the Beyoncé concert was set to kick off at 8 p.m., a Kansas City Royals game was underway at the neighboring Kauffman Stadium.
Fans reported traffic jams so bad on the way into the stadium that many abandoned their cars and walked.
A reported fee surge on Uber only worsened matters, pricing many out of using the app on the way home.
At the moment, only one bus route runs daily nearby. One commenter in the Kansas Star has highlighted the need for greater investment in express services around specific events, like concerts and sports events.
This would help to ease pressure on the roads when thousands are traveling and also reduce the air pollution caused by audience travel — currently the biggest contributor to live events' carbon pollution.
"It was horrible," one Beyoncé fan commented on the video. "I was there and jumped on a random charter bus that dropped us off downtown. Then I had to take a Bird scooter to my hotel from there at 3am."
"Took Uber to the concert, but when I checked the rate and prices during her last song, I immediately B-Lined to the train which was right across the street from the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta," said another. "People were all over the place, the lines were crazy."
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