Evacuated Georgia Concert Hall Awaiting Inspection

February 10, 2014

A century-old concert hall in downtown Atlanta, Ga., is awaiting an engineer’s inspection before Saturday night’s scheduled performance after fans were evacuated during a rock show.

Panic! at the Disco was performing Friday night when the floor of The Tabernacle was deemed unsafe, Atlanta police spokeswoman Kim Jones said. A fire marshal evacuated the building shortly before 10:30 p.m.

Fans could feel something give inside the hall, concertgoer Boyd Gossett tells WSB-TV.

“About 300 people rushed forward to the stage and after a few seconds, we felt something buckle,” Gossett said.

Las Vegas-based “Panic! at the Disco” later commented on its official Facebook page that it “broke the venue” with its floor-collapsing music.

Singer-songwriter Corey Smith, who is from northeast Georgia, is scheduled for perform at the hall at 8 p.m. Saturday.

The building opened in 1910 as a religious hall. Over the years, it has been home to the Georgia Baptist Medical Center and Nursing School; and the 4,000-member Third Baptist Church, according to its website.

It was converted to a House of Blues club around the time of the 1996 Olympics Games in Atlanta and is now operated by Live Nation.

Officials at The Tabernacle could not immediately be reached by The Associated Press Saturday morning.

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