RAINY SHOW

Steve Stoler reports

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FRISCO - North Texas country music fans are questioning whether a concert by superstar Kenny Chesney should have been canceled or postponed before Saturday night's bombardment of thunderstorms.

Some fans said thousands of people were put in a dangerous situation.

Despite torrential rain and lightning, the show went on until it all became too much for even Chesney. He walked off stage after performing six songs.

Amateur video shot during the concert showed heavy rain pour down and lightning light up the sky as Chesney performed.

"I was scared as soon as I saw the lightning," said Samantha Hambrick, a Chesney fan. "I was scared because we were around metal poles. We were around chairs."

David Snell said the concert left him with serious safety concerns.

"When he finally ran off the stage it was in the middle of a storm and everybody scattered like mice," he said.

Snell said he wants to know who decided the show should go on in the midst of the severe weather.

"I wonder about dollar signs versus safety," he said.

Hambrick said as she drove through the storms she began to think the concert would likely be canceled.

"I came thinking maybe they'll call it off, maybe they won't," she said. "Obviously, they did not, so I stayed; but I was very concerned that they had not made that decision."

Chesney called radio stations to announce he will come back to North Texas to perform at Pizza Hut Park on May 17. Anyone who had tickets to Saturday's show can attend the concert, he said.

"I knew when we had to stop because of lightning the other night that I wanted to come back, and that's why I'm calling you because we are going to come back and we're going to play a free show," he said.

"That's the right move," Snell said. "You can't charge to come back when it probably should've never started to begin with. Good call on their part."

Last summer, eight people were injured at a concert in North Carolina when flying debris from high winds hit concert goers.

News 8 made several attempts to contact Pizza Hut Park management without a successful response.

E-mail sstoler@wfaa.com