Pennywise's recent performance following the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach escalated into a near riot after police barred hundreds of people from entering the concert that had reached capacity Saturday night on the lawn of the Long Beach Performing Arts Center.

Officer Jackie Bezart, spokeswoman for the Long Beach Police Department, said the incident went beyond people just trying to enter the concert."The crowd got somewhat unruly and bottles were thrown at officers," Bezart said. "At that point we deployed additional officers to maintain crowd control."

Five people with minor injuries from the concert or possibly from the altercation outside the venue were transported to area hospitals, Duree said. Bezart said she didn't have any reports of police officers being injured. However, a Long Beach resident who was turned away disagreed:

They (police) were hitting people with clubs, and you couldn't back up fast enough. I saw this man get Tased, 40– or 50–year–old man, just get Tased. His eyes were stone cold.

By the time the concert ended about 7:30 p.m., 50 police officers wearing riot helmets and carrying Police in riot gear block the area around the Long Beach Performing Arts Center after crowds trying to enter the Pennywise concert became unruly. (Daniel deBoom/For the Press–Telegram) batons had formed a circle blocking the intersection of Long Beach Boulevard and Ocean Boulevard, preventing anyone else from entering the performance.

More details including some video footage can be found here.

The band has yet to make a statement about the incident.