In the span of two days, Jackson Foster went from performing with his nu-metal band Silly Goose at Lollapalooza to sitting handcuffed in the back of a Chicago police squad car because of a pop-up show at a Loop gas station.
“It was kind of funny,” Foster, the 23-year-old vocalist for the Atlanta-based band, told the Chicago Sun-Times Wednesday morning. “[Thursday] we were playing this huge festival, and [Saturday] I’m in jail.”
A crowd gathered at the BP gas station at 50 W. Ida B. Wells Drive, about 10:50 p.m. Saturday when police were called for a “large disturbance,” according to police reports obtained by the Sun-Times.
“Several people were surrounding a van with a band on top playing music at an extremely high volume,” the report said.
The crowd was “partying and mosh-pitting” in the parking lot and blocking the sidewalk, police said.
Responding officers displayed their emergency lights and played a message stating, “No loitering, please disperse” on repeat to the “unruly” crowd, the report said.
Video of the arrest posted to Silly Goose’s Instagram page shows Foster telling attendees, “Nobody let me go to jail. Don’t let me or any of my boys go to jail” from the top of a van as officers stood behind them.
“This is the first time that I’ve ever been arrested,” Foster said days after the incident. “I’ve played, like, over 300 of these shows in the street [nationwide] over the past three or four years, and every time the cops show up and ask us to leave or just give us a hard time.”
In Saturday’s incident, Foster could be heard on the video repeatedly asking officers, “What am I being arrested for?” as he was handcuffed.
“They’re only getting me, not the rest of the guys,” Foster said moments before two officers placed him in the back of a police SUV.
Foster was arrested “to prevent further disruption of the business” and charged with criminal trespass to property, according to the report, which said the gas station manager called police and signed complaints because the “crowd had grown immensely.”
Foster, who was arrested at 10:55 p.m., was taken to the Central District police station where he was fingerprinted, processed and then released at 3:36 a.m. the next morning, according to police.
Foster said the band has received permission to play at the gas station since 2023 in exchange for “a couple of hundred dollars.”
“It’s been the same arrangement each year, where each night we pay him however much money, and then he lets us play,” Foster said.
When reached by the Sun-Times, the gas station general manager said no agreement had been made for the band to play.
“We don’t allow that kind of thing because it hurts our business,” said the manager, who didn’t want to be named.
“He was cool with it from the beginning, like he agreed to take money and have us, and then I guess he changed his mind,” Foster said in response. “I wish him the best.”
Foster created a fundraiser post asking for help with legal fees and traveling to Chicago. Over $4,500 of his $8,000 goal had been raised as of Wednesday afternoon.
Foster is adamant about removing thecriminal trespassing charge from his record because Silly Goose plans on performing overseas in the future.
“The support has been awesome. We have a lot of really amazing people who support our band and support us,” Foster said. “They’re happy to support this cause in particular because this is how we got our name.”
Gas station performances are nothing new for Silly Goose. Last year, the band played four pop-up shows in a row during Lollapalooza, drawing hundreds of people and helping it book “real” shows and tours.
At the end of last year’s Sunday set, Silly Goose made a vow to headline Lollapalooza in five years. On Thursday, the band performed at the event.
The group was doing pop-up shows to raise awareness for its upcoming release, “Keys to the City,” available Oct. 17.
Foster said the group probably won’t return to the BP for another pop-up performance.
“We’re reaching a point now where we don’t have to play in the street. It’s not a necessity; it’s just something we decided to do because it’s fun,” Foster said.
“Next time we come back to Chicago, it’ll be in a proper venue.”