FRESNO, CA — Fresno officials briefly celebrated Thursday after learning that an Air Supply had arrived at the Save Mart Center, only to discover several hours later that the announcement referred to the soft-rock group and not a major expansion of the city’s summer cooling infrastructure.
The misunderstanding deepened when officials learned that Little River Band would also be present, leading several departments to mistakenly classify the concert as a combined air-and-water resilience project.
“For approximately 15 minutes, this was the most exciting infrastructure announcement Fresno had received in years,” said one emergency-management official.
The two veteran bands performed Thursday evening at the Save Mart Center.
Residents who purchased tickets expecting classic soft rock were reportedly delighted.
Residents who arrived carrying five-gallon water containers and documentation from the Department of Public Utilities were somewhat less prepared.
City officials clarified that Air Supply would provide music rather than atmospheric circulation, while Little River Band contained neither a river nor sufficient water to alleviate Central Valley drought conditions.
The incident reportedly prompted Fresno to institute new verification procedures requiring staff to determine whether all future announcements involving Journey, Foreigner, Chicago, America, Kansas, or REO Speedwagon concern musical acts before forwarding them to municipal departments.
At press time, the Parks Department had placed a temporary hold on plans to acquire Earth, Wind & Fire.