Thousands attend a concert honoring the late singer Fiji

City officials and concert promoters prepped for Saturday’s Fiji Tribute Concert as the biggest one-night event to hit the Tom Moffatt Waikiki Shell — and arguably Waikiki itself — with crowds expected to swell to 30,000.

The concert honoring the beloved singer-songwriter George “Fiji” Veikoso , who died July 23 in Suva, Fiji, at age 55, lived up to its billing, drawing many nonticket holders who enjoyed the music from Kapiolani Park.

Free tickets for the 8,100 seats inside the open-air venue were “sold out,” as were the 20,000 free tickets for a sectioned-off area just outside the Shell in Kapiolani Park, where the event could be experienced via huge video screens and concert-quality sound.

Concertgoers stood in long but quickly moving lines when the gates opened at 4 p.m. Police