Rapper Travis Scott has had his own music festival, Astroworld, since 2018. A music festival that resembles Coachella with a multiple artist lineup, wristbands have been sold out for months. On November 6th, the first day of Astroworld started with over 50,000 people and headliners like Tame Impala and SZA. As the day went on, the crowds began to grow rowdier and rowdier. One witness stated that “I got there around 3 p.m. and saw people already struggling to stand straight. There was a lot of mob mentality going on, people willing to do whatever to be in line for merch, food, shows, you name it. A lot of fights broke out throughout the day.” While this experience may be shocking for a music festival, it is not the first time that Scott has been in trouble for hectic concerts. In 2015, while performing in Switzerland, the rapper encouraged the crowd to beat up a fan who was accused of stealing his shoes while crowd surfing. Once security got the accused fan, Scott was seen to have spit on the fan. But even with his history, nobody could’ve expected the tragedy that had occurred.
What happened on November 6th?
The Houston Chronicle reports that the event had 367 police officers and 241 security guards for the 50,000 attendees. Travis Scott, the awaited main headliner, appeared for his performance at 9 p.m., and the crowd began to push towards the stage. The rapper had paused a couple of times, noticing fans in distress and calling over security to come to help them out. Around 9:38 p.m. is when the mass casualty was triggered. At this time, 55 units of fire departments and police arrived at the scene and began to perform CPR. New York Times stated that at this time, Travis Scott saw the ambulance lights and said, “If everybody good, put a middle finger up in the sky” and then encouraged the crowd to make the “ground shake.” The concert continued for another 30 minutes as medical personnel and police officers were rushed into the crowd. At the end of the day, it is reported that over 300 people were treated at a nearby hospital, and eight were confirmed dead from the concert’s conditions, but no cause of death has been determined yet.
The Aftermath.
Many fans came forward to tell their stories and to share what they had experienced at the concert. From what it seems, the chaos didn’t just start at 9 p.m. but occurred way before then. One fan reported to CNN, “ I was having constant pressure on my chest, constant pressure on my back. From the side, I was being squeezed. I tried to lift up my arms to make more room for myself; it wasn’t working.”As fans began to come out with their experiences, Travis Scott tweeted with a picture of a paragraph from his notes app. The paragraph said “I’m absolutely devastated by what took place last night. My prayers go out to the families and all those impacted by what happened at Astroworld Festival.” Along with this tweet, people started calling out Kylie Jenner, Travis’s girlfriend, for posting a video at the concert where you can see ambulances in the crowd and her not doing anything. She came out about the video saying, “I want to make it clear we weren’t aware of any fatalities until the news came out after the show, and in no world would have continued filming or performing.” However, this contradicts the numerous articles and videos of Travis Scott seeing the ambulances during his performance and telling security guards to come over to his fans. Scott and the festival are issuing full refunds to attendees, and Scoremore states they are “working on ways to support attendees, the families of victims, and staff, from providing mental health counseling to setting up a health fund to help with costs for medical expenses.”
Final words:
This tragedy utterly shocked me to my core. How do eight people die from something that could have been prevented? Why was an open venue so crowded and pushed together, especially during a pandemic? Whatever the cause of death is, my heart mourns for the lives lost. This event is something that could’ve been preventable with better COVID guidelines, more water available, more security guards, and more medical personnel. There should’ve been more accountability and more precaution taken by Travis Scott. Music festivals aren’t supposed to end in deaths, and I hope we learn how to better protect fans in the future.
The names of the victims, may they rest in peace.
Franco Patino, 21
John Hilgert, 14,
Brianna Rodriguez, 16
Rudy Peña, age unknown
Danish Baig, age unknown
Jacob E. Jurinek, 20,
Axel Acosta, 21,
Wash.; and Madison Dubiski, 23
Resources/How You Can Help:
- If you were at the concert or know of someone who passed away, call this hotline set up by Travis Scott for free therapy as well as help with funeral costs: 1-844-CJ NAMI 1
- (844-256-2641). If you are coping, here is a website with additional resources. Here is a GoFundMe for a victim of the tragedy.