Rose Hitchens
Astroworld festival, hosted by American rapper Travis Scott in Houston, Texas on Friday, witnessed at least eight people killed and hundreds injured as crowds surged towards the stage during Scott’s headlining performance. Rose tells us everything we know about the events that took place.
The festival, named after Travis Scott’s 2018 album of the same name, has been held annually since 2018 in the rapper’s hometown of Houston, Texas. After being cancelled last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the festival returned in 2021 with a star-studded line-up, including Tame Impala, SZA, Young Thug, Earth, Wind & Fire, Drake, and Travis Scott himself.
However, the music festival took a turn for the worse when on the first night of the festival on Friday 5th November, attendees began storming towards the stage in a crowd surge. Multiple people were crushed in an attempt to get closer to the stage as a stampede ensued. Earlier in the day, problems had begun to surface in relation to crowd control as videos emerged showing hundreds of fans stormed the boundaries of the festival, jumping fences and pushing through security and metal detectors.
The number of people who had been crushed and injured overwhelmed the medical staff working at the Astroworld festival, leading to audience members having to step in and help perform CPR on fellow festival goers who had fallen unconscious
Scott and his onstage entourage paused multiple times during his 75-minute set after noticing festival-goers in danger near the front of the stage, however, no attempt was made to stop the festival performance early. Travis Scott can be shown at one point continuing his set as he watches a fan who had fallen unconscious. In one shocking video, a young woman can be seen screaming “There is somebody dead in there” to festival staff, as attendees tried to alert staff to stop the festival due to the distressing scenes that were unfolding in the pit.
Ultimately, the number of people who had been crushed and injured overwhelmed the medical staff working at the Astroworld festival, leading to audience members having to step in and help perform CPR on fellow festival goers who had fallen unconscious. Fans at the festival were also seen dancing on ambulances and security carts, preventing security and medical personnel from helping injured attendees.
So far, at least eight people from ages 14 to 27 have been confirmed dead and hundreds more injured, however the causes of death have yet to be determined. Following Friday’s performance, Houston Fire Chief Sam Peña stated that over 300 people were treated at on-site hospitals, while 23 attendees were taken to hospital. Houston PD have announced an investigation into the events of Friday’s disaster.
— TRAVIS SCOTT (@trvisXX) November 6, 2021
Travis Scott and his girlfriend, billionaire Kylie Jenner, have come under fire for their actions during the festival
Responding to the fatal crowd surge, Astroworld organisers decided to cancel the scheduled Saturday performances at the festival. In a twitter post from Saturday 6th November, Travis Scott stated “my prayers go out to the families and all those impacted by what happened at Astroworld Festival,” and that he was “committed to working together with the Houston community to heal and support the families in need.” Scott also pledged his support to the ongoing investigation by Houston PD into the festival.
This is not the first time the rapper has come under investigation for instigating reckless and unruly crowd behaviour
Travis Scott and his girlfriend, billionaire Kylie Jenner, have come under fire for their actions during the festival. Jenner, aged 24, received backlash for posting now-deleted Instagram stories which clearly depict ambulances in the crowd of the Astroworld festival. Jenner later posted an Instagram story stating how her and Travis Scott are “broken and devastated” at what happened at Astroworld, and that they “weren‘t aware of any fatalities until after the news came out after the show.” One twitter user posted in response to this “This #Astroworld situation should remind you…these influencers and celebrities do NOT care about you… Kylie and Kendall leaving up their stories and taking cute videos while ambulances rolling through. Sad.”
This is not the first time the rapper has come under investigation for instigating reckless and unruly crowd behaviour. In February 2018, he pledged guilty to disorderly conduct following his arrest for inciting a riot during a concert in Arkansas, where he encouraged fans to charge through security in order to get closer to the stage, resulting in multiple attendees and staff receiving injuries. Similarly, in 2015 the rapper was arrested and pled guilty to disorderly conduct at the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago, where he encouraged fans to jump over barriers and bypass security to reach the stage.
The investigation into the incidents at Astroworld are currently ongoing, with investigators looking into video footage from the live-streamed event to discover the cause of the crowd surge.
Rose Hitchens
Featured image courtesy of ANSPressSocietyNews via Flickr. Image license found here. No changes made to this image.
In-article images courtesy of @trvisXX via twitter.com. No changes made to these images.
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