With great power, comes great responsibility. It is widely known that music artists are idolized by their fans. Due to their love and devotion, these fans happily oblige to requests made by their favorite artists especially at concerts. We see fans go hard for their go-to artists on social media. When drama arises, fans go to battle in the comment sections on Instagram. Most of the time, the large amount of support is a positive attribute. However, sometimes things go wrong.
On November 5th, 2021 the Astroworld Music Festival took place in Houston, TX. Travis Scott was on the bill and fifty-thousand patrons were in attendance. According to several witnesses, Scott stated, “All my ragers jump the barricade right now. Let’s go. Come over. I want chaos.” What was supposed to be a great night of entertainment, turned into a nightmare. The fire chief stated, “Scores of individuals were injured.” Approximately 300 people were examined on site, 17 people were transported to hospitals including 11 who were in cardiac arrest. So far, there have been 8 deaths that resulted from the chaotic event.
Eyewitnesses stated that their pleas to stop the concert were ignored. Many attendees took to social media to share the devastating experience. Jennifer Hernandez, a 24 year old college student, explained that she saw people asking for the concert to be stopped. “I felt like I was having a panic attack, my heart kept going fast. I couldn’t breathe and security didn’t really do much. People were just squished up and there was no air,” she stated.
Batool, a 19 year old witness, expressed that she heard people begging the camera operators to stop the show. In addition, she stated she could tell that Scott noticed what was going on because he pointed at a guy in the crowd who “wasn’t okay”. Another attendee, Cody Hartt, explained that he alarmed security and they stated, “We already know and we can’t do anything to stop the show. They’re streaming live.” Elise Trevino, a 22 year old female, expressed that she will never go to an Astroworld Festival again. She described that she saw police rushing people out on stretchers with their arms hanging off that looked lifeless.
This isn’t the first time chaos has taken place at a Travis Scott concert. Kyle Green recalls his life changing experience on April 30th, 2017. He attended Scott’s concert at Terminal 5 in Manhattan. Green states he was forced over the edge of the higher railing at what he considered a “severely crowded” and out-of-control event. As a result of this fall, Green suffered several broken bones including vertebrae. Following this life altering incident, Green expressed that he was removed from the floor by staff without proper safety precautions such as a cervical collar or backboard. Furthermore, Travis offered him his ring before being carried out. He is now partially paralyzed. The case is still pending.
Travis Scott was also arrested in 2017 after a concert in Arkansas for allegedly inciting a riot and endangering the welfare of a minor. Police stated that Scott could be heard telling his fans to rush the stage. Later, Scott pleaded guilty to a lesser charge; disorderly conduct. The other two misdemeanors were dropped.
Scott posted an apology on Instagram this weekend expressing his condolences and sorrow for all of those affected by the chaos at the Astroworld Music Festival on Friday night. Unfortunately, this appears to possibly be a behavior pattern. Let’s hope, after Friday night’s traumatic occurrence, this will no longer happen.