BY KATHY WILLIAMS, ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Devastation, heartbreak and grief have hit concert goers and Travis Scott fans as the “Sicko Mode” artist is now facing serious backlash after eight people were killed at a concert in Houston, Texas.
The concert was a part of the Astroworld music festival run by American rapper Travis Scott. Started in 2018, the festival is an annual two-day event that was scheduled for Nov. 5-6 this year. The festival lineup featured major hip-hop, rap and R&B artists such as Chief Keef, SZA, Bad Bunny, 21 Savage and Travis Scott.
With such a strong lineup and refraining from concert going due to the COVID-19 pandemic, fans were eager to secure their tickets and support their favorite artists. However, the high energy turned to chaos. About 50,000 people attended the concerts this past Friday and caused a massive crowd surge. The crowd was intense, packed elbow to elbow and had little room to breathe.
Details of what caused such an immense surge in the crowd are still unknown. Videos, pictures and statements from the concert goers all point to one central problem: the madness escalated beyond control. Many people are pointing to Scott to blame for the injuries and deaths. Attendees claimed that Scott actually encouraged the mayhem and did little to nothing to help de-escalate the situation. A video, which has since been taken down, was uploaded to YouTube where Scott was heard from the crowd saying, “I want to see some rages. Who want to rage?” During one incident when an ambulance came, Scott tried to calm the commotion initially, then proceeded to perform.
People are questioning what security measures were taken at the event. “The New York Times” reported there were 505 security staffers, 91 armed private security officers, 76 off-duty Houston Police Department officers and more than 500 on-duty officers. However, one issue may be through a decision made by the authorities and Live Nation, the concert organizer, to not end the festival too early.
The concert ended only about 30 minutes prior to the original end time. This was about 40 minutes after authorities said the “mass casualty event” started. The large crowd of 50,000 raised other safety concerns that led people to believe riots and fights could stem from the event shutting down too early.
A common ground on the incident where people are finding themselves is that the deaths were tragic and traumatizing for all involved. The attendees varied in age, but the crowd was overall young. The eight victims range from as young as a 14-year-old to a 27-year-old. Even a ten-year-old was sent to the hospital for injuries caused by the event.
Those who passed away include: Josh Hilgert (14), Brianna Rodriguez (16), Rudy Peña, Danish Baig, Jacob E. Jurinek (20), Axel Acosta (21), Franco Patiño (21) and Madison Dubiski (23).
This is not the first time Scott has been the ring leader of pandemonium at concerts after facing fines and lawsuits throughout the years ; however, this time the star took it too far. Avoidable loss has happened, making the Astroworld concert one of the deadliest crowd-control disasters at a concert in the U.S.
