Travis Scott’s concert was supposed to be a night full of fun but ended up becoming a night full of fear. With a total of ten lives taken, people describe this event as a “fight for survival.” Travis Scott’s Astroworld Concert took place on November 5th, 2021, in Houston, Texas.

Among a plethora of concert attendees who got injured, the nine people who passed away included Jacob Jurinek, 21; John Hilgert, 14; Brianna Rodriguez, 16; Franco Patiño, 21; Axel Acosta, 21; Rudy Peña, 23; Madison Dubiski, 23; Danish Baig, 27; and Bharti Shahani, 22. This list also includes a 9-year-old boy named Ezra Blount.

These weren’t the only victims from the concert-many others got heavily injured or experienced near-death situations. One of these people was concertgoer, Jeffrey Schmidt.

“I witnessed multiple people unconscious and unable to breathe, as people under me were crying for my help. But I physically could not help,” he said. “That is what traumatized me the most, that I could not help the people around me. I felt heartbroken for them and their families.” Schmidt said.

Some of the other concertgoers noticed people struggling and attempted CPR, getting help, etc. This also included Billy Nassar. “I picked some kid up and his eyes rolled to the back of his head, so I checked his pulse. I knew he was dead. I checked the people around me. And I just had to leave him there, there was nothing I could do. I had to keep going.” Nassar said.

“There weren’t enough security guards and there weren’t enough EMTs and people helping out the crowd. The paramedics couldn’t even reach the crowd,” Nassar said.

This is a huge issue given that security and paramedics are at the concert solely for the reason to help people if they are injured or in peril.

Personally, I find it disgusting how unorganized this event was. The security team wasn’t of great quality and the people who were there to help couldn’t even get in to do their job. In addition, the concert was so crowded that it became extremely unsafe and uncomfortable hours before the event even started.

The fact that the safety crew was so short staffed for such a packed concert shows that this was not planned out well. This is one reason as to why criminal charges towards Scott have been brought to the conversation.

Travis Scott and his management should have kept from over-booking the concert, hired better and more security, and overall, just provided a more comfortable and safer environment. The short staffing in security and paramedics was a huge issue because they couldn’t serve their purpose.

Yahoo Entertainment writer, Antoinette Siu, wrote an article on this topic called Could Travis Scott Face Criminal Charges After Astroworld Deaths? “The possibility of criminal charges could include involuntary manslaughter, assault or disorderly conduct for inciting a riot, lawyers said, adding that Houston law enforcement is still investigating the case and would need to establish key facts for prosecutors to make a case.” Antoinette Siu said.

This isn’t the first time Travis Scott is a repeated offender of this crime.  “In 2015, the rapper pleaded guilty to reckless conduct for encouraging people at a Chicago summer concert to climb over barriers. Three years later, he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct for riling up an Arkansas crowd. And three concertgoers were injured during a stampede at a 2019 festival where he performed.” Siu said.

Overall, I believe this is a tragedy that could have been avoided very easily. This is shown because Travis Scott has had past issues and this performance was obviously not fully thought through.  People need to take this unfortunate event and learn about proper concert safety for planning future performances. This could also be a warning to other concertgoers to become extra vigilant and cautious when attending concerts.

References

Steinbuch, Y. (2021, November 8). Travis Scott fans recall chilling details from astroworld concert tragedy. New York Post. Retrieved November 18, 2021, from https://nypost.com/2021/11/08/travis-scott-fans-recall-details-from-astroworld-concert/.

Siu, A. (n.d.). Could Travis Scott Face criminal charges after astroworld deaths? Yahoo! Retrieved November 18, 2021, from https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/could-travis-scott-face-criminal-141000019.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall.