Last Friday, rapper Travis Scott held his third annual Astroworld festival with Live Nation in Houston, Texas. Many fans were waiting months to get tickets to the show. They were promised a lineup of big names such as Scott himself, SZA, Bad Bunny, 21 Savage, Tame Impala and guest star Drake. The show promised a two-day event of music, rides, games and food.  

The crowd totaled over 50,000 this year. The audience included people of all ages and even some celebrities such as Kylie Jenner, businesswoman and the mother of Scott’s child. There was high energy as Scott’s concerts tend to draw. The crowd pushed forward in hopes of getting closer to their favorite artist when Scott took the stage.  

Events took a turn when the crowd started moshing. Moshing has become very popular at concerts, but seems to be especially dangerous at Astroworld. Rolling Stone posted a video of  Scott watching as a fan passed-out was essentially crowd surfed by security to a safer spot. Scott watched as he continued singing, not really acknowledging the situation. Many sources, including Rolling Stone, have stated that Scott did recognize when one fan had passed out at a different time. Scott paused the show and asked, “Can somebody help jump in real quick?” Scott then continued playing his set. 

Cameron Pankau who has been following Scott for years was appalled by the events that took place. “To think that thousands of people went to enjoy their favorite artist and then became affected by this tragic accident is sickening,” while sending prayers to the families of the victims, Pankau also stated. 

Even fans who did not get hurt were affected, as some had interactions with the people who died. This was the case for Rudy Ayala when she met Franco Patino, who would later become a victim of the festival. BBC reported that Patino told Ayala that he would protect her and her friends, because they had never been to a concert like Scott’s and he had. 

NBC reported on 9-year-old Ezra Blount who is in a medically induced coma after the concert. Blount had severe damage to his lungs, liver and kidney. The damage to his head has resulted in an induced coma in the hopes of reducing the brain swelling.  

Rolling Stone interviewed concert goer Madeline Eskins, who is an ICU nurse. Eskins was one of the many people who passed out at the show. Luckily, her body was able to be crowd surfed to a safer spot. When she regained consciousness, Eskins talked about how she had to help the medic staff there. Even relieving one of the medics of doing CPR because she could tell that there were not nearly enough medics to take care of the number of unconscious bodies.  

“By 8:15 p.m., the medical staff on hand said they were unable to document patients because there were so many who needed help,” The New York Times reported. This shows that there simply were not enough people working to administer the amount of help needed.  

There have been apologies from Scott himself via an Instagram story where he claims that if he can make out what is going on, that he would stop the show and help them get the help they need. The video can be found on CBS news. Scott also stated that him and his team were working with authorities to find the families and make sense of the situation.  

While Scott is apologetic, he has been known to promote wild behaviors at his concerts. Pankau believes that the events that took place were a result Scott’s promotion of “rager” culture. He stated, “I have seen [Travis Scott] promote this “rager” culture that has been seen at his concerts throughout his career. This reckless promotion of a culture that festers rage, violence, and a lack of care for others certainly lead to this event taking place,” he stated. Pankau remembered a tweet, that has been since deleted by Scott, in which he giddily states that the wild ones are still being snuck into his concerts. Scott may not have liked the outcome of the behavior of his crowd, but he seems to enjoy the chaotic nature of his concerts.  

Drake also took to Instagram to express that he was praying for the families. BBC news noted that Kylie Jenner, who was also in attendance, stated on Instagram, “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.”  

Clearly, if it was not the fault of the people in attendance or the performer, the crews must have then had the ability to do something about the intense crowds. This is not the case as shown when a video surfaced showing a woman desperately pleading with a camera man to do something about the dead body she had witnessed. The video can be found on many sites, including Rolling Stone. You can see another man helping her in trying to get the camera man to do something. However, both people were ignored.  

When thinking of the events that occurred, one cannot help but think of the other widely successful events Live Nation has done where people have not died. “Live Nation is also majorly at fault for the failure to plan a safe event. Hundreds of other festivals have taken place without issue,” Pankau stated. The planning into this event was either not met with the same efforts as other events or there were low expectations for the event.  

“I think this event really should make us, as a society, re-evaluate how we look at large gatherings and music festivals,” Pankau states. Indeed, the structure of events need to be redone in a way that allows more space so that thousands of people are not pushing against each other, unable to get out.  

When looking at who to blame for the occurrences of the event, it is easy to say it was Scott’s fault or Live Nation’s, but Pankau fears that rap culture is getting a lot of the backlash. “Sure, there are many aspects of rap culture that need to be addressed, but some of the comments I have seen across social media platforms are ridiculous,” he stated. It is hard to put the blame on solely one thing, but rap culture may be getting undeserved backlash.