How could a festival headlined by one of the most prolific live performers of all time, an artist who captivates audiences, become one of the most tragic concerts in history? On November 5, Travis Scott threw the Astroworld festival, a music festival in Houston featuring many well known rap performers. 

This was the first festival since 2019, and audiences were eager to attend. All 50,000  tickets sold out within the first 30 minutes of being posted online. On the day of the festival, hundreds more attendees broke through the barrier, exceeding the crowd limits of the event. 

“It was crazy how many people snuck in who weren’t part of the festival,” said junior Colin King. 

 As the day went on, artists like SZA and Don Tolliver performed with almost no issues, but  excitement grew and more audience members arrived. When Scott took the stage, the crowd surged towards him, pushing and collapsing each other. 

Hundreds of people recounted their experiences on social media, there were videos of audience members screaming out for help as Scott screamed at the audience to get hyped, ignoring them. Ambulances appeared and were stomped on crowd members were buried under each other, security were pulling out members and the music continued to blare. 

“I’ve been to many concerts, but nothing like this has ever happened,” said junior Ryan Hill.

Following the event, 9 people died and hundreds were injured, one of the dead individuals being a 9 year old child.  Scott began to endure copious amounts of backlash from festival goers and the general public for not stopping the concert or doing enough to keep his audience safe. Information began to come out about security being understaffed, with some security guards even being trained the night before the festival.

“They were very unprepared, it set up a lot of problems,” continued King. 

Following the festival, Scott released a short video apologizing to the victims and their families. He immediately was under fire again for being insensitive and not showing full emotion. A Houston law firm filed a 10 billion dollar lawsuit against Scott, and a social media trend surfaced thanking artists for being aware during their shows and helping their audiences. 

“I hope this event helps concerts and festivals become safer and more secure,” Hill said.