What was seemingly another concert by Travis Scott on Friday, November 5, 2021, turned into one of the most traumatic experiences that roughly 50,000 crowd members endured. Around 9:30 p.m. rapper and singer, Travis Scott, was set to perform at the Astroworld music festival in Houston, Texas at the NRG Park. Prior to this, there were a multitude of performances from singers such as Young Thug, SZA, Lil Baby, and more, all of which had calm concerts that fans thoroughly enjoyed. 

However, the concert quickly escalated into mass chaos when rapper Travis Scott came onto the stage. Currently, it is unknown whether or not things turned violent by the acts of one or many, but what is known is that the venue was completely sold out. With the already large crowd of 50,000 people, plus the many that snuck into general admission, there was a recipe for disaster. This is exactly what happened when the crowd decided to surge the front of the stage to get closer to Scott as he performed. The space between viewers quickly began to close in on them as they became compacted into a tight arena. Houston fire chief, Sam Pena, describes the watchers to CNN as “compressed” and “unable to escape that situation.” This was all made worse by the barricades on all sides that prevented any spectators from leaving. 

This surge ultimately caused the tragic deaths of eight people in the crowd and hundreds of injuries. Although, this is speculated to be possibly higher due to the accounts of those who were present. The fatalities ranged from ages as young as 14 years old up until 27 years old and the tragic injuries of those as little as 10 years old. 

Many people have taken to social media to express their heart break over this incident, as well as to contemplate whether or not Scott is to blame for the deaths that occurred. In various videos, it can be seen that the crowd was chanting to stop the show as Scott just looked down onto them and continued performing. In a few videos, people even got up onto the stage to beg him to shut it down, and nothing was done to end the concert. Some fans claim that Scott couldn’t hear the people in the audience, while others discovered old videos of singers with earpieces in who could hear just one fan upset, let alone the entire crowd. Regardless of if Scott is to blame, the concert was ultimately shut down by the Fire Department and venue officials roughly 40 minutes later. 

Multiple lawsuits are in place after this disaster not only against Scott, but also against guest star Drake, and companies such as Live Nation Entertainment and Score More Holdings. Travis Scott also took to the internet to publicly apologize for what happened during his concert, without addressing any fault he may have played into it. Many fans and critics slammed Scott for a seemingly fake apology, and Twitter took to trying to “cancel” him after the incident. Scott has also canceled his Vegas set and given a full refund to those who attended the concert. He covered the costs of the funerals for those who passed away. 

Throughout the severity and vast opinions on the situation, many have taken this time as a learning opportunity. Many sites have published their different tips in case a similar surge happens again and social media has outpoured different resources to look into to prevent this from occurring. In addition to this, venues are now placing much safer safety restrictions on their events. Astroworld is being investigated heavily as many people offer support for those who have loved ones who passed away during the concert.