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Astroworld Festival crowd crush

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Astroworld Festival crowd crush
2021 Astroworld Festival Aerial Image.png
Aerial view of NRG Park, with the festival venue outlined in yellow
DateNovember 5, 2021 (2021-11-05)
Timec. 9:06 – 10:10 p.m. CDT (UTC−5)
LocationNRG Park
Houston, Texas, U.S.
Coordinates29°41′16″N 95°25′05″W / 29.68778°N 95.41806°W / 29.68778; -95.41806Coordinates: 29°41′16″N 95°25′05″W / 29.68778°N 95.41806°W / 29.68778; -95.41806
TypeCrowd crush
CauseUnder investigation
Deaths10
Non-fatal injuries300+ (25 hospitalized)

On November 5, 2021, a crowd crush occurred during the first night of the Astroworld Festival, a music event founded by American rapper Travis Scott. The event was held at NRG Park in Houston, Texas. Ten people died; eight on the night of the concert, and two more in hospital over the following days. The causes of death are under investigation. Twenty-five people were hospitalized, and more than 300 people were treated for injuries at the festival's field hospital. Multiple concertgoers documented the incident, posting videos and recounting their experiences on social media.

Background

Official logo for the 2021 edition of the Astroworld Festival

The Astroworld Festival is an annual music event founded by American rapper and hip hop songwriter Travis Scott in 2018, taking its name from his third album.[1] The event was organized and managed by Live Nation and its affiliates. Apple Music streamed Scott's performance live.[2]

Preparations

The 2021 festival was planned for two consecutive nights. Tickets were sold out in under an hour upon going on sale in May, and 100,000 in total were expected to attend. Authorities initially planned to limit attendees to 70,000 the first night, and that was reduced to 50,000 closer to the event, though city fire codes permitted 200,000 people.[3][4][5][6][7] The city of Houston and Harris County organized security for the event, with both Mayor Sylvester Turner and NRG Park General Manager Mark Miller saying more than 1,000 security staff and police were present, more than double the total from the prior Astroworld concert, with the city specifically providing more for the festival than it had for the 2021 World Series, which had ended in Houston three days earlier.[6][8] Miller also said on November 17 they had added two new gates and expanded room for crowd traffic flow on the grounds.[9] Parking staff requested that Houston Police close two major thoroughfares outside NRG Park beginning November 3 in order to avoid property destruction and stampedes similar to those seen in 2018 and 2019, with no word as of November 10 on whether or not the request was granted.[10]

The event operations plan included eventualities such as deaths, traumatic injuries, severe weather, an active shooter, civil unrest, lost persons, missing children, and unruly fans, but not contingencies for a surging crowd or mosh pit safety.[11] Early attendees recalled and experts post-incident observed a festival layout with little signage, poor lighting, few water stations for patrons, minimal exit points from the festival's main venue or stanchions to divide and contain the crowd into manageable quadrants to prevent crowd surges, and only one narrow access aisle for security and medical staff to get access to the crowd's center.[12]

At the time of the incident, the head of risk management for security personnel, the security director, the interior and exterior security directors, and the company they all worked for were not listed in the Texas Department of Public Safety's private security license database.[13] In a document obtained by CNN, the chain of command indicated the concert's executive producer and its festival director were the only people authorized to stop the concert, but the report didn't specify who held those roles. Specific crowd control techniques to spot or prevent problematic behaviour were not detailed in the document.[11]

The Houston Police Department (HPD) claimed to have 528 officers at the festival, including 367 for the night shift and 161 held over from the day, and early reporting indicated event organizer Live Nation provided another 755 security officers, though neither number was verified as of November 18. Houston Police Chief Troy Finner disputed the latter total, given what he described as poor record-keeping from the three to four security companies.[13][9][14] Paramedical needs were covered by ParaDocs Worldwide, a contractor from Brooklyn, New York, which established a main medical tent and smaller aid stations around the venue.[11]

Early reporting indicated the Houston Fire Department (HFD) stationed twenty ambulances outside the venue ahead of the concert, but Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association President Marty Lancton later disputed that total, saying there were no personnel inside the venue as it was owned by the county and they only had four staff on standby outside.[3] Early reporting estimates from Houston fire officials indicated around 50 ParaDocs personnel, but ParaDocs CEO Alex Pollak later disputed that total, saying they had 70 on the ground and clarified they didn't own any ambulances, but five to seven were contracted separately to serve Astroworld.[15][16]

Previous incidents

Contractors

Live Nation had been linked to at least 200 deaths and 750 injuries since 2006. From 2016 to 2019, they had also been cited for at least ten OSHA violations, fined for several more serious incidents, and sued civilly at least once for a concert incident.[7][17]

ParaDocs Worldwide and event security contractor Contemporary Services Corporation (CSC) have been the subjects of multiple recent or ongoing lawsuits seeking damages for deaths and/or injuries at concerts staffed by their personnel.[18][19]

Darius Williams, a former CSC employee, told TMZ on November 9 that his Level 2 security officer licensing exam the day before had been brief and open book, with answers provided by the instructor. He said that he quit the morning of the event upon realizing they were understaffed and not equipped to handle the crowds, with several coworkers he spoke with voicing similar concerns. He later added to CNN the little urgency he sensed from supervisors upon raising concerns about rumors of a likely gate rush he'd read and heard from colleagues and friends, which was only answered with an offer to change location positions on the property.[20][15]

Three people that worked for Austin-based concert promoter ScoreMore LLC prior to the incident told Rolling Stone on November 13 about what they described as a disorganized, cost-cutting, and unprofessional past concert work environment, and were surprised that it took them "this long to fuck up this badly." One detailed an assault by the then assistant to the president and the pocketing of box office cash; another described cost-cutting on the height of perimeter fencing and workers' holding them up as they were being crashed at past concerts, and the third detailed mid-concert bulk water purchases as attendees were passing out.[21]

NRG Park

A little less than two weeks earlier at NRG Park, similar circumstances occurred at American rapper Playboi Carti's concert on October 23, causing it to be canceled. Pictures and videos shared on social media showed split metal detectors, rushing of checkpoints, fans on top of cars, and at least one witness statement to the press indicating an ambulance was called for someone that had been trampled, but as of November 11, no details regarding that allegation had been released.[3][22]

Travis Scott

In Scott's previous performances, a number of legal issues, including his incitement of incidents and praising fans for their participation, were experienced. CNN notes that he built his reputation in hip hop with a live show that teetered on the brink of chaos. He'd said he wanted it to feel like a wrestling match.[7][23]

At Lollapalooza in 2015, Scott was charged with disorderly conduct after inciting concertgoers to ignore security and rush the stage.[2] In 2017, he was arrested for similar conduct after a performance in Arkansas at the Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion.[24][25] He was again charged with disorderly conduct and received additional charges for inciting a riot and endangering the welfare of a minor. All charges were later dismissed, with the exception of disorderly conduct, which Scott would plead guilty to.[23] That same year, a fan sued Scott and the organizers of a concert at Terminal 5 in New York City after falling from the third level balcony and being dragged on stage, leaving the fan paralyzed from injuries sustained in the fall, with the lawsuit blaming the fall on a crowd surge.[26] At the same concert, Scott was recorded encouraging other fans to jump off balconies, claiming that the crowd beneath them would catch them.[27] In 2019, three people were injured as a crowd rushed to enter the compound at Astroworld.[28]

On November 8, TMZ reported a promotional video for Astroworld which played up the apparent danger of attending the festival, with spliced news clips hyping the prior years' chaos, had been removed from their social media accounts except for Instagram. Photos on Scott's personal Instagram with his comments glorifying and glamorizing fans that had broken their hands or passed out had still not been taken down. The outlet editorialized in both cases that Scott's "rager" persona and the Astroworld brand that supported it had caught up with them.[29][30]

Incident

Build-up

At approximately 8:15 a.m. HFD received a call from a police lieutenant requesting riot gear due to the crowd's behavior at the security perimeter.[12] The event's first checkpoint was breached around 9:15 a.m., with no immediate evidence of recovery or the number of people who streamed in.[31] Around 9:30 a.m., Houston Fire Department Assistant Chief and event emergency designee Michelle McLeod and the Chief of the closest fire district, Section 21, were denied venue access for a preparatory dry run of NRG Park by an employee at CSC, then again by their head of security, who gave the latter only a map to compensate. McLeod's request for radios was also denied, later supplanted with only a cellphone number, despite ScoreMore LLC's own plans indicating it'd be slow and unreliable due to extra network traffic.[3][32] Several injured concertgoers started being taken to the hospital that morning, a process which continued consistently throughout the afternoon.[33]

At 12:17 p.m., prior to the venue's scheduled opening at 1:00 p.m., staff lost control of another checkpoint, with at least one individual using bolt cutters to enter through the barricade.[12][34] By 2:00 p.m. a VIP entrance completely broke down, as hundreds of fans surged through multiple barricades and checkpoints, knocking over metal detectors and trampling several attendees. At least one person was injured, and several were detained. Multiple eyewitnesses by this point described most wristbanding, pat-downs, and directional posts being abandoned by any authority figures at the entrances or on the grounds, and alcohol and drugs in the possession of numerous attendees later that night in the merchandise section.[12][7][28][35]

Chief Finner knew Scott personally and spoke with him before the show to share his concerns about concert safety.[36] Finner later described the conversation as brief and respectful, and said he had also conveyed his concerns to Scott's head of security. He asked Scott's entire team to work with police, given that it was a challenging time with social unrest and the COVID-19 pandemic.[19][37] Finner told reporters on November 10 that he didn't know Scott well, as he'd only met him twice.[38]

By roughly 3:15 p.m. HPD were already starting to log dangerous crowd conditions, and an EMT dealing with an expected influx of people seeking medical help for overdoses said their understaffed medical teams progressively became overwhelmed with traumatic injuries by 8:15 p.m. to the point they had to stop documenting patients and start triage. After running out of medical equipment and naloxone (a drug used to treat opioid overdoses), treatment was delayed by at least 20 minutes for many patients after being declared unconscious while some medics on-hire that weren't trained in CPR had to seek out audience members that were. Just before 4:00 p.m. HPD logs indicated at least 54 patients had been treated by medical staff and crowd conditions were getting dangerous.[8] At approximately 4:15 p.m. yet another gate was broken and breached by an estimated 150 participants.[31][36][15][39]

Having never received the promised planning calls from ParaDocs' EMS Director, Union President Lancton said HFD, EMS, and PD were forced to respond on their own after hearing cross-traffic on their radios of patrons needing help, being misdirected by security from gate to gate upon arrival.[3] Disputing some claims, ParaDocs CEO Alex Pollak said no CPR patient had to wait for care and they were prepared with enough supplies and the properly allotted 70 workers for an anticipated crowd size of 70,000. In addition, he insisted he was passing along information consistently from the medical tent where he was stationed to their dispatch in the command center and his organization had enough radios for their dispatchers provided by the organizers, but their primary difficulty was in going into crowds to reach victims in time, as many attendees berated, blocked or harassed their dispatchers, treating their efforts as a joke.[15][16]

Scott was set to perform on the first night of the Astroworld Festival, with a countdown timer appearing thirty minutes before his set. Attendees cited by the Houston Chronicle, CNN, and ABC News said that as crowds from the last two of eight guest artists' concerts for Yves Tumor and Don Toliver at the grounds' only other stage, 'Thrills', finished prior to Scott's countdown, they boxed-in the crowd already waiting front-and-center at the 'Chills' stage solely being used that day for Scott's performance. With concession stands just behind that initial crowd directly in front, they were left with nowhere to escape, and compression worsened until breathing became difficult.[40][12][41] Signs of overcrowding were present by 8:39 p.m., when an attendee shot a video of concertgoers trying to escape the crush by climbing over the barricades.[42]

An EMT told The Washington Post he had heard on his radio from other staff that people were being trampled as early as 9:00 p.m., having overheard discussions to shut down the concert early. He didn't know why the show continued, deciding with several colleagues that it was too dangerous to enter the crush and attempt to help the injured.[19] While event organizers had estimated and the Houston Police Department had logged 5,000 non-ticket holders streamed in after the various breaches, with an approximate 55,000 total in attendance at 9:02 p.m. that night, NRG Park Manager Miller later told Harris County Sports & Convention Corporation Chairman of the Board Edgar Colón in a meeting on November 17 that Live Nation's scanner report indicated only 37,858 attendees with scanned tickets on the property, throwing those totals into doubt.[9][34][12] By approximately 8:52 p.m. HPD logs indicated nearly 300 people had already been treated, which ParaDocs CEO Pollak said subsequently wasn't that unusual in his practice for a crowd that size.[42][33][16]

Crush

The crowd crush occurred during a performance by Travis Scott, founder of the Astroworld Festival (pictured here at a 2019 concert).

Scott took the stage at 9:02 p.m. and began performing at 9:06 p.m.[42][40] His appearance on the stage resulted in people pushing toward it, leading to a human crush.[28] A concertgoer later told reporters that the crush was so strong that the crowd moved the individual, and people had little control over their own bodies.[43] According to Houston Fire Chief Sam Peña, at about 9:00 p.m. members of the crowd pressed forward, causing a crush near the stage.[42] He said that the crowd also surged from the sides.[36] He added that the crush was not caused by obstructed exits but by issues close to the stage, where the crowd was tightly packed.[6][44] As people struggled to stay on their feet, several began to fall, and some were injured. Additional panic ensued.[28]

One eyewitness told ABC News that she saw security guards reinforce crowd control barricades by tying the supporting bars together as they began to buckle under the pressure.[45] Disregarding protocol prohibitive to personal harm, an EMT contracted with ParaDocs described on TikTok an impossible situation of having to reject desperate concertgoers grabbing him to assist others he already knew were likely dead in the crowd, with music too loud for radio traffic to be heard and a crowd that didn't care about those around them.[15] Another concertgoer who was 40 feet (12 m) from the stage told Dallas station WFAA-TV that when he complained to a staff member, he was told, "It's a mosh pit, what do you expect?"[46] One fan recounted to Rolling Stone that he witnessed unconscious concertgoers being crowd-surfed out to safety.[47]

One victim filmed herself on the bottom of a pile of people struggling to stay alive, later posting the video to TikTok.[48] An ICU nurse attending the concert who passed out twice from the pressure on her chest and back described her shock to CNN at the "feral" atmosphere, detailing people continuing to trample those on the ground to get to the front despite their screams.[49] Two guests in the rear disabled-accessible section told the Houston Chronicle they saw 50 to 60 people climbing two stories up onto the concert's projection screens with exposed wiring to escape the crush or for better views that weren't stopped by authorities.[12] Crowd surges became so large and volatile that merchandise vendors told USA Today they shut down in an attempt to avoid endangering those in line and working their tables. Some medical personnel, including former army combat medics, wept while working on 11 young concertgoers in cardiac arrest at once in both an over-capacity medical tent and an unforgiving crowd.[16]

At 9:11 p.m. United Command reported the main stage had been compromised, instructing their helicopter to investigate, as video showed fans unable to escape from the area closest to the stage. As the breach was limited to a single section, an official advised standing by and waiting for concert management.[15]

At 9:12 p.m. a tightly packed group of fans began screaming for medical help. At 9:13 p.m. an officer reported multiple fans scaling a gate. At 9:16 p.m. multiple reports of breathing problems and people being trampled were heard sporadically on radio traffic but with no clear location. At 9:18 p.m. HPD logs and radio traffic indicated at least one crush injury and at 9:21 p.m. crowd compression, then at 9:23 p.m. some fans began climbing a speaker tower to escape the crush.[15]

Scott stopped the show for the first time at roughly 9:24 p.m., saying "Somebody passed out right here" towards the front of the stage. Other fans elsewhere continued screaming and waving to attract his attention, but the rapper began his next song.[42] At approximately 9:27 p.m., Scott paused and hunched over after a song. While the crowd chanted his name, Scott stood up and walked to the right, pointing offstage, asking for more lights on an attendee climbing a tree. Meanwhile, some nearby concertgoers were calling out for medical help. Scott then told everyone to make a gesture with their middle fingers "because they are ready to rage", and continued.[42][50][51][52]

At around 9:30 p.m., medical staff moved to someone lying unresponsive in front of a reserved section, then multiple barriers were reported compromised, and officials requested a drone get closer for clearer footage. Scott noticed an ambulance in the crowd and asked concertgoers to raise their arms if they were okay. Many people complied, so he said, "You all know what you came to do, Chase B, let's go," continuing the concert with his song "Upper Echelon" and telling the crowd that he wanted to hear the ground shake.[15]

As Scott was starting to sing at roughly 9:34 p.m, a woman was filmed climbing a ladder to the media tower to solicit help from camera operators, resulting in 'may-day' requests from the staff. A man soon joined her, voicing the same concerns, but another audience member told him that the crowd would take care of it. "People are fucking dying! I want to save somebody's life! That's somebody's kid!", he responded.[42][50][51][52]

At around 9:42 p.m. Scott stopped performing "90210" mid-song for the third and final time after noticing an unconscious attendee. Security team members provided aid, and he resumed the performance. A video showed an unconscious man being carried from the area.[42][50][51]

At around 9:43 p.m., a group of concertgoers began chanting "Stop the show!", but their requests were unheeded. At 9:55 p.m. an audience member was seen dancing on the roof of a retrofitted golf cart being used by medical staff as an ambulance. Just prior to 10:00 p.m. eyewitnesses noted the initial crush seemed to be over, but things got chaotic again with the arrival of Drake, who joined Scott on the song "Knife Talk." Scott and Drake started the song "Sicko Mode" at approximately 10:08 p.m. before the show closed with the final song, "Goosebumps," after which Scott waved to the crowd while jogging offstage, saying "“I love y’all. Make it home safe. Good night!”[40][6][42][50][51]

Immediate response

The staff at the concert's unified command confirmed awareness of multiple injuries at 9:21 p.m., but the concert continued. Concertgoers recorded staff performing CPR on unconscious attendees as early as 9:28 p.m.[42][53] As medical personnel were overwhelmed in triage,[54] audience members attempted to help perform CPR as well.[28] Several people were administered naloxone.[55][52]

At approximately 9:30 p.m. a panicked female officer asked for clear airwaves on radio traffic to report multiple trampled victims passed out at the medical tent, warning of a thick, unruly crowd that might worsen with officer rescues. An HFD district chief at his command post in a parking lot a mile away who was never given a radio within ParaDocs' network overheard her on cross-traffic on his own device. Upon confirmation minutes later from a deputy chief of a compressing crowd with several attendees staggering out experiencing panic attacks, and with no time for further consultation, he ordered an 'EMT Task Force' of sixteen units to mobilize to the scene. Peña said that most of the fatalities likely occurred after 9:30 p.m.[16][31][53][52]

At 9:33 p.m. police reported multiple victims trampled and passed out at the front of the stage, and over the next ten minutes, police operators fielded five 911 calls about unconscious people in the crowd and reports of possible CPR ongoing or needed. At 9:38 p.m., a ParaDocs dispatcher at the concert's unified command relayed a mass-casualty incident to officials, a 'Level 1' event was declared, 16 units were dispatched, and radio traffic for an undetermined amount of time for many officials became entirely unintelligible.

At roughly 9:40 p.m. a Houston police official advised several inquiring Houston fire officials on the radio that the show would be stopping soon, but the concert kept going. At approximately 9:53 p.m., Houston fire officials upgraded the mass-casualty incident to a 'Level 2' event, sending 12 more units. At least one of the district chiefs of those units was misdirected by security to a gate a half-mile from the medical tent, which wasted what he described as crucial minutes where patrons were likely dying. At least seventeen people were eventually transferred to hospitals following the incident that night. At roughly this point, Houston police asked the Live Nation promoters to end the event early, which they verbally agreed to do, but despite radio traffic from a female officer around 10:03 p.m. that the show had been stopped, Scott and Drake kept performing.[16][31][15][56][52][2][54][52]

Questions arose in the press over whether proper protocol was followed in identifying suspected deceased victims by code name over the radio.[36] Footage from the event shows police officers near the stage pointing their phones at the stage, with the performance going on, fifteen minutes after the mass casualty event was declared.[57] The event ended at approximately 10:10 p.m. to 10:15 p.m.[a] The New York Times claimed that the show ended thirty minutes earlier than scheduled.[36] At 11:00 p.m. Houston Fire officials called off any more of their paramedics from heading to the scene.[31] In response to inquiries about the roughly 40 minute delay after a mass casualty declaration, Chief Finner said, after consultation with local officials, that "you cannot just close when you have over 50,000 individuals", citing concerns about possible riots with a younger crowd.[60]

Victims

Eight victims, aged 9 to 27, died on the night of the concert.[61] One of the injured, a 22-year-old woman, was declared brain dead on November 9[62] and died the next day.[32] A 9-year-old boy was placed in a medically induced coma after being crushed and trampled at the concert, becoming the tenth fatality of the event when he died on November 14.[63]

Twenty-five people were evacuated to local hospitals that night.[16][31][14][28] In all, more than 300 people were treated for injuries in the field hospital at the festival.[35][64][8]

Aftermath

Following the crush, the event gained widespread notoriety. A reunification center was set up at the Wyndham Houston Hotel for families searching for relatives.[35] In its first statement of condolences the next day, at roughly 6:00 a.m., after the initial casualties had been announced, Astroworld clarified in a social media post the second night of the festival on November 6 was canceled.[64][65]

Immediately following the concert, Scott went to a pre-scheduled, private after-party at a local Dave & Buster’s hosted by friend and co-performer Drake. They allegedly did not hear pleas to stop the concert, first learning about the severity of the event at the restaurant and immediately leaving.[66][67][68]

Two days after the crush, a makeshift memorial for the victims was created on a chain link fence outside the festival area, with prayer candles, flowers, pictures of the deceased, and stuffed animals among the items left. A non-profit group from San Antonio provided therapy dogs at the scene.[47][69] The Sunday Service Choir, an American gospel collective led by rapper and producer Kanye West, partnered with Triller and Revolt TV to hold a free live online worship service in memory of and tribute to those who died.[70]

On November 14, Houston rapper Bun B and local restaurant Eatsie Boys hosted a local "Breaking Bread" event joined by Trae tha Truth, a local distillery and several food trucks that used their surplus supply originally intended for the remainder of the festival, donating a portion of sales to the victims and their families.[71][72]

Reactions

On the night of the incident, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) described the events as horrific and said that there needed to be a very serious, credible, and objective investigation.[73] In a statement posted on his social media the next day, Scott offered his condolences to those who died, and offered support to local authorities.[74] Later that day, he posted a video response on Instagram, which many outlets quickly criticized for its perceived insincerity.[75][76][77] Also that day, Kylie Jenner, Scott's girlfriend who attended the show, released a statement indicating that they were unaware of the fatalities until afterwards, and added that had they known, they would not have continued filming or performing.[78] Apple Music, who live streamed the event, deleted their social media posts related to the festival and issued a statement commemorating the victims.[79]

That day Texas governor Greg Abbott said: "What happened at Astroworld Festival last night was tragic, and our hearts are with those who lost their lives and those who were injured in the terrifying crowd surge."[6] On November 10, he announced the formation of a task force that would begin the work of creating safety standards and guidelines for future events of this type.[80][11][81]

Live Nation in a statement said: "Our entire team is mourning alongside the community", and they were working on ways to support attendees, the families of victims, and staff with mental health counseling and help with hospital costs for the victims and their loved ones, promising refunds to all paying concertgoers. A "modest" 5% share price fall totaling more than $1 billion was wiped from Live Nation's stock value on the Monday following the incident, with company observers prioritizing the impact long-term of litigation over prior concerns such as COVID-19 recovery and congressional inquiry into ticket scalping.[82][83]

Scott announced in a statement on November 8 that he was offering a month of free online therapy to people who attended the concert through an unpaid partnership with BetterHelp and that he would cover the costs of funerals for those killed at the festival.[84][85][86] Drake released his first statement that day as well, voicing similar sentiments.[87][88]

Variety reported Scott had cancelled his headlining appearance at the Day N Vegas Festival, slated for November 13 in Las Vegas, Nevada.[89] Scott and DJ Chase B’s streetwear boutique at Rice Village in Houston closed following the incident, Nike postponed the early 2022 launch of it's footwear collaboration with Scott "out of respect" for the victims, fashion label Dior was strongly considering as of November 10th pulling their entire season's men's collection for which they fully collaborated with Scott, and Epic Games without explanation temporarily removed their Travis Scott Fortnite emote November 7.[90][66][91]

"Splash Brothers", a track upon which Drake featured on French Montana's album They Got Amnesia, was removed without warning from streaming services upon Drake's request prior to the album's release on November 19, with plans to still release it later on a subsequent deluxe edition.[92]

American rapper Roddy Ricch and American singer, songwriter, and producer Toro y Moi both announced that they would be donating their net compensation for performing at the event to the victims' families.[93][94]

Investigation

The causes of death are still under criminal investigation, which as of November 8 was being run by the HPD's homicide and narcotics divisions.[18][37][53] As of November 9, the Harris County Institute of Forensic Science had completed autopsies for the eight initial victims; the causes of those deaths are still under investigation. A spokesperson for the Harris County Medical Examiner's Office said that results could take several weeks.[11][95]

Police reported that a security officer allegedly fell unconscious after feeling a prick to his neck and that he had a puncture wound consistent with an injection.[55][96] It was initially reported by The Wall Street Journal that part of the investigation into the deaths was to determine if drugs laced with fentanyl were taken by concertgoers and potentially contributed to the deaths of some.[37][97] On November 8, Houston Police emphasized that the drugging theory was unconfirmed, while toxicology experts and concert attendees cast doubt on its validity.[98] On November 9, Chief Finner confirmed that evidence of drugs on the festival grounds existed, but it was not clear what those drugs were.[99] On November 10, Chief Finner confirmed the security guard who made the allegations was located and that his story was not consistent with the reporting of injected drugs, clarifying he was actually struck in the head and fell unconscious.[38]

In the immediate aftermath of the incident, local homicide and narcotics investigators,[95] representatives for the insurance companies of the defendants, OSHA, and lawyers for the concertgoers were on the scene.[100] A judge's limited freeze order the night of November 8 allowed victims' lawyers to investigate and photograph the site and required organizers to preserve evidence after an agreement was reached with defendants, clarifying it didn't waive their legal defenses entirely.[101] Live Nation and ScoreMore LLC said they were working with local authorities, investigators were inspecting the grounds, and CCTV video had been turned over.[11][19]

On November 8, FBI Director Christopher Wray confirmed to ABC News that his agency would be providing technical assistance to local investigators and FBI Houston branch spokesperson Brittany Davis clarified subsequently they were ready to assist, but city officials initially declined to divulge publicly subsequently whether the department had asked for the FBI's aid or accepted the help. On November 10, Chief Finner called the FBI a partner in the investigation, but clarified his department was taking the lead.[95][102][103]

Jurisdiction

Lawyers for the victims and local officials, including Harris County judge Lina Hidalgo, proposed an independent investigation to avoid conflicts of interest, and Chief Finner indicated on November 10 he'd be open to it if the HPD's investigation revealed there was a need, however subsequent reporting indicated the ability of the county to take action had been greatly complicated procedurally by Finner's announcement of his own investigation and politically by Scott's ties to and investment in the city.[19][38][104] Amid a conflict over jurisdiction between the city and the county on instituting additional permitting at NRG Park post-incident, Mayor Turner also said he wouldn't wait for the county commissioners to institute changes before taking action on his own.[44]

The following week, crowd management expert and head of L.A.-based Crowd Management Strategies, Paul Wertheimer, who served on a task force following The Who concert disaster (1979), argued to The Washington Post that only an independent commission would provide a satisfactory analysis.[18] On November 15, despite what she described as public and private lobbying and clarification she didn't wish to interfere with the Houston police investigation, Judge Hidalgo couldn't get three votes on the Harris County Commissioners Board to have a county auditor pick a firm to do an assessment then give recommendations and best practices.

Instead, Judge Hidalgo joined her colleagues for a unanimous vote for an internal review by Harris County Administrator David Berry of the safety practices at scheduled outdoor events at NRG Park, Harris County Sports & Convention Corporation and the Harris County Houston Sports Authority, in coordination with Mayor Turner's office and relevant departments. The commissioners' reasoning was initially unclear as executive sessions weren't public, however Commissioner Adrian Garcia indicated prior to the session his concern about the county being exposed to liability from new revelations. She later expressed her concerns on whether Administrator Berry would come back with actionable lessons that weren't vague and soon forgotten.[105][15]

Culpability

Stopping the show

Chief Peña told The New York Times on November 7 that he felt Scott and the organizers were the people responsible to stop the show, explaining that the one person who can really call for and get a tactical pause when something goes wrong is the performer, clarifying it would have been very helpful if Scott had said 'Hey, shut this thing down and turn on the lights until this thing gets corrected'.[36] Scott’s spokesperson Stephanie Rawlings-Blake called Peña's claim ludicrous, citing the festival operations’ chain of command for Scott’s lack of authority and a communications breakdown.[106]

Chief Finner said on Twitter following a press conference on November 10 that Houston police had told organizers to shut down the performance while at least one person was receiving CPR, but didn't clarify when the show stopped after police had made the request.[107] Scott’s lawyer Ed McPherson called Finner and Peña's claims blame-shifting and inconsistent, citing the former's implied retraction of an initial claim that concerns about rioting explained the delay for their response, prior precedent with HPD shutting off power and sound at the 2019 iteration of the festival when it ran 5 minutes over, as well as video of Houston cops seen taking photos and video approximately 25 minutes after a mass-casualty event was declared. He also supported the initial reporting of his client’s lack of knowledge of the events that transpired until the following day and defended Scott’s calls to rage as simply a form of audience engagement, pointing to Scott’s attempts to help fans and distractions from the lights and his ear-piece.[103][108][109][110]

USA Today’s Editorial Board called Chief Finner’s initial claim of concern about rioting to explain the procedural delay in stopping the show inexplicable, noting the event wasn’t a “sovereign entity, where emissaries negotiate a conclusion”, and called for city or county officials who relinquished their authority to be properly investigated.[111] Videos of other concerts being paused by artists such as Kurt Cobain, Adele, Kendrick Lamar, Rihanna, Dave Grohl, ASAP Rocky, Chris Martin, Mike Shinoda, and Lil Pump to address safety concerns and medical emergencies soon went viral in response to the incident.[112][113][114] Artist SZA who had performed at Astroworld earlier the same day of the incident stopped her concert less than a week later in Salt Lake City due to someone fainting in the audience, insisting her team bring them water, and arguing during the break for a culture shift for shows going forward.[115]

Contractor and patron issues

In Facebook posts made during and immediately after the event, Houston security director for CSC Jason Huckabey blamed festival attendees, who he called "idiots...from 15-22 in age," while attributing deaths to a generation that "has no value in other peoples lives" and "waves of dumbasses breaking down fences trying to rush in" while his guards tried to halt them.[19]

Describing the events as an impossible feat for which he'd have nightmares the rest of his life, ParaDocs CEO Pollak defended his on-hand event staff of more than 70, including former Army combat medics, to reporters on November 15. Emphasizing his firm didn't have the ability to stop the concert, he expressed he personally felt it should've been earlier but understood early concerns mentioned post-incident about possible rioting.[15] Houston Fire Deputy Chief Isaac Garcia, who had lobbied for years with his union with little success to mandate a greater presence of their firefighters at larger events, told USA Today that no communication opportunities by radio or in pre-planning left them with no recourse but to assume ParaDocs was being overrun, at which point any of their recovery efforts would come too late and likely have been in vain.[16]

Legal and cultural fallout

Legal counsel for several festivals, lawyers for past concert victims, and experts on past concert disaster task forces were largely cynical if not hostile in several outlets in subsequent weeks to the idea the industry-standard practice for standing-room-only general admission tickets would change substantially if at all indoors or outdoors. They argued the failures of Astroworld on layout, personnel and chain of command, etc. weren't and/or shouldn't be a sweeping referendum on festival culture as a whole, and practices such as assigned seating weren't just unaffordable for many smaller indoor venues but aesthetically didn't make sense for large outdoor festivals. However, organizers' taking more responsibility on utilizing a 'stop show', whereby parties would contact the head of security to cut the music and/or turn on bright lights onto an audience at the proper time while a problem was assessed, despite the financial incentive not to, was seen as much more plausible for those in live entertainment to adapt to.[18][116][117]

An attorney that represented victims of the Indiana State Fair stage collapse (2011) told Rolling Stone the event was predictable as well as foreseeable and therefore preventable, the lawsuits would likely be consolidated to prevent conflicting decisions before a single judge, and that people needed to head to jail for future change in the industry. An attorney that represented victims of the Station Nightclub Fire (2003) also called the circumstances Russian roulette with a loaded gun and gross negligence to the outlet, citing Chief Finner's meeting with Scott prior to the concert as emphasizing his knowledge of a likelihood of foreseeable risk, and arguing all the defendants would settle en masse as the prosecution's case was much better than her's was. Other attorneys argued to Yahoo! Finance even though Scott likely wouldn't be held liable in court as he didn't incite violence through direct specific action for which his past reputation, behavior, lyrics, and legal woes didn't apply, he'd have a hard time with live bookings for the foreseeable future as a high insurance liability.[118][90]

Lawsuits

Attorneys for the deceased, injured, and traumatized fans stated in court documents that organizers were motivated by profit at concertgoers' expense and should have foreseen the potential for a disastrous outcome.[119] Defendants in the suits included Travis Scott and Drake (as Drake joined Scott in his headline set),[120] the concert's streamer Apple Music, concert promoters Live Nation Entertainment and Scoremore Holdings LLC, venues and management including NRG Energy, NRG Park, CSC, ASM Global, Tri Star Sports & Entertainment Group, ParaDocs Worldwide and the Harris County Sports & Convention Corporation, record labels behind production Epic Records, Grand Hustle Records, and Scott's own Cactus Jack Records, and various other security firms, producers, promoters, subcontractors, and public relations officials.[100][121][122]

According to the certificate of liability insurance for NRG Park obtained by TMZ that was filed with the city of Houston, they had $1 million in primary coverage with an umbrella of $25 million. The outlet reported that as of November 9 there was not any evidence of other coverage, and speculated regarding which parties would be held responsible and possibly have to file for bankruptcy if the insurance turns out to be inadequate to pay out all the claims.[123]

Active litigation

As of November 8, 2021, according to the Houston Chronicle, at least 36 civil lawsuits, including several class actions, had been filed. According to state legal experts, that number was likely to grow,[100] with total liability likely reaching hundreds of millions of dollars in cases that would take years to resolve.[119] As of November 10, 2021, according to one defense lawyer who provided immediate free case consultations to all Astroworld victims, he estimated, based on the volume and speed with which his firm was contacted, that damages would reach into the billions.[124]

Prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump announced on November 12, 2021 that he and his associates were representing over 200 people in at least 93 lawsuits against many of the same parties as those filed prior, with one representing 90 people filed that day. He emphasized in his press conference that he wasn't just seeking justice but permanent change in live entertainment practices going forward.[125] Another suit by attorney Tony Buzbee representing more than 125 fans, including the family of a victim that died, was reported on November 16, 2021, that sought $750 million in total damages.[121] Yet another suit filed by attorney Thomas J. Henry on November 18, 2021, on behalf of 282 victims of the concert, sought $2 billion in damages.[126]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Turner said that the show ended at 10:10 p.m.,[58] though attendees cited by CNN and the Houston Chronicle have provided various times between 10:13 p.m. and 10:15 p.m.[41][42] Scott's set was scheduled to start at 8:45 p.m. and end at 10:30 p.m.[59]

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