Tragedy Strikes at Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival

On November 5, 2021, Travis Scott held his annual Astroworld Festival in Houston, Texas. What began as a fun celebration of music and entertainment ended in tragedy and catastrophe for far too many festival-goers.
The mayhem started early on into the festival when a stampede of attendees decided to rush past security and managed to plunge themselves into an exclusive VIP area without paying.
One by one, bystanders and security alike got trampled over, all in the name of selfishness and greed, amongst other things. The chaos did not end there, and it got much worse whenever Travis and his fellow performers took to the stage to perform.
More than 50,000 people attended this event, yet the venue was nowhere near accommodating that number, and the lot where the concert took place was quite claustrophobic, to be frank.
The large number of guests paired with the inadequate venue accommodations was a pure disaster waiting to happen. Members of the audience began to collapse as the masses squeezed into one another, leaving very little room to breathe, let alone enjoy themselves, and causing many to pass out.
Those who became unconscious were left to sink into the pit of the crowd. All these people could do was groan and scream for help, but no one could hear them over the music that continued to play. They were essentially getting smothered alive by the swarm of feet above them—stomping, jumping, and shoving each other endlessly.
No one seemed to bat an eye except a handful of brave souls who realized that these people were beyond being in need of help; they were dying. Videos have surfaced of people dancing on top of ambulances, staff continuing to film even after being alerted of danger, and even Travis himself watching an unconscious member of the crowd getting carried away and then continuing to rap.
This mass hysteria resulted in death for at least 8 people, two of which were children. Additionally, 300 people were injured and rushed to hospitals at the hands of the poorly-managed and highly irresponsible staff at this event.
One question remains: why was nothing done to put an end to this madness? When Travis and his team were aware of the first stampede, the event should have shut down. Both the organizers and the artists alike are absolutely to blame and should be held fully accountable for all the deaths and injuries that have taken place.
People go to concerts to enjoy themselves, and it is hard to imagine attending one for your favorite artist and getting injured or losing your life in return. It is quite haunting to think of how greed and affluence can overshadow a person’s morality. The lives of Travis’s fans should have mattered more than the success of this event, and quite candidly, the notes app apology he issued after the fact seemed very dehumanized. No amount of excuses nor compensation can bring back a life, and the blood is whole-heartedly on his and his team’s hands.