8 dead after panic at Houston Astroworld music festival

[Thtwudbeme]

Source: NBC News

At least eight people are dead after a panic during the sold-out Astroworld music festival in Houston on Friday, the fire chief said.

Seventeen people were transported to the hospital after the crush, and 11 who were taken by ambulance were in cardiac arrest, Houston officials said. In all, more than 300 people were treated throughout the event Friday at an on-site field hospital.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/8-dead-after-panic-houston-astroworld-music-festival-n1283397

[TexasTowelie]

1. They may need to increase the body count over the next couple of weeks.

It says that people passed out as they rushed and crowded around the stage. It's difficult to believe that a few COVID cases won't arise in that environment.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

5. Photos in the Houston Chronicle show extremely packed crowd with no masks.

Credit: Jamaal Ellis/Contributor, Houston Chronicle


Considering multiple case exposures, COVID deaths will likely surpass concert crush deaths.

KY.......

[Ace Rothstein]

14. Very unlikely COVID deaths will surpass people killed in last night's tragic event.

We saw this with Lollapalooza over the summer which led to very few cases and no deaths.

[madville]

15. Yep, judging from the performers

It’s gonna be a young crowd, very unlikely there will be many, if any, direct COVID deaths.

[lapfog_1]

59. Ok... a few facts

With Delta variant... younger people (30s and 40s) are getting sicker and more are dying than with Alpha.

And it's not that these people get sick and die, it's who they spread it to over the next few days and week that will get sick and die.

The Pandemic is NOT over. Not until 80 to 90 percent of the population of the world is vaccinated AND no mutations happen that evade the vaccines OR until there is wide spread early detection coupled with a very effective treatments which are easy to administer in third world countries and cheap enough for the world to buy them.

Going to a concert and not wearing a mask, being fully vaccinated, and trying to keep a little social distancing is the height of selfishness and arrogance.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

38. With no contact tracing, we have no way to know that beyond conjecture.

These young folks that get infections take that shit home to parents and grandparents and to other youth. Plus, the transmission rate of Delta variant is quite high and we're just entering the winter holiday season.

Effective contact tracing around the globe likely could have saved millions of lives but right-wingers resisted it 'cause freedom.

Bottom line is, we'll never know.

[erronis]

48. Possibly excess mortality among the attendees and families/friends/associates.

It doesn't look like a safe place to be. But at that age mortality is not high on their worries.

[former9thward]

28. People have been posting predictions about CV deaths all summer and now the fall.

Especially about college football games which are just as packed. None have happened.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

32. I find it kinda amazing that this would be a pic from inside the stadium where the Texans play

Which is the place called NRG Park, mentioned in the article.

I guess maybe it could've been set up in the parking lot of the Stadium though.

Though I still think it's likely somewhere completely different.

Edit: Found it elsewhere, it was 'outside NRG Park', presumably in the parking lot.

[Demovictory9]

50. they arent allowed to require masks..gop/Abbot eliminated.their ability

To require masks

[KY_EnviroGuy]

55. Some days it feels like we're in an alternate reality....

and I think that's what the GOP and Russia wants - mass confusion and delusion.

[Texaswitchy]

68. This is fun?

All smashed together and sweaty bodies bouncing off each other.

I went to a lot of concerts and never felt the need.

Anybody else saw Neil Diamond?.

He put on a show.

[MySideOfTown]

2. Don't take the brown meth.

[vanlassie]

3. Holy shit.

[hlthe2b]

4. My Dad always hated crowds--something I didn't understand until years later.

Now, I can't imagine going to an event with really large packed-in crowds, alcohol, and no assigned seating. Especially indoors (and that was before COVID-19). Crowd behavior is unpredictable.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

7. Specific crowds unpredictable, but in general predictable. Your dad was wise

Stadium design, and that of other facilities (airports, schools, etc.), takes into consideration crowd surges, security/policing, and funneling. However, probably not as much as they could.

It used to be worse back when your dad would have been a kid (regardless of your age), bigger death tolls, etc. For example, 92 people died in the Hillsborough Stadium disaster in 1989.

The January 6th insurrectionists killed two of their own by trampling one to death and cardiac arresting another to death. (Covid had already proved they think life is cheap.) This fact deserves wider attention.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

39. This wasn't even a facility, it was a parking lot outside a facility (nt)

[Bernardo de La Paz]

42. As I understand it, it was a crush at the stage. The videos in the parking lot presaged the tragedy

... but weren't the actual tragedy.

(I have not seen any videos/TV, but the reports I read said a crush in the standing area in front of the stage.)

[Hugh_Lebowski]

44. I don't believe the concert was held inside NRG stadium, period

The stage was outdoors, in the parking lot (in some manner of speaking ... it was on the stadium grounds, but not in the stadium), IOW.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

46. Ah, that would resolve the discrepancy. . . . nt

[Auggie]

8. +1

[ananda]

6. I saw the KHOU Twitter feed...

There was no crowd control and
no water stations, mostly just a
bunch of kids crammed together
with cell phones held high.

How this could happen this way
during a pandemic likely makes a
a huge statement about our
collective pathology.

And it was way more than 8 people
that died according to one commenter.

[Crowman2009]

18. So the organizers of this event took the Woodstock 99' approach.

[TxGuitar]

65. There was a lot of security

528 Houston police and over750 private security.

[Budi]

9. Frightening. Videos posted on local ABC13 News site.

Couple of uncut videos as you scroll downpage.
Unbelievable & this occurred BEFORE they ever got into the concert! At the entrance.
People have gone mad.
One kid saying, "I just wanted to get inside so bad"


https://www.google.com/amp/s/abc13.com/amp/astroworld-festival-travis-scotts-houston-crowds-trampled/11202546/

Link to tweet

[Ace Rothstein]

17. They didn't even stop the show as medics were trying to treat people.

There are some very disturbing videos out there on Twitter.

[RussBLib]

26. are people really this starved for live entertainment?

Come on, people, get a fucking grip.

I would never get into such a crowd. I'd be one that would be trampled to death.

At least 8 dead from this? Ridiculous.

[Demovictory9]

51. Those are the kids who broke free

There is another denser pile up before the point of this video

[Budi]

56. Yes. This was the ones who ran thru sec checkpoints just get in

I've seen some of the later vids & it's insanity.
Dancing over dead bodies. For Travis Scot. 😬

Damn.

[pfitz59]

61. The event should have been canceled than and there

with no refunds. I work in event management, and this was a complete failure.

[hatrack]

10. This sounds familiar . . ..

[shrike3]

34. Also reminds me of the Who concert in Cincinnati.

Obviously have no video of that.

[Texaswitchy]

11. Time for your booster shot.

Crazy

[twodogsbarking]

12. Let's not forget......

The Who concert disaster occurred on December 3, 1979, when British rock band The Who performed at Riverfront Coliseum (now known as Heritage Bank Center) in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, and a rush of concert-goers outside the Coliseum's entry doors resulted in the deaths of 11 people

[Traildogbob]

13. Wow, sure packed in there

Was it a Clapton and Travis Tritt show? Ted Nugent opening. More dead and blood on Abbott. FreeDumb! They are so Free to be Dumb.

[madville]

16. It was black rap artists, Travis Scott and Drake

As the headliners. So it was a young and ethnically diverse crowd, especially in the Houston area. Sounds like a crowd control/capacity failure, tragedy regardless.

[Paladin]

19. Well put, madville. (nt)

[Traildogbob]

24. Thanks

After seeing video I noticed it was largely POC. The Clapton, Travis post was sarcastic seeing the crowd from the stage so packed, Maskless and screaming. It seems like more of the “Damn the laws”, no consequences in America for that kind of craziness. But those young people forgot, storming the Capital was whities, if they skirt the law they face a different outcome. The horses reminded me of George Floyd park in DC. I wonder how Travis and Drake approach Vax and masked regulation to attend. I DO remember the first WoodStock ultimately got stormed. Still the loss of lives and injuries are horrible. Their all somebodies kids.

[Devil Child]

20. It wasn't country music and nugent fans killed

[Steelrolled]

23. I sort of figured that out due to lack of

comments mocking the crowd for their stupidity.

[JI7]

53. There are comments about it but it's mostly a young crowd

unlike right wing crowds that tend to be older and often overweight so more at risk

[Steelrolled]

57. LOL, the one thing they have going for them is at usually at some point

in your life you experience what out-of-control crowds can be like, and you learn to stay out of it. I would be in that group.

[DownriverDem]

21. Not going

to a concert any time soon.

[Initech]

30. I've been to several already this year.

So far nothing bad has happened at any of them. Hell I am going to see Ween tonight.

[melm00se]

22. My wife thought

that most cities and venues had outlawed festival "seating" at the 1979 Who debacle in Cincinnati.

I honestly thought that this was the case too.

[FakeNoose]

27. It's criminal negligence! I see lots of lawsuits in their future

[rdmtimp]

31. Cincinnati was the only city to ban it altogether.

The ban was rescinded in 2004, evidently because many concerts were passing them by as a result. A lot of artists want at least partial festival seating (like a mosh pit or something similar upfront).

Before rescinding the ban Cincy made a one-time exception in 2002 for a Bruce Springsteen show and evidently there were no issues.

[shrike3]

35. I was at the first concert the Who played after the Cincinnati tragedy.

What I remember most is the Who's jumpiness. Pete Townsend and John Entwhistle stopped the show twice to ask everyone in front to take "one step back." Roger Daltrey kept asking how everyone was doing and it wasn't in a lighthearted way. They were spooked. Who could blame them?

[Bayard]

25. Looks kind of like the storming at the Capitol on 1/6

Thoughtless, dangerous, full steam ahead, and I-got-mine.

[TexasBushwhacker]

29. This was a very young audience

I imagine the average age was under 25 and it is very hard to get tens of thousands of young people to behave in an orderly fashion. They should ban unreserved seating in this type of venue. NRG stadium has seating for over 70K, and that's not counting the field. This is inexcusable.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

37. It was outside the park, presumably the parking lot (nt)

[Bernardo de La Paz]

43. As I understand it, the vids were from before entry, but the deaths occurred in front of the stage

All the reports I read talk about a "surge towards the stage". (I have not seen vids or TV.)

[Hugh_Lebowski]

45. Replied to your other post :) nt

[TeamProg]

33. I know the sensation and fright.

I was 20 when with a group of friends and myself slept outside overnight in line at the Cow Palace (Beatles played there, too) in SF Bay Area to get to front of the crowd at a Yes / Gentle Giant prog-rock concert in 1976.

Doors opened, we immediately ran to the front of the general seating floor to the wooden barrier, we sat down to expand our personal space.

The crowd built up behind us, by showtime we were standing and being crushed into the wooden barrier that separates the floor from the stage.

The barrier cracked, a girl broke her arm and was taken away.

Bill Graham, the promoter, walked by through the gap between the barrier and the stage and a buddy of mine got Bill's attention and said "Hey Bill, I want to get my 2 cents in for reserved seating". Bill Graham flipped us off. What an a-hole.

General seating is a danger with big crowds.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

36. Talking my language buddy :)

Went to at least 10 shows in the 80's at the Palace. And Kiss in 1978, my first concert ever.

Also seen Yes 3 or 4 times at places in the Bay.

[TeamProg]

40. Right on! This show was the second Relayer album tour. The Bay Area was / is rich with entertainment

options. The three original Keystones always had something going on, too.

The Warfield on Market St SF was one of my fav's.. Cushy seats!

Shoreline, American Music Hall, Greek Theater at UC Berkeley were also pretty great overall.

Kiss at the Cow Palace.. Fiery!

[Hugh_Lebowski]

41. Went to them all many times ...

Also The Fillmore, Slims, The Kabuki, SF Civic Center, Concord Pavilion, OACC Stadium/Arena, Fox Theater ... to name a few ...

Went to a few concerts in my day these are nearly all from the Bay except a couple from LA/San Diego venues, and one or two from AZ.

[Tikki]

47. So much sympathy to the families of those lost and injured.

This has happened before and apparently lessons still need to be learned from
past mistakes and failures.

Went to a large arena show once (Jethro Tull) and
a large stadium show (Alice Cooper) only once.
Just too much of what we didn't want in a show.

Started going to Clubs, Theatres and Amphitheatres after that
and we were close up, sometimes the music was way loud, yeah,
but the smaller crowds were more our style.

The Tikkis

[Mosby]

49. People magazine

Link to tweet

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

67. A wild guess: Kylie was not in the "General Admission" crowd vying for fast entry, ...

... to get to the good locations, or in the crowd pressing at the front of the stage.

I'm guessing she was in the other area, by the limousines and the VIP courtesy tents.

Good to hear she's safe.

[Corgigal]

69. Yeah,

she’s pregnant with the 2nd child of the star rapper. She was always safe.

People on Reddit are saying that Houston PD called Live Nation around 8 mins into this rappers start, saying people are down. Nothing stopped.

Adults then began climbing and trying to get into raised lighting spots, asking them to stop the show. They said they can’t because they were live steaming for apple.

38 mins later, Houston PD contacts Live Nation and tells them, we have a mass causality event. Travis Scott just finished his set. He never stopped, and don’t look for videos because it’s sickening. Everyone is already being sued, and Houston PD is investigating this criminally.

[rollin74]

52. police investigating reports someone was injecting drugs into people in the crowd

a security guard had to be revived with narcan after he was jabbed in the neck with something

multiple other victims were also treated with narcan at the scene

[Withywindle]

63. This hasn't been verified by any reliable source

It comes from the Houston police department, which I don't consider reliable. The security officer this allegedly happened to has not been found or identified. Is it possible someone OD'd on something and needed Narcan? Certainly. But that's not what caused the mass disaster.

This in-depth Rolling Stone article explains in more detail what happened, and touches on that rumor a little bit at the end.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/eyewitnesses-astroworld-houston-travis-scott-1254208/

[Withywindle]

54. Footage of a young woman DESPERATELY trying to get a cameraman's attention

Trying to tell him what's going on and get him to focus on what's happening in the crowd. Another concertgoer yells "STOP THE SHOW" The cameraman brushes them off.

Link to tweet

[cate94]

58. When I was young we

Went to a general admission concert in We were near the front when they opened the doors. I was lifted off my feet and turned completely around. I was scared shitless and being carried by the crowd. It was just after The Who disaster. I remember yelling stop, but otherwise no control of my body. So scary. I’m so sorry for the people who were crushed.

I couldn’t tolerate crowds for years after.

[Galraedia]

60. This is why you don't have a rap concert in Texas. They turn it into a country western.

[TxGuitar]

66. What does that even mean????nt

[pfitz59]

62. I see a whole lot of lawsuits coming down

Wonder if Jenner had an investment in this production? Deep pockets...

[TexasBushwhacker]

70. Unless Travis Scott did something like encouraging

people to rush the stage, it will be Live Nation that pays. BTW, LN has had 200 deaths at their concerts over the last 15 years.

[milestogo]

64. Videos show Travis Scott's Astroworld concert continued despite desperate pleas for help

from the crowd

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2021/11/06/astroworld-concert-video/

This was really bad. People were desperate to stop the show, and the band apparently did not see or hear the chaos that was going on for over an hour.

[TexasBushwhacker]

71. One of the injured is a 9 year old boy, Ezra Blount

He was on his father's shoulders. The father was crushed in the crowd and fainted. The boy fell off, getting trampled. He's now in a medically induced coma.

This is horrible, but why would anyone take a 9 year old to a GA concert?