“Rager’’ is a term commonly used to describe a monumental party. Ragers are supposed to be wild, quarrelsome, and allow the crowd to explore their more aggressive emotions. Prior to Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival, this was only a term Scott defined his image by, going as far as to tattoo the word on his hand; but what actually unfolded was far beyond a simple rager and served as a hefty reminder of the importance of thorough event planning.
Before being removed as a Coachella Headliner, Kanye West had promised to invite Travis Scott with him on stage. Travis Scott himself was removed from the lineup in December, following the events of Astroworld. In his now-deleted Instagram post, Kanye said that “Trav had no idea of what was happening when he was on stage,” but his mistakes weren’t made solely on the stage. Kanye’s comments represent a lack of clarity as to what exactly got Travis Scott in hot water.
Travis Scott’s music festival was intended to be rowdy. Held in November, the rapper’s third annual music festival hosted fellow trap rousers Chief Keef, Young Thug, and 21 Savage. Without a doubt, concertgoers expected a certain level of aggression and anger.
As the first night of the two-day festival came to a close, Astroworld began to trend across social media, as rumors and reports alike exposed how the night turned grim. The festival left 10 dead and hundreds of fans injured.
The majority of injuries were either due to suffocation or trampling, and although the victims died within the flock of fans, they are the last to blame. Moshing and “raging” has long been a tradition at punk and hardcore shows, yet the behavior has rarely ever escalated to this degree, costing so many their lives. Astroworld is not an example of why irate concerts are dangerous, rather one of what happens when an artist places punk’s aggression in a setting that isn’t prepared to handle it.
“It’s never up to the crowd,” said Diego Jacuinde, a musician who has experience working in security operations at festivals. Jacuinde says that a larger music festival should be handled differently than a more intimate concert setting. “It’s no longer a situation of ‘Will something bad happen?’ It’s ‘When is something bad going to happen?’ And ‘When it does happen, how are we going to address those issues?”
For Jacuinde, Astroworld’s lack of initial response to the chaos was the first indication of how negligent Travis Scott and his staff were of safety protocols. “Any sort of risk assessment was not made,” he said. “I don’t know why you would prioritize a show when there’s an ambulance in the crowd.”
Christian Hëll is the drummer and lead singer for the hardcore ensemble Hong Kong Fuck You, based out of Tijuana. HKFY is often lumped into the genre of powerviolence, thanks to their fast and abrasive approach to making music. Powerviolence, as the name implies, is all about channeling a visceral, almost (but not quite) violent energy, and Hëll has made a career out of making crowds feel this way; but in recent years, he’s realized the responsibility he’s accepting as an artist when inviting people to rejoice in rage.
“A lot of the bookers in LA are asking us to play free shows, but it comes with this heavy burden of morality,” Hëll said, referring to the dangerous unpredictability that comes with inviting anyone and everyone to the free shows that may not be equipped to handle the atmosphere. “People have gotten injured at those shows, and women have gotten sexually assaulted. And [I have to ask myself] ‘do I want that on my hands just to have a free show that’s gonna bring a lot of people?’ I don’t think so; I don’t think I do.”
Free punk and metal concerts have been gaining recent popularity thanks to hardcore bands like Dead City. The shows are usually in remote areas, under highways, and sometimes result in fires. The true gravity of these poorly prepared shows was felt in full force during a Gulch show in Oakland. The show got out of hand and resulted in the burning of some of the vehicles of the houseless community, along with other vandalism. Much like Astroworld, it showed what happens when you host an event without the proper precautions and consideration, instead focusing only on throwing a “legendary” party.
Travis Scott has historically shown similar negligence toward public safety at his shows, making the blunder more than mere coincidence. In less than a decade, he’s encouraged fans to jump off balconies, to disregard security, and was even arrested in 2015 for inciting a riot at Lollapalooza. His concerts have always extended a warm welcome to reckless behavior, and this year, that invitation was accepted to the highest degree.
This time, however, the initial mistakes were made before Travis Scott even hit the stage. Large catastrophes like Astroworld happen because promoters will cut corners when producing a concert, according to Ben Trujillo, co-owner of All Aces Production Services. He’s worked festivals like Coachella and Rolling Loud. “That festival was not secured the right way; it was not set up the right way. Without proper security and without proper barricades, to have 500 to 70,000 people in front of you could be very dangerous,” he said. “And obviously, it got dangerous.”
Trujillo believes that Travis Scott didn’t understand the task he was taking on. “For an artist to think that they’re going to fund and throw their own festival is insane to me,” he said. “That’s where they failed: they didn’t know the parameters of the security.”
Stage and set planning alone showed how inexperienced production was, according to Trujillo. Travis was playing on a separate stage, and after SZA finished performing at around 8 p.m., the crowd had 45 minutes to make their way to the stage all at once. That 45-minute grace period would be the most dangerous point of that night.
The crowd only got more cramped as the countdown clock got closer to the performance. Hundreds of people trying to get as close as they could to the stage, some shoving viciously, and others gently leaning on the person in front of them, but most of them not realizing that the weight is being felt hundreds of feet in front of them. While the battle in the back is being waged, those who are already in front become restrained by the bodies around them. What starts off as a bit of a squeeze quickly manifests into a claustrophobic catastrophe. At a certain point, the crowd has no way of controlling itself. An individual can easily be swallowed by the tidal wave of a ton of pushes, not even able to raise their arms above their head, nonetheless get off the ground if they were to fall.
But it all boils down to Travis Scott’s priorities. “Artists like him like to be the limelight of the whole crowd,” Trujillo said. “They are going to do things like that so they could have every single person in front of them when they perform. It’s very selfish, and it’s a very egotistical way of looking at fans.”
Trujillo hopes this serves as a lesson for other artists and promoters, so in the future, they will protect those who attend their festivals and take more time to understand the necessary precautions they need to take. “It’s just like if you try to put something on in your own backyard: If something happened, you would have total responsibility,” he said. “It’s the same thing when you have 75,000 people in front of you and you put on your own show. Without the proper insurance, without the proper production in place to hire the right people to do the job, it becomes a very dangerous situation.”
One of Astroworld’s victims was only 9 years-old, a boy named Ezra Blount. For Hëll, it’s a problem worth acknowledging because it has gotten to the point where even he has trouble sharing the music experience he loves with those who are closest to him. “I think mostly because I’m a father, that’s what’s terrifying about it,” he said. “Just thinking of what if I wanted to take my son to a show or if he wanted to go to that show? That would just be terrifying.”