Accountability: A Look Back on Last Night Events At Astroworld Festival
By Aliva Panigrahi
Content Warning: mentions of death, dangerous crowds, violence, and sexual assault
Image Credit: Houstonia Magazine
When I was 17 years old I woke up to the announcement of the first annual Astroworld Festival, by one of my favorite artists at the time, global phenomenon, rapper, and producer Travis Scott. He had recently released arguably one of the most anticipated hip hop albums of the decade, Astroworld, a multi-faceted work that served as an amalgamation of rap and psychedelic rock. While I knew I wouldn’t be able to experience the festival for myself, I was ecstatic at the idea of fellow music fanatics being able to attend and eagerly followed updates online. Every year since I’ve been excited to look at the lineup and various attendee perspectives of the show. I was looking forward to doing so this year as well.
Today I woke up to absolute chaos. My Twitter was plastered with videos of teenagers screaming for help as the show’s production crews ignored them, fans being trampled and crushed, concert-goers jumping on ambulances, and even a video of the headliner singing and staring as people begged him to stop while a young man’s body was crowd surfed out. Last night, 8 individuals lost their lives at Astroworld Festival 2021 (ages including: 14, 16, 21, 27). Eleven went into cardiac arrest. Over 300 were treated at the field hospital. A 10 year old boy remains in critical condition. Overcrowded and chaotic, the festival lost control during Scott’s headlining set, when he brought out Toronto based rapper Drake. Detailed accounts mention that as things rapidly descended into a deadly situation, security looked on as fans begged for help. Additional witnesses shared accounts of further horror, as they saw groups of young women being sexually assaulted during the show. Fans who were able to do so rushed to the cameramen, only to be dismissed and booed by unconcerned members of the crowd. Others resorted to performing CPR on those who were unconscious as there were insufficient and inexperienced medical staff who lacked equipment.
While the upcoming sets for the weekend have been cancelled and Scott alongside his team have released remorseful statements discussing their collaboration with local law enforcement, video footage demonstrating the nature of how they handled things has left fans in a conflicted, and even disgusted state.
The internet, as usual, is divided. Diehard “ragers” are avidly defending their idol, blaming substance use, but even going to the extent of shaming victims, survivors, and anyone who disagrees with them. Others are calling for accountability and asking the simple question, “Why didn’t you just stop?” The fact of the matter is, those questioning Scott’s actions are right. Astroworld Festival isn’t the first case of this happening; it just happens to be the biggest and most tragic. Unfortunately, Scott and similar artists such as Playboi Carti have a history of encouraging “rage” culture and discouraging the very foundations of mosh pit etiquette (yes, it’s a thing and we should all follow it). Chaos at Scott’s mosh pits notoriously leave people with broken limbs, and security barriers at his numerous appearances are repeatedly broken down. His lyrics even portray this, “and it ain’t a mosh pit if ain’t no injuries”, (yeah… remember that). Scott was even arrested and charged with inciting a riot at a previous concert in 2015. Even then the encouragement of this behavior persists, as fans noticed Scott tweet out to his followers that they should sneak into Astroworld Festival despite tickets being sold out (another issue that lead to overcrowding).
So when do we hold our favorite musicians accountable?
With the large amount of parasocial relationships we see in fan culture, followers defend their idols to a T, though they don’t need defending. Multi-millionaire artists don’t need fans abusing others online for redemption when they’re backed by corporations, powerful lawyers, and money. Last night is an example of where we need to hold our idols accountable. Fans just like us died at a night they were looking forward to, some maybe for years. There wasn’t enough security and unsafe practices were encouraged by the artist himself. Mosh pit culture has been getting more and more dangerous, but unfortunately it has taken a horrific tragedy to just start the conversation about it.
Fans stay up all night to support album releases, save up money for months, just to hear their favorite musician live. This is an experience that should be joyous, and memorable for the right reasons. Point blank: no one should ever have to fear for their life when attending a live performance and parents shouldn’t have to worry at home wondering if their teenagers will come home the next day. Astroworld Festival 2021 should be the long overdue wakeup call for artists to stop promoting rage culture and dangerous unethical practices that cost the lives of the very fans who made them who they are. Law enforcement should use precedent to design enhanced security procedures, capacities should be lowered, and resources should be prepared to provide for an appropriate sized crowd. Artists, venues, and security personnel need to be more prepared and suffer consequences if they refuse to prioritize safety. If you promote love and a sense of comradery amongst your fanbase, you should uphold those values as well. In regards to violent attendees, following rage culture just because your favorite rapper told you so, doesn’t make you cool, nor does it make it acceptable to hurt and harass others. We have a responsibility to one another as a community, as human beings, to look out for one another. Concertgoers are all there for the same reason and deserve the same right to fun and safety. The gift of live performance is a collective experience, not one where we selfishly deny others their basic autonomy.
That being said, all of us at Pizza FM wish a comfortable and speedy recovery to those injured at last night’s incident. To the city of Houston we wish for healing. To those recovering from emotional trauma, you will move forward, and there is a devoted community out there committed to supporting you. To the brave attendees who did their best to save their fellow community members, you should be proud of yourself and any online invalidation or shame towards you is unwarranted. To the families and friends of those who lost their lives, we express our heart-felt condolences. Hopefully, we never see something like this ever again.
In remembrance of:
Danish Baig, 27
Rudy Peña, 23
Madison Dubiski, 23
Franco Patiño, 21
Jacob Jurinek, 20
John Hilgert, 14
Axel Acosta Avila, 21
Brianna Rodriguez, 16
Astroworld Festival: How to Help Those Impacted by the Tragedy (gofundme.com)
If you find yourself going to a live show anytime soon, please prioritize your safety. Below we’ve provided resources that may provide insight into concert safety:
We will be providing updates as well as any relevant information in regards to resources for the victims.