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The Astroworld catastrophe stunned the country and the music industry with it’s fatal outcome. Stemming from this event: an uprising of questions from the public asking how this could occur, especially at an event as well-known as Travis Scott’s Astroworld? WORDS by ELLI WESTMACOTT ART by CLAIRE TOLLES
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he years of adolescence are supposed to be the exciting and experimental moments of life. The ones in which fear shouldn’t restrain us from living life to the fullest. Imagine a teenage boy preparing to go to one of the most thrilling festivals in America. He’s overjoyed and nervous with anticipation of the lively moments to come. Not worried about the safety of his body and life. Instead of enjoying the music and enticing atmosphere Astroworld is supposed to embody, he finds himself encapsulated in the crowd with no plausible way of escaping asphyxiation. In November, this anxiety-inducing situation became a reality for fourteen-year-old John Hilgert and many of the 50,000 other people who attended the Astroworld Festival in Houston, Texas. On Nov. 5, Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival took a turn for the worse when fans rushed the stage as Scott began his performance.
This destructive crowd surge resulted in the deaths of 10 people between 10 and 30 years old and injured hundreds more. In his article on Astroworld, Matt Sedensky talks to Scott’s fans and those who attended the event to get a perspective on the high anxiety which overcame the crowd.
“We’re all one. You’re moving with the crowd. The crowd’s like water. It’s like an ocean.” - Steven Gutierrez The public’s laid-back approach to concert-going is now gone, lost like the lives swallowed by the chaos of As-
troworld’s crowd. After this recent tragedy, questions arose asking how an occurrence as deadly as this could result from a crowd surge? Firstly, to comprehend the catastrophic Astroworld events, it is essential to acknowledge the context. Travis Scott based his Astroworld franchise at Six Flags amusement park, which used to be located in Houston. 2021’s Astroworld was not the first to end in violence; in 2019, three people were hospitalized with injuries from a minor stampede when the doors to the festival first opened. Astroworld revolves around Travis Scott and his craft, though a lot of the hype around this festival also stems from the famous guest artists that Scott brings. The festival’s postponement, due to COVID-19, whipped
