It wasn’t long ago that the name Astroworld only woke people in Houston, Texas, back to the good old days that are long gone. At an amusement park in the southwest of the city with legendary roller coasters, it closed its gates in 2005. At the Astrodome on the other side of the highway, the first covered stadium in the world, which today is little more than a ruin.
And now? Astroworld suddenly sounds like a catastrophe. After mass panic, after tragic deaths. Ten people died on November 5 at the music festival of the same name, which has been held in Houston near the former amusement park since 2018. More than 300 people have been injured – on Sunday evening, the only nine-year-old Ezra Blount, who had previously been in an artificial coma for ten days, died.
And of course now the question of guilt arises. 100 lawsuits have already been filed, the number could grow to 300, it is said. On a website, visitors have the option to join a class action lawsuit. The lawsuits are directed against concert promoter Live Nation and rapper Travis Scott, who started the festival three years ago. And who was on stage with the rapper Drake when the accident happened.
Scott’s concerts are wild and anarchic
“The panic arose right in front of their eyes. They continued despite the fact that the medical staff had a hard time getting to the injured and fainted,” says Niaara Goods, who claims to have been injured in the audience and therefore compensation of one Million dollar calls. Over the weekend, people protested outside Travis Scott’s house, a woman held up a sign that read, “You’ve destroyed lives. You deserve to go broke.”
Travis Scott is known for his concerts being wild and anarchic. He calls it “raging” when people freak out when they get one Mosh pit form, so bump into each other in front of the stage and also run over each other. It is part of his show, in the Netflix documentary “Travis Scott: Look Mom I Can Fly” a visitor says that the magic of the concerts lies in the chaos: “You fall down and then someone helps you on your feet. It is the way a person’s music makes everyone family. ” This is of course not new, such concert habits are also deeply anchored in other music genres such as ska or punk.
Crowded, people in Houston watched the performance of rappers Travis Scott and Drake – then a mass panic broke out.
(Photo: Jamaal Ellis / dpa)
What led to the mass panic in Houston is still unclear, as is the question of whether Scott even heard anything about it during the performance. What is known: It was only 40 minutes after the Houston police declared the festival a so-called “mass casualty event”, that is, an event with several dead, that Scott went off the stage. Afterwards, accusations quickly became loud that he had heated up the audience and ended the show far too late – allegations that his spokeswoman Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, once mayor of Baltimore, rejects: “There was a 59-page plan for the implementation, and It is very clear that only two people have the opportunity to cancel the concert: the producer and the organizer. “
It will take a long time to clarify the circumstances of the panic and thus the responsibilities. A distinction will have to be made between the musician Travis Scott and the entrepreneur Travis Scott, who can market himself and his music very well and who is deeply rooted in Houston – and this is where things get complicated.
Own burgers and pipapo: Travis Scott is also a resourceful entrepreneur.
(Photo: Suzanne Cordeiro / AFP)
Because Scott, 30, whose real name is Jacques B. Webster, is considered a formidable networker. He is friends with Police Chief Troy Finner, and his mother Wanda, together with Mayor Sylvester Turner, distributes turkeys to the needy on Thanksgiving. Scott, you could say, is something of a city saint who made Astroworld a term that made people think of the present instead of falling into nostalgia. Who is socially committed to Houston’s residents. More than 500 police officers worked on duty at the festival, and the organizers hired 76 police officers who promised to earn extra income. So how independently can the police investigate this case?
So far, in any case, she has neither asked the FBI for help nor initiated an independent investigation – which Lina Hidalgo, chief judge in the Houston district, wants: “She wants an objective analysis of whether this tragedy could have been prevented,” said her spokesman.
It is now known that Scott met Police Chief Finner a few hours before the start of the festival; Finner posted a statement on Twitter: “I have expressed my concern that in my 31 years as a police officer I have never faced so many challenges.” Apparently, however, local officials have spoken out against canceling the festival – for fear of even more panic. “With more than 50,000 people you can’t just lock up,” said Finner. “I think this aspect went pretty well.”
The ongoing investigation may be the reason why Scott has so far hardly commented. He was in no way responsible for what happened, only his spokeswoman Rawlings-Blake said. “But he wants to be responsible for a solution.”