![]() ![]() By all accounts, every possible measure had been taken to ensure a safe event was under way at Travis Scott’s music festival Astroworld, the headlining rapper’s hometown event held in Houston over the weekend. He has been named in at least one lawsuit already.Īs gigs and festivals begin to return around the country, this disaster will prompt more artists and promoters to think seriously about how those on stage and can help those in the pit.Travis Scott’s Houston festival tragedy is a warning to concert promoters the world over. What could he realistically have seen from his vantage point? It was dark the crowd was stadium sized.īut Scott has form when it comes to encouraging dangerous behaviour in the pit and was warned about the Astroworld crowd size before the show.Īll of this means Scott's actions will now face heavy scrutiny. ![]() Responsibility for the latter was ultimately not his. The coroner did make the point that Durst was hired for entertainment, not crowd control. The coroner also said Durst's actions during a similar incident at the Auckland leg – he poured water on the head of a festival official who was trying to calm the crowd – were "reprehensible". While a coronial inquest into Jessica's death did not make a finding of negligence, it was critical of Limp Bizkit singer Fred Durst's "alarming and inflammatory" comments on stage as the rescue operation was underway and the fact the band did not completely stop playing. ( Supplied: Sophie Howarth)īut it also highlighted the role the artist plays. Organisers designed a special barrier to manage crowds at the Big Day Out, following the 2001 tragedy. That tragedy led to a change in crowd management, specifically the introduction of the D barrier, which allowed organisers to more easily reduce the kind of crowd pressure that can be deadly. On Australia Day in 2001 – a year after that experience with the Chili Peppers – a crowd surge during Limp Bizkit's headline set at the Sydney Big Day Out led to the death of 16-year-old fan Jessica Michalik. These situations are not analogous to the one Travis Scott was facing – after all, there were more than 50,000 people at the Astroworld Festival, an enormous crowd by any measure.īut they do shine a light on what constitutes "mosh pit etiquette" as far as the person holding the microphone is concerned. In other videos, Billie Eilish and Adele stop singing in order to help fans who have fainted, while Dave Grohl demands the removal of a punter from a Foo Fighters gig for, literally, fighting. "Pick him up," Bennington yells at an audience member. In one video posted online, Scott stands metres from a fan who is being removed from the crowd unresponsive. However, Scott performed for about 35 minutes, despite fans experiencing trouble as soon as his set began and at least some crowd members chanting for him to stop. The Houston Chronicle reported that Scott stopped numerous times during the set and told security to help when he noticed fans in distress. There is a lot we don't know about what occurred in Houston.īut a focus of two investigations, one of them criminal, that are now underway will be what the event's producers and Scott himself knew about the crush as it was happening. They raise the question of what an artist standing before the white-hot energy of a festival crowd can and should do in these kinds of situations. ![]() Videos of these moments – from gigs by Foo Fighters, Adele, Linkin Park, the Chili Peppers and others – have been popping up all over social feeds this weekend as the fall-out continues from the deaths of the eight people in a crowd crush during a Travis Scott set in Texas. There are many examples of artists stopping their sets when audience members are in trouble. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |