Eight dead after crowd surge at Travis Scott fest

At least eight people have died and hundreds injured after a crowd surge at Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival in Houston, Texas.

More than 300 patients were treated by medics following the incident on the opening night of the 50,000-capacity two-day event at NRG Park, promoted by Live Nation.

Tonight’s (6 November) planned second night has been cancelled.

Houston fire chief Sam Pena told reporters: “This is a tragic night. We know that we had at least eight confirmed fatalities tonight and we had scores of individuals that were injured here in this event.

“The crowd began to compress towards the front of the stage and that caused some panic and it started causing some injuries. People began to fall out, become unconscious and it created additional panic.

“The mass casualty incident was triggered at around 9.38pm this evening. After that time, we transported 17 patients to the hospitals. Eleven of those that were transported were in cardiac arrest. We won’t know the cause of death of the eight that are confirmed until the medical examiner has completed his investigation.”

Nobody has all the answers tonight

Pena praised the work of the emergency services and Live Nation “in trying to secure what was really a chaotic event”.

The Houston Chronicle reports that Scott, who founded the festival, stopped multiple times during his 75-minute headline slot as he spotted fans in distress and asked security to help them out of the crowd. It added that some fans had stormed the entrance gates at the start of the event at 2pm.

“Nobody has all the answers tonight,” said Houston police chief Troy Finner. “We did have problems on the front, kids for whatever reason started rushing and it got out of control a little bit but we got it under control… I don’t think this incident is related to what happened that caused the deaths.”

With a line-up curated by Scott himself, the festival has previously hosted the likes of Post Malone, Rosalia, Pharrell Williams, Da Baby, Lil Wayne, Young Thug, Playboi Carti and Megan Thee Stallion.

Astroworld expanded to two days for its third edition in 2021 following the success of its first two events. According to Live Nation, in November 2019, the festival became the largest single-day artist-curated music festival in the country, as well as the largest music festival in Houston.

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Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival to expand for 2021

Grammy award-nominated rapper Travis Scott has announced that his Astroworld Festival will return this year with an expanded format due to ‘overwhelming demand’.

The third edition of Astroworld Festival will take place on 5 and 6 November at NRG Park in Scott’s hometown, Houston, Texas, with a line-up curated by the artist himself.

Scott has revealed that he will be headlining Astroworld Festival 2021, which will adopt the theme ‘Open Your Eyes To A Whole New Universe’, while the full line-up will be announced closer to the time.

The previous two events have sold out before line-ups were revealed.

In 2019 the festival became the largest single-day artist-curated music festival in the country

According to Live Nation, in November 2019, the festival became the largest single-day artist-curated music festival in the country, as well as the largest music festival in Houston as the sold-out event played host to over 50,000 fans.

The festival, which celebrates hip-hop, pop music, has hosted the likes of Post Malone, Rosalia, Pharrell Williams, Da Baby, Lil Wayne, Young Thug, Playboi Carti and Megan Thee Stallion.

Two-day GA passes will be available for purchase beginning next 5 May at 10 am CT on AstroworldFest.com.

A portion of proceeds from Astroworld Festival 2021 will be donated to the festival’s official charity partner, Cactus Jack Foundation, founded by Scott.

The expansion of the festival follows Astronomical, Scott’s record-breaking in-game concert event which took place in Fortnite in April 2020 and attracted more than 12 million players.

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Police protest Beyoncé show in Houston

Beyoncé’s hometown concert in Houston, Texas, on Saturday was picketed by a police group.

The Coalition for Police and Sheriffs (Cops) protested around a mile away from the NRG Stadium against what Cops’ Tony Ragsdale, an officer with the Pasadena Police Department, described as “anti-police” performances by the singer. The group also shone a blue light at the stadium – likely a reference to the pro-police Blue Lives Matter movement, formed as a response to the Beyoncé-supported Black Lives Matter group.

The music video for ‘Formation’, the first single taken from new album Lemonade, shows Beyoncé lying atop a sinking police car in a flooded street and features numerous references to the shooting of young black men by American police. The Houstonian also performed ‘Formation’ at the 50th Super Bowl halftime show flanked by dancers in Black Panther-style outfits (these guys, not this guy).

Beyoncé last week added seven new US dates to her sell-out Formation world tour, promoted worldwide by Live Nation.