Students Thoughts on Astroworld Concert Disaster

On Friday, November 5th Travis Scott, an American rapper, held a concert in Houston, Texas. Some of Travis Scott’s most popular songs currently are, “Escape Plan”, “Sicko Mode”, and “Goosebumps.”

There were over 50,000 people at the concert, who started lining up outside the Astroworld grounds as early as 3:30am Friday morning. The grounds opened at 10:00am; which brought in substantial crowds, this was when violence and panic started. People were jumping over fences and barricades, pushing each other and rushing to get through, seen in the YouTube video here. 

As the hours passed, the crowd grew larger and larger. According to ABC, by 8:00pm medical staff were already slammed with helping people, and at 9:30pm, the music stopped and the first ambulance made its way through the crowd. ABC.com says “The concert didn’t officially stop until 10:00pm, even though multiple people were already injured and passed out.” 

Sophomore, Jordyn Hazelwood says, “I heard about the concert. I think it’s terrible what happened and I think someone needs to be held accountable.” 

Lots of people in the media agree with Hazelwood. Viewpoints.org describes Travis Scott as someone who is “out of control.” They say he is responsible for his fans outrageous behavior, and he needs to be held accountable. Viewpoints.org says the concert was a “senseless, preventable tragedy.”

Sophomore Alena Cushman says, “It was crazy. I first heard it from my brother and he was showing me that eight people died, which is insane from just a concert.”

APnews.com says, “as of November 10th, the death toll has reached nine confirmed dead.” Some causes of death are still unknown. 

According to ABC news, Bharti Shahani, a 22 year old college senior, died on November 10th, becoming the ninth confirmed death from the concert. As Shahani was being evacuated on a gurney, she was dropped, and sustained further injuries. 

Scott is facing lawsuits, and has only responded to the tragedy through social media thus far. He tweeted from his account, @trvisXX, “I’m absolutely devastated by what took place last night,” and in a 1 minute video he posted to his Instagram story, @travisscott, he said, “my fans really mean the world to me.” 

Cushman says, “I think he should make a bigger effort to reach out to his fans and say more about it because the apology he gave so far seemed really insincere.”

Causes of death are still being investigated, and three people are still being hospitalized from the event.