Annual Travis Scott Astroworld Concert takes a turn for the worst
Travis Scott at Astroworld 2021. CREDIT: Erika Goldring/WireImage.
December 6, 2021
Travis Scott Astroworld Concert – In My Point of View (This is a first-hand account from a student who attended the Travis Scott concert. All views expressed in this story is from the student and not The Spartan Oracle directly).
The roughest part of it all, was that the Astroworld festival was becoming an annual thing in Houston and was something that we had all to ourselves and made us a hotspot for all types of people. It was a time to enjoy each other and enjoy the great music we had listened to for two years at this point as we were coming off a global pandemic. You would think people would be calmer and more grateful for the opportunity to get out in such an exciting space like this after such a hard year to just relax and have fun. But it was all ruined when people started getting way too wild, disregardful, and most of all, intoxicated. It created an unsafe and tragic atmosphere that should’ve been calming and fun. The fallout of this tragedy will be immense, and it has already begun. The likes of Live Nation, Travis Scott, NRG, and more are getting hit with immense lawsuits that could wipe them out. There should never, ever be a loss of life at a festival. Never. Period.
Below is an account of how the evening went at the Astroworld concert for me and my friends.
Friday, November 5 @ 8:51 PM
The circular screen in the electric tunnel read a blood-red timer until the main attraction took the stage in front of 60,000-80,000 Houstonians urging them to explode in rage. The air starts to become tighter and tighter with people rushing behind you to get as close as they can to “the Mountain”, which was the stage. The obscene amount of smoke that consumed the air from fog machines and other sources was dangerous, beyond typical for this type of concert. Many people, including me, start to get an eerie and unsettling feeling about the overall notion of the entire atmosphere as Mike Dean, who is one of the biggest producers in the entire music industry, plays synths that shake the ground and make it vibrate straight to the heart. Many people started saying “I think we should go” or “Can we move back?”, but unfortunately, it was too late.
Friday, November 5 @ 9:00 PM
The field of thousands goes dark and silent. Some scream his name, but most are anxious and ready to explode. Then, an orange ring appears with an electronic flaming bird at the top screen, and the rings slowly start to charge up and get closer and closer to filling up the entire tunnel. As the rings fill up, so does every single inch of the field as people get as close as they can to the stage with no regard for anyone except themselves. The rings fill, then one second of silence, and alas: Travis Scott appears from under the stage, catapulting into a ring of blasting fire. The crowd goes absolutely ballistic and people start jumping uncontrollably. Scott’s newest song “Escape Plan” from his newest mixtape “Dystopia”, which means a world of chaos, blares and provides an electric jolt into the entire downtown Houston area. The beats can be heard at Toyota Center and the vibrations in your chest increase immensely. Everyone feels joyous and excited as Houston’s very own rocks the stage with an entire city behind him. This feeling lasted maybe two minutes until all the barriers of normalcy were broken down.
Friday, November 5 @ 9:06 PM
As “Highest In The Room” starts to blast across the tens of thousands of people, it becomes hard to stand, jump, and most importantly, breathe. Alcohol and other drinks are getting poured on you as people jump in an erratic and uncontrolled manner. People start to fall at your feet and all you can do is pray you don’t get pushed onto them. You could see a certain person one second, look at the stage, and then before you know it that same person has faded into the depths of the crowd. It became a warzone. Fight to stay on your own two feet or fall to your fate. At barely the second song, I decide to fall back and truck through the crowd to get back to safety. But now there was a new problem… people weren’t going to let you out.
Friday, November 5 @ 9:11 PM
People start to create barricades to not let you leave because they don’t want to miss the show they have waited months upon months for, but the urge to get out was far greater. I was able to push and shove my way out, but so many smaller and less fortunate people were forced to stay in the chaos because they simply didn’t have the physical strength to get out. As soon as I exit, it feels like I have entered an entirely new world. People in the back are much calmer and just enjoying the masters of Travis Scott and his music. Then, the scariest part crept back into my mind. I had lost my group in my efforts to escape.
Friday, November 5 @ 9:28 PM
My worries intensified, not only would my group not answer their cell phone, but I started seeing ambulances and hundreds of people being escorted out that looked like they had gotten thrashed in the midst of the insanity. I contemplated going back in to find them, but put my trust in God to pull them out of there. But I couldn’t keep a calm mindset amidst this total hell I was a part of. Luckily, moments later, my friend called me and told me to meet him at the gates to leave, which we did. There was still an hour and a half left in the show, but we didn’t care. We were just glad to be together and unscathed.
Final Thoughts
I send all my prayers and condolences to the people we lost at this festivity. It is truly unimaginable and saddening that these people didn’t get home on a night where great stories should’ve been told. There are many people to blame here, from the security teams to Travis Scott himself. At the end of the day, there needed to be more decency in the concert-goers to be respectful and level-headed to help out their neighbors that were there for the same reason they were, which was to enjoy themselves. No one knows if the Astroworld Festival will ever return again to the main stage in Houston, or anywhere for that matter, but there will be severe repercussions and changes to how these shows are operated after this event. Again, I send my deepest thoughts and prayers to everyone that was lost and hope we as a city can recover from such devastation.
