Basses thundered. Headlights flickered. 50,000 visitors celebrated at the Astroworld music festival on Friday evening – until the first fell in the dense crowd in front of the stage, passed out and a mass panic broke out at the mega party that cost eight people their lives.
At around 9.15 p.m. local time, the rapper and festival host Travis Scott (29) had already been on stage for 38 minutes, the surging crowd right in front of his feet suddenly became a mortal danger.
“Within a few minutes, several people went down. They went into a kind of cardiac arrest, ”said Larry Satterwhite, deputy chief of police in Houston, about the cause of the panic.
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Countless ambulances were called to NRG Park in Houston, Texas, where the Astroworld Festival was taking place for the third timePhoto: Uncredited / dpa
Video recordings show how paramedics are desperately trying to revive the victims while the party around them continues unabated. Ambulances are stuck in the wild crowd despite the blue lights, some party goers even dance on their roofs.
Scott’s partner, the pregnant Kylie Jenner (24), who was among the concert-goers with her sister Kendall (26), did not initially recognize the seriousness of the situation. The sisters filmed the concert, including the use of an ambulance, for their Instagram stories and were harshly criticized on social networks for it.
Kylie then deleted her stories.
Travis Scott and partner Kylie Jenner with daughter Stormi (3). The couple are expecting their second childPhoto: picture alliance / Andy Kropa / Invision / AP
According to a report in the newspaper “Houston Chronicle”, Travis Scott interrupted his performance in the sold-out NRG Park several times and called rescue workers to collapsed concert guests. Finally, he declared his show and the festival originally scheduled for Friday and Saturday over.
The performances of Earth, Wind & Fire, SZA and Bad Bunny have been canceled. Over 300 people were treated on site in a specially set up medical tent. Seventeen injured people were taken to hospitals, eleven of whom had previously suffered cardiac arrest.
Eight victims did not survive the concert evening. District judge Lina Hidalgo emphasized that many of the victims of the “terrible tragedy” were very young, some only ten years old. A contact point has been set up in a hotel nearby where relatives can search for missing persons.
Travis Scott has not yet commented on the tragedy.
Tragic deaths at concerts and festivals
The tragedy of the Astroworld music festival, which was only launched in 2018 by Travis Scott, is reminiscent of the accident at the Love Parade on July 24, 2010 in Duisburg. At that time 21 people died.
The deadly drama at the Love Parade 2010Photo: dpa
A girl († 16) was also killed in the crowd at the 1000th Toten Hosen concert in 1997 in Düsseldorf.
1997: The crowd at the Toten HosenPhoto: picture-alliance / dpa
There were eleven victims at the 1979 The Who concert in Cincinnati (USA) when the crowds rushed to the entrance before the concert began.
At the Roskilde Festival in Denmark in 2000, nine men died when they were literally trampled at the Pearl Jam concert.
The worst drama happened in 2004 in Buenos Aires: 194 people died in a fire when the band Callejeros performed.
