Travis Scott’s 2021 Astroworld concert in Houston ended in chaos, leaving ten people dead due to compression asphyxia. Now, reports emerged that organizers had doubts about the festival’s capacity before the event.
According to new filings obtained by the Houston Landing, the event’s safety director Seyth Boardman told the festival’s operations director he was worried about cramming so many people in front of the main stage to see Scott perform, noting, “I feel like there is no way we are going to fit 50k in front of that stage.”
Over the past few weeks, new court records — submitted in connection with the mass of civil litigation from victims — found similar sentiments from those behind-the-scenes. While this information has never been the subject of its own independent investigation after Harris County commissioners rejected a judge’s request for one following the tragedy, contract experts for the plaintiffs have tried to make sense of the highly mistaken capacity call for themselves.
One of the plaintiffs’ experts, Darrell Darnell, the former emergency management director for the District of Columbia, said that festival organizers did not properly consider how many fans would be able to fit into each section. Darnell said in the reports that organizers thought they were required to provide five square feet for each of the 50,000 fans in attendance, however, the state fire code mandates seven square feet per person.
Reports also found serious issues with the site plan; an employee of the event production company BWG settled on a site plan that made room for 44,000 people in the general viewing area, plus 3,500 in a VIP area. However, if they had used the correct seven square feet per person standard, they would have known the site plan had capacity for 32,000 people in general admission and 2,500 people in a VIP pen, which marks a whopping 15,500 short of ticketed attendance.
One of the most staggering statements regarding the safety of the festival was made by a festival dispatcher in the command center just minutes before Scott took the stage.
“I would pull the plug but that’s just me,” Wheeler wrote in a message that was just made public last year. “Someone’s going to end up dead.”
While others received Wheeler’s message, the festival still went on as-planned, as they did not see people being crushed against the barrier. Viral videos following the festival, however, that showed dead concertgoers being carried on top of the crowd while Scott continued to perform. Some festivalgoers even jumped on the stage, begging photographers and festival organizers to help call-off the event as people were being crushed around them.
Here's another angle of Seanna Faith & a concertgoer shouting “THERE'S SOMEONE DEAD!" & "STOP THE SHOW!" at the camera man filming Travis Scott's Astroworld performance. He refused to do anything & kept filming the Astrofest show. #astroworldfestival #AstroWorld #ASTROWORLDFest pic.twitter.com/tijRRy3EA3
— Βƌβƌβơ⊔⟟ℓℓ⋲ (@WulfMunkey) November 6, 2021
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The first trial — among hundreds — against the festival are set to begin in May. According to the publication, the defense team’s expert reports have not been filed in the court as of publishing time.
Most recently, a suit was filed last year by Houston’s Arnold & Itkin LLP, representing 17 concert attendees that suffered personal injuries and emotional trauma from the music festival. According to the suit, 11 defendants are named, including Scott, promoter Live Nation, rapper Drake, Apple, and ASM Global LLC. The plaintiffs are seeking $1 million, claiming negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligent hinting, training, supervision, and retention.
