Teens and just concertgoers, in general, go to concerts quite often nowadays as more and more artists go on tour. It’s important to know how to keep yourself and others safe in those environments.
Staying in groups, not accepting anything from anyone you don’t know, leaving when you need to, and many other tactics can be used to stay safe.
“I think it’s important to stay with your friends because at concerts, especially at an outdoor event it’s easy to get lost. Know the exit route and definitely have someone on speed dial.” says freshman Salma Elshihawy.
The “Astroworld” tragedy that occurred November 5, 2021, in Houston Texas was responsible for the deaths of 10 lives and the injuries of hundreds. Astroworld is an album/festival made by famous rapper Travis Scott.
During the outdoor concert, a chaotic crowd of concertgoers were trampled as people rushed towards the performers, compressing the crowd toward the stage. Making any movement and even breathing became extremely difficult. It took only 12 minutes after the show started for people to start screaming for help.
As more and more people were falling and being trampled, 18-year-old Aiden Cruz attempted to alert the cameramen of what was going on below them but was immediately shut down and told to get off of the platform he had jumped onto.
It is said that Scott was ignoring all the screaming and even the ambulance lights which were very clearly visible from the stage where he was.
“It is Travis Scott’s fault but I think it’s also the venues fault for it too because why would you let so many people buy tickets for an event like that- just all around everybody needs to be blamed for what happened.” says senior Mikaela Stewart
Any concert or festivals venues that are easily broken into and anyone can come in is an immediate red flag as it puts everyone in the venue at risk of being injured or worse. The Astroworld venue was very poorly secured. Clearly, the people were able to run straight through the “security” and nobody was being checked.
There were also cases of drugs unknowingly being injected into people during the concert, causing heart attacks among the crowd. The chief of the Houston Police Department said that throughout his entire career as a police officer he had never seen anything like this. He highly encouraged the young people and concertgoers to remember the phrase “See something, say something” as it helps everyone involved.
As previously stated, if you see something say something, silence is not an option when people’s lives are on the line. Being injected with anything that isn’t medical grade can be very harmful to one’s health, let alone being injected with unknown substances.
Scott has now been sued a myriad of times by the families of the victims. He has said that he would be responsible for the funeral expenses of the victims who very unfortunately died. Some families are milking him for his money, desperate to fill the void the death of their loved ones has left, while others are not accepting a dime.
Overall, the Astroworld festival was a disaster. Anybody who attended will be severely impacted by the events of that night. For future reference, always be cautious of whom you support as some artists’ priorities are in the wrong place.