Modern tragedy

 

Travis Scott is a big deal. In this new wave of (very) young trap superstars, he ranks amongst the most important. With 3 albums released, 2 of which made it to #1 on Billboard, he stands as one of the most successful artists of his (musical) generation. Also, he is signed on Kanye “Ye” West’s G.O.O.D. Music label and has collaborated with virtually everyone — including Drake. Finally, and perhaps more famously when it comes to mainstream media, he is Kylie Jenner’s partner in real life, which makes him a soon-to-be-ex-brother-in-law to the aforementioned Ye — and a de facto member of the Kardashian dynasty. That’s a lot to take in.

On top of all of that, Scott is a highly talented artist, whose work has attracted a lot of attention for quite some time. In 2018, he rather innovatively decided to create his very own festival to showcase his work and that of fellow young trap stars. The event was aptly called Astroworld, after his third album that had then just come out (and topped the charts). A second edition came a year later — and a third this year, slated for November 5th and 6th. We all know what happened in 2020: nothing. So this was clearly a big deal: one of (t)rap’s biggest stars performing at his own festival after nearly 2 years without much live music… You can imagine that people were excited and eager to be there and cheer the man.

There were several problematic indicators, though: beside the sheer fact that the crowd was overly excited by such a historic perspective, security checks had reportedly been breached hours before Scott’s set started on Friday evening. The Chief of police even went as far as to warn the artist of the risk the event was carrying hours prior. As the show started, people quickly noticed that a crowd crush was happening and tried to alert security and/or organisation staff. Scott himself stopped the show twice amidst concerns for fan safety. But then started again. What looked like an ambulance could be seen in the crowd at some point — with festival goers dancing on top of it…

The end result of this terrible night is known — at least 8 dead and dozens badly injured. Some still lying in hospital beds in critical condition. Scott swiftly released a statement sharing his devastation as these facts were coming to light. Lawsuits are now being brandished, as one might expect. In short, the storm is far from over. With good reason: this event is one of the worst ever recorded at a music festival. In 1969, the Rolling Stones famously performed at Altamont, a show where security was handled by (rough) Hell’s Angels members and which resulted in several deaths. The shadow of that episode hung above the group for years. This new, even worse tragedy may do just that, if not more.

We still don’t know exactly what happened, or why. From what we can gather, there were organisational issues that an event of this size, managed by none other than leading entertainment company Live Nation, should not have overlooked. Whether or not that is the reason young music lovers died, we may only find out down the line. That will not change the outcome, though: sadly, forums for artistic expression still have to contend with risk assessments and logistical checklists…