Organisers of Travis Scott’s Astroworld festival were allegedly warned about potential issues with overcrowding in 2021, before the event took the lives of 10 concertgoers.
According to new court documents, the head of safety for the festival raised concerns about the number of people that could be near the stage, 10 days before the event took place.
“I feel like there is no way we are going to fit 50k in front of that stage,” Seyth Boardman wrote to the operations director for the Texas festival (via BBC News).
This was just one of many examples given in new court filings.
The amendments were submitted by lawyers for the families of those killed at the event and others affected by the tragedy, as part of the mass civil litigation filed against the organisers. The documents contained alleged conversations and supporting information that organisers of the festival foresaw issues with overcrowding before the festival took place.
As highlighted by the BBC, the new additions suggest that organisers for Astroworld mistakenly thought that the fire safety code allowed for five square feet per person – two feet less than the actual number.
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This, it states, contributed to a crowd of roughly 50,000 people cramming into a space meant for only 34,500. The defence team has not yet filed their expert reports in court.
In the new documents, it is also shown that organisers had concerns about gatecrashers without tickets, with one writing that the issue would mean that “we are going to be absolutely screwed when the sun goes down”.
It is also alleged that this issue was compounded by security lapses and a failure to monitor the crowd for signs of a potential crowd crush. The civil case is set to begin in May, and the defendants include Scott, as well as the concert company Live Nation Entertainment and venue manager ASM.
Back in February 2022, hundreds of Astroworld lawsuits were combined into one case.
Following the incident, Scott shared that he was “absolutely devastated” by the news. In November, he opened up about the tragedy again, saying that he would “always think about it”.
Earlier in the month, it was revealed that Scott had been sued again over the Astroworld tragedy. It came after a grand jury decided that Scott would not face criminal charges.
More recently, it was revealed that Drake, who performed on the night, was seeking to be dismissed from the ongoing litigation over the crowd crush tragedy.
Drake was a surprise guest during the set at the Houston festival and was initially questioned for several hours in a deposition tied to hundreds of lawsuits filed in Harris County after the crowd rush.
However, in a motion filed on Friday, March 8, attorneys for the Canadian rapper – real name Aubrey Drake Graham – argued that he should not be involved at all. “Mr. Graham did not receive any security briefings, was not informed of any crowd control issues, injuries or deaths in the crowd, or any stop show orders at any time either before or during his 14-minute performance,” it read.
“Plaintiffs produce no evidence that Mr. Graham actually knew of any risk in the Festival site design and layout, competence or adequacy of Festival staffing and personnel, or emergency procedures such as show stop authority,” lawyers wrote.