At least 34 Astroworld Festival attendees have sued or plan to sue the event promoter in what is expected to be a bevy of litigation related to the mayhem at NRG Park.
At least eight people died and dozens more were injured Friday during rapper Travis Scott’s concert at the Houston festival. The plaintiffs in several of the lawsuits allege that their injuries — and in one case, a family member’s death — were aided by the negligence of organizers, who they say failed to plan a safe event and failed to provide adequate medical staff, security and equipment for what was expected to be an unruly scene.
“Tragically, due to Defendants’ motivation for profit at the expense of concertgoers’ health and safety, and due to their encouragement of violence, at least 8 people lost their lives and scores of others were injured at what was supposed to be a night of fun,” attorneys said in a lawsuit filed by concert attendee Manuel Souza.
[…]
Souza and another attendee, Cristian Guzman, filed separate $1 million lawsuits in state civil district court over the weekend, alleging they were both trampled and injured.
Guzman, who said he suffered a significant back injury, is suing Live Nation, NRG Park, NRG Energy and the Harris County Sports & Convention Corporation.
Souza is suing a variety of owners, operators, promoters and public relations representatives – including Scoremore, Live Nation, ASM Global, Travis Scott and a number of other named individuals.
Both of the men are also asking the court to grant temporary restraining orders that would require the defendants preserve evidence in the case.
See here and here for some background. Stories like this are certain to become obsolete quickly, as more lawsuits get filed. KUT and CultureMap both mention lawsuits not included in the Chron story, and legal experts anticipate many more. Which is how it should be! Eight people, including two children, died at this event, and many others were injured and traumatized. It may ultimately be shown that everyone involved in the planning and execution of this event acted responsibly and took adequate safety measures, but no one believes that right now, and nor should they. We have a civil justice system for a reason, and this is what it’s here for. I guarantee you, we will learn more about what happened via discovery and deposition than by any other means. The Press has more.
Speaking as a veteran attendee of probably a thousand live shows and easily a hundred or more arena/stadium/festival shows with no seating and general admission on the floor … I am not sure I could actually name what promoters/arena staff/security/performers should do to prevent this from being an ongoing risk.
It’s harder than it sounds, in other words.
Texxas Jam July ’81 and June ’82, anyone ?
Saw the Stones on the (gen admin) fifth row of the floor of the Astrodome in ’80 or ’81. Pretty tight but no one died.
Saw SRV with 120,000 other folks in the Astrodome parking lot Sept ’89, and don’t remember anyone getting crushed.
I think the issues may have more to do with the inciting entertainer(s) and the general disposition of the crowd. Folks will trample over each other for a koozie or free t-shirt these days. Sad that this T. Scott numb nut whipped the crowd into a frenzy then hung them out to dry. With being on stage comes responsibility – he’s going to get sued until he’s under the poverty line.
“Texxas Jam July ’81 and June ’82, anyone ?
Saw SRV with 120,000 other folks in the Astrodome parking lot Sept ’89, and don’t remember anyone getting crushed.
I think the issues may have more to do with the inciting entertainer(s) and the general disposition of the crowd. Folks will trample over each other for a koozie or free t-shirt these days. Sad that this T. Scott numb nut whipped the crowd into a frenzy then hung them out to dry. With being on stage comes responsibility – he’s going to get sued until he’s under the poverty line.”
1) No, but yes to ’83, ’84, ’85 & ’87. The floor of the Cotton Bowl got pretty hairy.
2) Saw that exact SRV show. It was hardly a comparable scene.
3) You are dangerously close to racism here. There is plenty of crowd-whipping at most concerts, especially, say, heavy metal shows. I have seen the floor of an Iron Maiden show where people were being lifted and moved around by the force of the crowd.
The fact that no one has died at any of these other shows is more luck than design.
Dangerously close to Racism ?
That or ageism. Or both.
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