Ten people died at Travis Scott’s annual Astroworld festival held on November 5th. The cause of such a tragedy could be broken down into three reasons: irresponsibility on Travis Scott’s part, a lack of punishment for Travis, and the concept of “raging” itself.

Travis has been known to encourage reckless behavior when it comes to his concerts. At his Lollapalooza concert in 2015, Travis encouraged fans to break down the barrier and storm the concert venue. If not stopped by the security, this stunt would have resulted in many injured fans. Something much more dangerous happened during a 2017 concert, where Travis encouraged fans to jump off higher floors into the crowd below. As fans started jumping off the balcony, Kyle Green, a fan on the third floor, was pushed off by other concertgoers. He fell all three stories into the crowd, where he broke his right hand and fractured his vertebrae and ankle. Furthermore, the security guards on the scene didn’t pick him up properly, making his injuries worse. This left him paralyzed in the left side of his body, although he has started to gain some control back. Travis has also encouraged violent concert behavior in his music, as is seen in STARGAZING, the leadoff song of his third album , ASTROWORLD, where he raps “And it ain’t a mosh pit if ain’t no injuries / I got ’em stage divin’ out the nosebleeds”. 

What makes these actions even worse is the lack of punishment Travis gets for them. Although he was arrested by local police after the 2015 incident, he was let out with minimal punishment. He was never punished for encouraging fans to jump off the balcony in his 2017 concert, and it never got attention in the news. The Astroworld tragedy is the only incident that Travis is getting proper punishment for, with a combined lawsuit of $2 billion dollars going against him. 

Lastly, the concept of raging, when done irresponsibly, is deadly to everyone participating. Travis is known for his wild concerts, with his overtop performance and crazy onstage effects. Of course, this gets the crowd wild as well, with huge mosh pits forming at the front of the stage. This is fine most of the time, when there is enough security to help anyone who wants to get out and when there is enough room for everyone to breathe. However, both of these necessities weren’t met at Astroworld, causing many to pass out during the concert. 

Many of Travis’s defenders say that the incident was impossible to stop, as Travis couldn’t see what was happening from onstage. However, this argument doesn’t hold up because security already knew what was happening. All they had to do was tell Travis what was happening and tell him to cancel the concert. Ironically, the exact same thing happened at Playboi Carti’s concert only two weeks before. Fans had broken down the fence and were storming the concert. Carti cancelled the concert immediately, and no injuries were recorded. 

The ten deaths at the Astroworld Festival were an easily preventable case. However, because of a lack of responsibility on Travis Scott, ten lives were taken. Hopefully, this will show that maximum precautions and safety measures must be taken at concerts so fans can have fun while staying safe.