On Friday November 5th, Travis Scott hosted the Astroworld Festival in Houston, Texas. At this event 9 people died and over 300 were injured. Among the deceased was a 14 year old boy. This was considered a mass casualty event by the authorities and yet for 30 minutes, Travis Scott kept performing and even attended an after party following the concert. This was not an instantaneous tragic event yet an extremely preventable one that was perpetuated by Travis Scott’s branding.
Travis Scott loves to get his fans rowdy, he thrives off of it. He often tells them to jump barriers, sneak into concerts, push people out of their way in order to be closer to the stage. And at November’s Astroworld festival, this was no different. He was inspiring fans to go the extra mile to show their loyalty and passion for his music but this went too far. As more people pushed into the barricades than sustainable, the crowd became volatile. This chaos however, did not start when the show started. Before the concert while fans waited for over 6+ hours inside the venue music blasted so loud it was hard to hear or talk to others. The music described by the concert goers as “deafening and maddening” created an already volatile and on edge environment before the concert even started. This is what Travis Scott wanted though. He wanted his fans to be on edge as that is why his concerts are what they are, however this time it went too far and created a horrific event.
Scotts fans have been called out before for being aggressive and hostile towards other concert goers and this perpetuated by Scotts actions at Astroworld fest created a recipe for disaster. Scott enticing his fans to go the extra mile is not illegal, however provoking them to be violent is. In his position of authority, fans listened to him and while people were dying in the crowd Scott continued to persuade his fans to get closer and be crazier. His branding is “rage” and this went too far at this most recent Astroworld. Scott incites his fans causing them to be almost animalistic which resulted in disaster.
Tyler the Creator has been banned from multiple countries because the government believes he would make his fans mosh and rave causing dangerous situations. Travis Scott however, is allowed to do this freely and even prides himself on the craziness of his concerts. His branding has caused 8 people to lose their lives and Scott still seems to show little remorse or change. He is in no way solely responsible for this horrific event, however, his branding as an artist has gone too far and hopefully there are repercussions for his role in this tragedy.
