- 6/13/2025
A deep dive into the devastating revelations from the Netflix Astroworld festival documentary that shocked the world. From crucial security failures to heartbreaking witness accounts, we examine the most disturbing details that emerged from this tragic event that forever changed the landscape of live music events.
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00:00But it's so many of them.
00:03It's so many of them, it didn't matter how big you were.
00:05It was more than what I had bargained for.
00:08Welcome to Ms. Mojo.
00:10And today, we'll be diving into the biggest bombshells
00:13unearthed in the Netflix documentary,
00:15Trainwreck, The Astroworld Tragedy.
00:18This was a case of ignoring, blaring, warning sirens.
00:24More tickets were sold than were safe.
00:26The failures that led to the tragedy at 2021's Astroworld Festival
00:31began long before the event itself.
00:34Live Nation got in touch with me.
00:38I knew the venue.
00:40I knew the event.
00:41I knew the politics.
00:43And I could quickly make sense of what happened.
00:46Live Nation, the touring giant responsible for promoting the festival,
00:50allegedly sold way more tickets than the venue could handle.
00:54According to crowd safety expert Scott Davidson,
00:58the viewing capacity for the main stage,
01:00where Travis Scott performed that night,
01:02was estimated to be around 35,000.
01:06Yet 50,000 tickets were reportedly sold.
01:09And believe that there was viewing capacity
01:11for just 35,000 concertgoers at the main stage,
01:15which would mean they planned for many thousands more people
01:21than could safely view Travis's performance.
01:24Even worse, this decision seemed to have been made
01:27without confirming whether the venue
01:29could safely hold that many attendees.
01:31This critical misstep became the first domino
01:34in the chain of events
01:35that would ultimately lead to the fatal crowd crush.
01:38We can actually see text messages
01:40between key members of this management team.
01:42Expressing 50,000 people are not going to fit here.
01:50Security guards were hurriedly hired and undertrained.
01:54For an event of this size,
01:56one would expect a professional organization
01:58to provide adequate, well-trained security personnel.
02:02But that didn't seem to be the case.
02:04A lot of the criticism, you know, from the tragedy,
02:07they say, is in the poor planning
02:09and understaffing of the event.
02:12As an artist, do you have any involvement in any of that?
02:15Jackson Bush, a security guard
02:18who was interviewed in the documentary,
02:20recalled being hired mere hours before the event began.
02:23And it's all happening like literally
02:25one and two o'clock in the morning,
02:27the day before the concert.
02:29That might still have been excusable
02:31if the guards received any proper training beforehand.
02:35But it appears even that was lacking.
02:37According to Bush,
02:38they were simply told to show up at a specific time
02:41with no formal preparation.
02:44The only direction they received
02:45came informally from other people
02:47who had apparently worked there before.
02:49The only instructions that we had
02:52came from other workers that was working with us.
02:57Saying they were like,
02:58hey, they gonna rush the gates.
03:01So y'all be ready.
03:02An overcrowded venue staffed by untrained,
03:05unprepared guards was a clear recipe for disaster.
03:09Staff lost control of the gates almost immediately.
03:13You have to remember that the 2021 Astroworld Festival
03:16was one of the first major concerts
03:18after COVID-19 restrictions began to lift.
03:21So fans were buzzing with excitement.
03:24All of us had been locked up for so long.
03:27This was, let's go get it.
03:29It's about to go down.
03:31Footage from the documentary shows
03:32that as soon as the gates opened,
03:34they rushed the entrances,
03:36blowing past the light security
03:38and pouring into the venue.
03:40This chaos wasn't at all unexpected though.
03:43Live Nation had reportedly instructed its photographers
03:46to lean into the frenzy
03:48and capture the wild energy of the crowd.
03:51We were instructed to lean into the fans
03:56and the chaos.
03:58The promo video that they put out
03:59showed footage from 2019
04:01of the fans breaking down the fences to get in.
04:05However, the situation quickly escalated.
04:08Some fans exploited the lax security
04:10and began tearing down fences and sneaking in.
04:13This meant many people without tickets
04:15gained access to the festival,
04:17turning an already overcrowded event
04:20into a ticking time bomb.
04:22And to compound that,
04:24the moment they lost control of the gates,
04:27there's now an unknown number of people at the festival.
04:32Travis Scott's history of crowd management issues.
04:35The 2021 Astroworld tragedy didn't occur in a vacuum.
04:40Beyond the major failures leading up to the event,
04:42there were clear warning signs
04:44from Travis Scott's previous shows.
04:47Travis Scott had developed a reputation.
04:50We had seen crowd management issues at other festivals.
04:55The rapper is known for urging his fans to rage
04:57and match his intense stage energy.
05:00This behavior has repeatedly taken a dangerous turn in the past
05:04and resulted in Scott being arrested at least twice.
05:08The first incident occurred at the 2015 Lollapalooza Festival
05:12when he told fans to climb over the barricades
05:14and join him on stage.
05:17He was sentenced to one year of court supervision
05:19for reckless conduct.
05:21Tonight, a performer is charged with causing the commotion
05:24that sent fans over security barricade.
05:27Two years later,
05:28Scott was charged with inciting a riot,
05:30disorderly conduct,
05:31and endangering the welfare of a minor
05:33after several attendees were injured
05:35during a show in Rogers, Arkansas.
05:38So there was an open space in the general admission area.
05:40So he was telling people from the seated section
05:42to come close to the stage
05:44and it created like a riot scene, essentially.
05:46The placement of Travis Scott's stage.
05:49The 2021 edition of the Astroworld Festival
05:52was a major expansion of the previous shows.
05:55It was planned as a two-day event
05:57with two separate stages,
05:59one for the other performers
06:00and another dedicated solely to Travis Scott.
06:03I was shocked at how big the festival had grown.
06:10There was a whole stage dedicated to just Travis.
06:14It wasn't going to be used all day.
06:15Because Scott's stage remained unused for most of the day,
06:19nearly all attendees converged there
06:21at the same time for his performance.
06:23To make matters worse,
06:25the stage had only one prominent access point
06:28on the left side,
06:29which became the primary entry route for the crowd.
06:32Its configuration created a trap
06:34on the left-hand side of the stage.
06:39And so the compression just built and built
06:43where people could not escape.
06:44With no legible signs or proper security
06:46to redirect people toward the right side of the stage,
06:50the left quickly became overcrowded.
06:52This intense crowd crush
06:54ultimately resulted in 10 fatalities,
06:56all of which reportedly occurred on the left side.
07:00It became overwhelming real fast.
07:03And I remember thinking to myself,
07:05what the hell is going on?
07:08Live Nation allegedly ignored the severity of the situation.
07:12Even before Travis Scott took the stage,
07:15several attendees were already feeling the effects
07:17of the crowd crush.
07:19And it appears the danger had already been communicated to the top.
07:23Text messages obtained by the filmmakers suggest
07:26that Live Nation executives were alerted
07:28to the situation at 9 p.m.,
07:30two minutes before Scott's set began.
07:33Despite this, the show was allowed to continue.
07:36In all the failures of Astroworld,
07:38a common denominator is a failure to speak truth to power.
07:43There were many missed opportunities to speak up.
07:46Crowd safety expert Scott Davidson added
07:49that Houston police became aware of the severity of the crisis around 9.30
07:54and attempted to locate the Live Nation manager authorized to stop the show.
07:59Their efforts were, however, unsuccessful.
08:01They were looking for the manager from Live Nation,
08:05trying to locate him and to either end the concert or delay the concert,
08:11and they could not find him.
08:12Apparently, only two executives had the authority to halt the performance,
08:16but both were unreachable, so the concert raged on.
08:21It almost made me feel like I was going crazy,
08:24like it wasn't actually happening,
08:26because surely they would stop the show.
08:28If it was as bad as it looked, they would stop the show, right?
08:30Two concert goers tried to stop the show.
08:33The longer Scott's set went on,
08:35the more dangerous the situation became for the crowd.
08:38I wasn't even, like, breathing right,
08:41so I had to look up,
08:43be, like, trying to calm my breathing down.
08:45It was a nightmare.
08:46That was the best way I could put it.
08:48Some attendees, recognizing how badly things could end,
08:51attempted to bring the show to a halt.
08:54Aiden Cruz, who had also been trampled in the crowd
08:57but managed to find his way out,
08:59tried to draw attention to the crisis.
09:01He climbed onto the cameraman's platform,
09:04shouting at Astroworld staff to stop the show
09:06and help those in distress.
09:08I went up the ladder to get on the camera platform.
09:10I was just yelling, stop the show.
09:19Although some of the other concert goers yelled at him to quit being disruptive,
09:24a young woman soon joined him in seeking help.
09:27Sadly, their urgent pleas fell on deaf ears
09:30and were largely drowned out by the sounds of Scott's performance.
09:33I feel like I'm helpless
09:35because I knew Brie was in that area still struggling.
09:40Travis Scott briefly stops, then restarts the show.
09:43Around 9.42 p.m., after multiple unsuccessful attempts to halt the show,
09:49it briefly appeared like that was finally happening.
09:52Travis Scott noticed someone in the audience had passed out
09:55and paused to draw attention to them.
09:57We need somebody to help them.
09:58Somebody passed out right here.
10:00Somebody passed out right here.
10:02Hold on, don't touch them, don't touch them.
10:04With the venue mostly silent,
10:06many attendees began chanting for the show to be stopped,
10:09hoping they would finally be heard.
10:11They chanted and chanted and chanted.
10:13Stop the show! Stop the show! Stop the show!
10:17But as soon as the unconscious individual was carried out of the crowd,
10:21Scott resumed performing.
10:22Shortly after, a Live Nation manager reportedly urged an audio engineer
10:27to communicate the seriousness of the situation to Scott.
10:31It is very, very bad.
10:34There are more crush victims than I've ever seen in my 25-year career.
10:40But it is unclear if that message ever reached him.
10:43Meanwhile, Houston police appeared to extend the concert's runtime,
10:47allowing Drake to join Scott on stage.
10:50The tragedy was overshadowed by a wave of misinformation.
10:54This is now a criminal investigation.
10:57We leave no stones unturned.
10:59A lot of narratives out there right now.
11:01A lot of them.
11:02Almost immediately after news of the tragedy broke,
11:06the actual facts were drowned out by a flood of misinformation
11:08and conspiracy theories.
11:11Various social media platforms quickly became inundated
11:14with posts claiming that the music festival
11:16was merely a front for a satanic ritual
11:19and that the deaths were part of a human sacrifice.
11:22Another widely shared theory suggested that the medical emergencies at the concert
11:26were caused by attendees being injected with tainted drugs.
11:30That's not why what happened happened.
11:34The answers are right there in front of you.
11:36We're telling you what happened.
11:38Like, why are people not hearing us?
11:39Not only were these theories disrespectful to the victims and their families,
11:44but they also diverted attention away from the real causes of the tragedy,
11:48such as poor planning, overcrowding,
11:50and a failure to promptly address issues as soon as they arose.
11:54The idea of a performance continuing while even one CPR in progress is underway is insane.
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12:20No one was held criminally responsible.
12:25The Astroworld Festival crowd crash resulted in the deaths of 10 people,
12:30all of which were caused by accidental compressive asphyxiation.
12:34However, as Scott Davidson pointed out, this was no accident.
12:38It could have been prevented if the proper safety measures had been put in place.
12:42I believe Astroworld 2021 was not an accident.
12:46It was an inevitability due to the lack of foresight
12:50and the abandonment of basic safety protocols.
12:53In the aftermath of the tragedy,
12:55a criminal investigation was launched to determine whether Travis Scott
12:58or any of the event organizers were responsible.
13:02In June 2023, following a nearly two-year investigation,
13:06a grand jury declined to indict Scott or anyone else on criminal charges.
13:11We will make sure that they get justice
13:14because this should have never, ever happened.
13:19Nonetheless, Scott has faced multiple lawsuits from attendees and the victim's families,
13:25many of which have been settled out of court.
13:28Whoever cut the corners, that's who I hold responsible.
13:33I need to see that these people get justice and that things change.
13:38Have you watched Trainwreck, The Astroworld Tragedy?
13:41What details about the ill-fated music festival stunned you the most?
13:45Let us know in the comments.
13:47What I did too slow or what I wish I did first,
13:51when I relived that moment,
13:53trying to change my actions,
13:55hoping for a different outcome,
13:56but it's always the same outcome.
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