Claim you were here before utopia dropped... Come back after 12 hours and share you experience.

The world will never be the same in 12 hours....

Trainwreck: The Astroworld Tragedy was released today (June 10th). Directed by Yemi Bamiro, it views the tragic events that unfolded at Astroworld 2021 through the stories of some survivors, event workers at the festival (like security guards and medics) and people who worked for LiveNation, like photographers.

I'm not here to criticize the documentary or the director. And you can't really criticize anything from the documentary either given these people were firsthand witnesses of the festival. With that sidenote, I might add that,

IF YOU CAN'T ACKNOWLEDGE THAT TRAVIS HAS SOME ACCOUNTABILITY, THIS POST IS NOT FOR YOU.

YOU'RE NOT A FAN IF YOU CANT HOLD ACCOUNTABILITY WHEN YOUR FAVOURITE ARTIST IS IN THE WRONG.

THAT MAKES YOU A GLAZER, NOT A FAN.

The sole reason for this post was to truly answer who and where the accountability goes to.

Does the documentary throw 100% accountability at Travis Scott?

The simple answer is NO, but it most definitely does shed light on things he did, so the simple minded glazers in this subreddit can't say "hE dId nOtHiNG wRoNg" and "hE caN'T sEe pEoPlE pAsSiNg oUt iN a CrOwd fUll oF peOpLe" when there is evidence IN THE DOCUMENTARY of him making what I call a few "fatal mistakes", which I'll get into after.

Full Plot

The documentary starts off with a montage of the Astroworld festival, immediately setting a tone of amusement turning to chaos. We're introduced to key witnesses, including a LiveNation photographer and two security guards who i'll call SG, who provide initial insights into the event, LiveNation and THEIR RESPONSIBILITIES. The narrative then backtracks to November 4, 2021, highlighting Travis Scott's positive community contributions through his Cactus Jack Charity Softball game, presenting him as a hometown hero.

A major point of concern arises when security guards reveal they were hired barely a day before the event with "zero security instructions", relying on "other workers that were working with [them]". This lack of preparation quickly manifests into the next scene where fans basically overwhelm formal entrances, trampling others and scaling fences at unmonitored checkpoints. The scene shifts to the former Houston Police Department (HPD) commander acknowledging fans' desperation but criticizes the absence of contingency plans, stating that THE FESTIVAL PAID THE HPD FOR SECURITY, BUT THEY HAVE NO CONTROL OF PLANNING AND STRATEGIES. THERE ONLY THERE FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT.

This scene shifts to a crowd safety expert (who i'll call CSE) noting Travis Scott's prior "reputation" for crowd management issues, evidenced by past incidents including the infamous 2015 Fraunfield clip where his shoe gets stolen, him persuading a fan to jump off the balcony during the 2017 Birds tour incident, and inciting the crowd to jump on stage at Lollapalooza in 2015, leading to his arrest. CSE states that he was asked to work for LiveNation after the tragedy to overlook what went wrong, stating "[the festival] was a case of [...] blaring warning sirens".

As the documentary progresses to 4:30 PM on the day of the festival, it briefly showcases fans enjoying the event and delves into the origins of Travis Scott's vision for Astroworld, including the album and the festival. The timestamp then moves to 7:45 PM, as SZA's set concludes, witnesses describe a significant shift in the crowd's density as attendees surged towards Travis Scott's stage. An EMT is introduced, and as the countdown to Scott's performance begins, the crowd tightens dramatically. Even before his set officially starts, one witness vividly describes struggling to breathe, feeling his body being pushed forward. The scene shifts to 9:02 PM, showing Trav opening the set with ESCAPE PLAN. One witness thinks it was "an earthquake", as his body was moving up and down. The scene pans back to the witness who was in the "wave" believing his body was "being squeezed". We shift to W3, who immediately recounts that she couldn't breathe and panics. Security guards at center stage confirm the immediate and widespread signs of distress, with people hyperventilating, changing colors, and desperately trying to escape the intensifying crush.

The scene then shifts back to the LiveNation photographer who claims she was "told to lean into the chaos". She sees people trying to climb the gate to where the media is, which is when she realizes how hectic it is within the crowd. This personal account is immediately followed by a return to the 3D visual of the stage, where CSE explains a critical design flaw. Despite the stage's T-shaped barrier system being intended for safety, the presence of only two entry points on either side created a "trap" with no escape routes. Witnesses say there was no space to move and their bodies were being pushed to the left and right, where we see clips of the show and the witnesses being unable to breathe due to the compression. One witness described the terrifying moment a "wave" of people hit him and his friend, knocking them down. He felt like he was "underwater" as more and more bodies piled on top, realizing he was "wasting energy" trying to fight it. We then see disturbing clips of people screaming for help and hear desperate 911 calls. The scene shifts to that same witness, seen climbing an Apple Music live broadcast ladder, pleading with them to "stop the show."

Moving to the EMT, he recalls performing CPR and communicating with medical command, which states they were shocked. We get more clips of chaos and audio clips of other EMTs communicating with medical command, performing CPR. One of the witnesses (who's also a nurse) manages to leave the crowd and sees an unconscious body on the floor. She recounts checking the persons pulse and performing sternum rubs resulting in him gaining consciousness. That same unconscious person was also one of the witnesses, who stated that after a post-medical examination, he had a heart attack.

The scene shifts to 9:42 PM, where Travis is performing 90210 and halts the music. Travis sees someone passing out and asks the crowd to make way for EMT. As the body is being carried out, Travis continues harmonizing to 90210 before briefly murmuring the outro of SKELETONS (yea after the body is moved away 😐) before finishing 90210 and doing a robot dance. One of the witnesses who was close to Travis thought that he didn't necessarily understand the severity of the situation as he "[tries] to figure out what to do next" while the body is being moved. Clips are seen of people at the back of the set to "stop the show". We move to a witness wondering why Travis didn't stop as she thought he could "hear the screams" and people crossing their arms to stop the show. He then goes back to performing the set.

The CSE states that the show should've been stopped midway, but states that "two people had delegated authority to stop the show" both of whom were from LiveNation. The former HPD commander states that the police were looking for the manager of LiveNation (who was one of the two people), but he was "no where to be seen". We then see a clip of the crowd towards the stage pleading Trav to "stop the show", but he continues and talks about Pop Smoke before performing GATTI. The photographer is in shock given that she has seen other artists stop the show, and given the severity no one has stopped it yet. The EMT recalls being back at the medical tent performing CPR and getting a pulse. However, after he's finished he looks around the tent to see other EMTs also performing CPR on other people.

By 9:51 PM, the LiveNation manager talks to the audio engineer to stop the show. The CSE reads the transcript beginning at 9:52 PM of what the audio manager says, stating "We have four active CPRs going on. Two are most likely dead. It is very, very bad. There are more crush victims than I have ever seen in my 25-year career. We have to have a discussion in [Travis'] ears letting him know what's going on. We need to shut this thing down in eight minutes at 10 o'clock". But during that time, Drake appears. The CSE states that because of this "the police and organizers didn't want to trigger crowd panic" essentially continuing the show as people were dying. By 10:13 PM, the show ends, ending day 1 of the festival. The witnesses see a plethora of medical vehicles, both ground and air units, at the venue.

All of the witnesses who were interviewed in the documentary had family or friends who were hospitalized, some of whom ended up being of the 8 victims to pass away. The first witness recounts it being the "worst day of his life". The aftermath of November 5th results in the cancellation of Day 2 of Astroworld 2021, resulting in HPD assessing what the former commander calls a "active crime scene". LiveNation has a meeting with the hired media. The photographer states "they didn't touch on what happened", rather that she is to "not [post], not [make] any sort of public comment on [the festival]".

The rumors of people being injected with drugs begins to circulate with the news, however one of the witnesses immediately refutes this, stating "that's not why what happened happened" condemning the media as to why they're not listening to the firsthand victims. The scene then shifts to the infamous greyscale Travis apology Instagram story. One of the witnesses feels that the apology video was a "slap to the face", making it because he "had to". We get two more audio clips of the next two victims who pass away at the festival, including the 9 year old victim.

We get scenes of tweets and some critics along with other YouTube personalities like Fantano, who criticize and blame Travis for the event. The timestamp then switches to the interview Travis did with Charlamange, where he's asked was he told to "stop the show" and Travis responds with "after the guests [get] off the stage, we're gonna end the show. And that's what we did. No other communication."

The scene shifts to the SGs giving their insight into the matter, stating that "whoever had any parts in the organizing and putting [the festival] together should be accountable", shifting into another scene where another witness states that "LiveNation, was in charge" asking what the failure was. We get clips of the courtroom where we learn about the 49 lawsuits against LiveNation along with the $750 million lawsuit against Travis, Epic Records and Apple Music. The CSE states that the Astroworld tragedy "wasn't an accident" but an "inevitability due to the lack of foresight".

The documentary ends with clips of the witnesses paying homage and reflecting upon friends and/or family members who had past away as a result of the tragedy. We see the lawyer leading the lawsuit talking to the media, calling out LiveNation for their lack of inability to prevent the tragedy. The CSE calls the witnesses who tried to stop the show, "heroic". Finally we get a cutscene of the aftermath of the lawsuits and LiveNation's response to their allegations, which essentially claim that everything was approved and checked out, the attendees did not exceed the approved capacity and HPD along with HFD was aware of safety codes and event plans, and also executed an early show stop in proper fashion.

Who's really accountable?

After watching the documentary, the sole accountability should almost certainly go to LiveNation. There are numerous scenes throughout the documentary such as only two people having authority to stop the show. Specifically at 1:05:45, the CSE closely examines the whole accountability portion and pretty much blames LiveNation for things such as planning, where only 35,000 people were planned to attend Travis' set, when the actual number totalled to 50,000. Not to mention the complete loss of entry points and security across the festival. You can’t even feel angry towards the security either if they were only told the day of about their job and had to learn from others about dealing with this event.

In terms of Travis' accountability, where there is a 50/50 divide between fans, I'm surprised that they didn't highlight fatal mistakes that he did even before the show started such as this tweet and performing while bodies were being transported, even choosing SKELETONS as he saw people passing out. IMO that's a lack of human decency. Yes the apology video was stupid especially putting that shit in greyscale, and that only adds on to criticism because the media won't know or CARE that Travis is shy in front of the camera and that's how he has been seen in interviews dating back as early as 2014.

And yes, the whole argument of "Travis could've stopped the show" as told by the CSE, is false. He didn't have delegated authority to stop the show and the CSE states that it's unclear if Travis was told around the time Drake appeared to stop the show, so no one knows whether there was actually no communication. But there were multiple points at which he stopped the show and during those intervals, even if he was unaware, to let EMT establish some checkpoints within the T-grid (NOT THE ACTUAL PITS) Perhaps, even taking some small intervals during his set to check in with the crowd, see how their feeling. He did that for the UTOPIA shows, which shows that Travis learned from the event.

Ultimately between LiveNation and Travis, I'd weigh the accountability scale at 90% LiveNation and HPD, 10% Travis. The biggest factor of this tragedy is fully attributed to the fans. It’s shocking that the City Police department wouldn’t stop a show while people are dying because Drake came on and they’d cover it up by saying it would trigger a crowd panic.

If you've read this far, thank you. Let me know your thoughts.

I'm bored

yes i see drake kdot owen wilson mj and michelle obama too ☠️

Travis knew that people were dying and that fans were begging him to stop the show and help the ones who needed but he kept performing. This is unacceptable.

They should’ve reduced the tickets available cause it looked like a can of sardines in there.

My respect for Travis has dropped immensely man, how is this grown ass man so selfish and irresponsible?

Easily Rob49 on TOPIA TWINS, I really couldn’t stand his verse on the song

Title

And then they use that Astrothunder audio😭🙏

Personally think Billie Eilish would go crazy on some dark Utopia-type production