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It's not necessarily going to work if you're not taking other precautions." "If you overcrowd a place, people can get crushed in between.

The Roskilde Festival used barriers to break up the crowd, he explains. Wertheimer said that barriers, which he describes as "like a reef that you put in the ocean to break up the waves," can be effective, but not always. The approach also allows for security to access trouble spots more easily. Goldenvoice's Coachella, held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, separates its main stage pitch into grids divided by heavy iron barriers, and the resulting canals prevent large-scale mosh pits or heaving crowds from getting out of control.

Wertheimer said that a seat might take up 6 square feet of space a packed event such as Astroworld might only allow for 2 square feet of room per person.Ĭrowd-control measures have improved since 1979. For promoters such as Astroworld's Live Nation, festival seating means more tickets sold. Legendary ’60s concerts Woodstock and Altamont utilized festival seating, but even in the early 1970s its use was rare enough as to warrant a mention in reviews.įestival seating offers fans willing to line up early the opportunity for closer views, and the space in which to dance or, at a Travis Scott concert, to mosh. Those who have been to a festival in the last three decades, be it Coachella, Stagecoach, Bonnaroo or Woodstock ’99, have partaken in festival seating. A first-come, first-serve approach to ticketing, it replaces reserved seats, or any seats at all, in favor of a shoulder-to-shoulder, general admission experience. The Who, Pearl Jam and Travis Scott tragedies all share a similar trait: so-called festival seating. And as long as promoters, artists, security, venue, operators and city officials who approved these plans are not held criminally liable - this is going to drone on." The main reason being that "the people who organize and approve these events are not held criminally liable for gross negligence. Young people are still exposed to the extreme dangers," he said. As the decades have passed, Wertheimer has come to an unfortunate conclusion. He's testified in civil suits against concert promoters and security companies. Several families turned down the offer.Įxperts in crowd safety say an investigation by neutral outsiders could help avoid potential conflicts of interest and promote transparency.Īn operations plan for the festival detailed protocols for scenarios such as a shooter, bomb or terrorist threats, and severe weather, but not a crowd surge.In 2000 at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark, when nine people were trampled to death at a Pearl Jam concert, Wertheimer consulted with the Danish government on preventive solutions. Scott’s attorney reached out to the families of the 10 who died, offering to pay for their loved ones’ funeral costs. No timetable has been set for when the investigation would be completed.

Scott and the event organizers are the focus of a criminal investigation by Houston police. The others who died ranged in age from 14 to 27.Īpproximately 300 people were injured and treated at the festival site and 25 were taken to hospitals.ĭozens of lawsuits have been filed over injuries and deaths at the concert, where fans surged toward the stage during Scott’s set, squeezing people so tightly together that they could not breathe or move their arms. The youngest victim was nine-year-old Ezra Blount. Medical examiners with the Harris county institute of forensic sciences in Houston had to wait several weeks after the 5 November concert, holding out for additional test results before making final determinations on cause and manner of the deaths. Those who were killed died from compression asphyxia, officials said. The medical examiner’s finding could have a major impact on a criminal investigation into the tragedy, which has shaken Houston and raised issues about crowd control and security at entertainment mega-events.