AstroWorld Festival Disaster

When PJ played the Borgata I was about 5 deep on the floor when show started.  When after Long Road they started Porch and there was a huge push forward.  I had to grab the person in front of me’s shoulder and my feet briefly came off the ground,  for about 5 seconds I thought if I go down I’m gonna die.  My buddy and I headed more towards the back once things calmed down.  Since them I have zero interest in being anyway near the front in a GA crowd. It’s the only concert or sporting event where I feared for mr safety even if it was only for a few seconds.  It was scary for a short period.   For Sea Hear Now stood way in the Back.  It’s incredibly sad to hear about this happening and people losing their life because they went to a show and can’t imagine how those last minutes felt fur them.  Tragic.  Got to be devastating for their families.

pjhawks said:

When PJ played the Borgata I was about 5 deep on the floor when show started.  When after Long Road they started Porch and there was a huge push forward.  I had to grab the person in front of me’s shoulder and my feet briefly came off the ground,  for about 5 seconds I thought if I go down I’m gonna die.  My buddy and I headed more towards the back once things calmed down.  Since them I have zero interest in being anyway near the front in a GA crowd. It’s the only concert or sporting event where I feared for mr safety even if it was only for a few seconds.  It was scary for a short period.   For Sea Hear Now stood way in the Back.  It’s incredibly sad to hear about this happening and people losing their life because they went to a show and can’t imagine how those last minutes felt fur them.  Tragic.  Got to be devastating for their families.

Damn, dude!  Glad you got out of there alive!
When I read accounts like yours, I'm surprised these kinds of tragic deaths don't occur more frequently. 
When I saw Jimi Hendrix at Winterland, there was a surge when he came on that carried me up closer to the stage- maybe within about 20 feet of the stage- but with someone as popular as Jimi up there, it was merely slow surge and a snug fit, not a crush.  We had enough room to at least move and sway slightly. 

what dreams said:

I'm really concerned about our young people. I've noticed that many have acquired a general "fuck everything" kind of attitude as we've returned to "normal" school this year. Trampling gates at a concert looks a lot like the destruction of bathrooms, the multiple fights a day that get celebrated through their online posting, the roaming through the halls in gang-like packs trying to evade teachers, just flat out refusing to do anything an adult asks them to do and not caring one bit about any consequence. It's been a rough couple of months for my middle schoolers.

I know the getting hurt at concerts stuff is not new or unique to this generation. The indifference to the suffering seems like it is.

No consequences for any offenders. That is the problem. Why worry if you know you won’t get in any real trouble.

what dreams said:

I'm really concerned about our young people. I've noticed that many have acquired a general "fuck everything" kind of attitude as we've returned to "normal" school this year. Trampling gates at a concert looks a lot like the destruction of bathrooms, the multiple fights a day that get celebrated through their online posting, the roaming through the halls in gang-like packs trying to evade teachers, just flat out refusing to do anything an adult asks them to do and not caring one bit about any consequence. It's been a rough couple of months for my middle schoolers.

I know the getting hurt at concerts stuff is not new or unique to this generation. The indifference to the suffering seems like it is.

hedonist said:

elvistheking44 said:

I’mwhat dreams said:

I'm really concerned about our young people. I've noticed that many have acquired a general "fuck everything" kind of attitude as we've returned to "normal" school this year. Trampling gates at a concert looks a lot like the destruction of bathrooms, the multiple fights a day that get celebrated through their online posting, the roaming through the halls in gang-like packs trying to evade teachers, just flat out refusing to do anything an adult asks them to do and not caring one bit about any consequence. It's been a rough couple of months for my middle schoolers.

I know the getting hurt at concerts stuff is not new or unique to this generation. The indifference to the suffering seems like it is.

No consequences for any offenders. That is the problem. Why worry if you know you won’t get in any real trouble.

That’s where one’s conscience and personal integrity (should) come in.

Are those two things acquired via nature, nurture or a combination?

mickeyrat said:

hedonist said:

elvistheking44 said:

I’mwhat dreams said:

I'm really concerned about our young people. I've noticed that many have acquired a general "fuck everything" kind of attitude as we've returned to "normal" school this year. Trampling gates at a concert looks a lot like the destruction of bathrooms, the multiple fights a day that get celebrated through their online posting, the roaming through the halls in gang-like packs trying to evade teachers, just flat out refusing to do anything an adult asks them to do and not caring one bit about any consequence. It's been a rough couple of months for my middle schoolers.

I know the getting hurt at concerts stuff is not new or unique to this generation. The indifference to the suffering seems like it is.

No consequences for any offenders. That is the problem. Why worry if you know you won’t get in any real trouble.

That’s where one’s conscience and personal integrity (should) come in.

Are those two things acquired via nature, nurture or a combination?

Got me. I’d say a mix of the two, probably with emphasis on the nurture side.  

tempo_n_groove said:

cblock4life said:

josevolution said:

rush rush for what? 

I heard the same as the OP, not sure if it’s true, that the crowd came from another stage where someone just finished and they were trying to get to the front of the main stage for Drake…..only heard it once though and haven’t had time to reinvestigate but I will. 

I’ve been to many festivals and it happens but never that bad obviously.  Anyone at ACL when Eminem and PJ were there?  Thousands of us were stuck behind the Lorde crowd trying to get to the main stage…..it was difficult to breath because I’m only 5’1”.  It was a scary experience for sure. This is such a tragedy. 

I was there for that show.  I remember having a nice spot for Eminem and plenty of room right until show time.  Then people were coming from everywhere.  I made exit strategies w my GF and cousin in case shit got real. 

Knowing that if the crowd started to rush there wasn't a damn thing I was going to be able to do so that is why I made up an escape plan.

Thankfully we didn't have to use it.

If I recall correctly didn’t it rain Friday and the grounds on Saturday were soooo wet and muddy? I remember wearing rain boots.  We stayed far back for Eminem because we were exhausted after fighting the crowd moving over to main stage.  Sunday was great and the crowd was definitely different but that lineup was pretty damn good the whole weekend if you’re ok with and appreciate all types. OutKast, childish gambino, lorde, iggy azalea,  Eminem and PJ.  I think I’ve got it right.  

tempo_n_groove said:

cblock4life said:

tempo_n_groove said:

cblock4life said:

josevolution said:

rush rush for what? 

I heard the same as the OP, not sure if it’s true, that the crowd came from another stage where someone just finished and they were trying to get to the front of the main stage for Drake…..only heard it once though and haven’t had time to reinvestigate but I will. 

I’ve been to many festivals and it happens but never that bad obviously.  Anyone at ACL when Eminem and PJ were there?  Thousands of us were stuck behind the Lorde crowd trying to get to the main stage…..it was difficult to breath because I’m only 5’1”.  It was a scary experience for sure. This is such a tragedy. 

I was there for that show.  I remember having a nice spot for Eminem and plenty of room right until show time.  Then people were coming from everywhere.  I made exit strategies w my GF and cousin in case shit got real. 

Knowing that if the crowd started to rush there wasn't a damn thing I was going to be able to do so that is why I made up an escape plan.

Thankfully we didn't have to use it.

If I recall correctly didn’t it rain Friday and the grounds on Saturday were soooo wet and muddy? I remember wearing rain boots.  We stayed far back for Eminem because we were exhausted after fighting the crowd moving over to main stage.  Sunday was great and the crowd was definitely different but that lineup was pretty damn good the whole weekend if you’re ok with and appreciate all types. OutKast, childish gambino, lorde, iggy azalea,  Eminem and PJ.  I think I’ve got it right.  

See we carry these memories forever and we should all be able to walk away from these experiences unscathed. Been some sad days for sure especially for the music communities.  

The year before it rained.  The 2014 Beck, PJ and Eminem it was dry as a bone.

We left 1/2 way through Eminems set because he was lip-synching.  We took in the rest of Skryllex' show which I wanted to see from the get go.

ACL was run very very efficiently.  The only thing I noticed was the emergency lanes got clogged up closer to show time.

Just looked it up there were two weekends in 2013, one where iggy wasn’t there.  I was at the rainy muddy weekend!  Thought I was going crazy there for a minute! 

Meltdown99 said:

As long as festival seating or general admission is allowed this shit will happen again...

I have to agree.   I imagine a security guard at a concert has little ability to impact what happened at AstroWorld.    People are going to sneak in or misbehave knowing that they can easily run or mix in with the other 50k people.   Maybe the first person gets caught, but not when multiple people do it at one time.  So many people sneak into the PJ GA section by keeping their wristbands loose and sharing them to sneak friends in.  

Not saying there aren't things that can be done.