A whopping 50,000 people gathered in Houston, Texas for rapper Travis Scott’s annual Astroworld music festival, expecting the usual high-energy and amusement Scott brings to his shows. However, the event quickly went downhill. A crowd, full of mostly young people, swarmed the front of the stage, crushing many of the attendees and resulting in a total of eight deaths. 

Sophie Spheeris ’23, a concertgoer herself, is surprised by the tragedy and worries about the safety of future concerts. Spheeris also expresses her concern for the lack of efforts made by fellow attendees when these situations do occur.

“I am definitely going to think about whose concert I’m going to go to and whether the people, like if I was in the pit or if I was general admission, […] would help me,” Spheeris said.

Officer Brian Meraviglia, SSO at Westport Public Schools and father, reflects on the safety of events, similar to Astroworld, with such large and compact crowds.

“They start pushing and shoving and everything else is hard to control,” Meraviglia said. “Anytime you have a large crowd like that, you see it all across the United States now with all of the events going on in the past couple of years. Things get out of control really quick, and you know, people get hurt.”

He also discusses his view from a parent’s perspective. Younger attendees are at a higher risk for being swept up by the crowd when it gets unruly. This can result in serious injuries, or even become fatal, as displayed by the events at Astroworld.

“Myself as a dad, I’m thinking if I had a child that was, I don’t know, 8, or 10 years-old or 12 years-old, I wouldn’t let them go to an event like that. It’s too many people,” Meraviglia said. “The problems [are] right in front of you. There’s just too much [that] can go wrong.” 

However, young people still go to concerts, and as proven by the turn of events at Astroworld, they can easily become dangerous. Meraviglia explains ways to be safe when attending these types of events.

“Know where the exits are, stay with a group of people,” Meraviglia said. “And sense if it gets that crazy.”