Astroworld now among the deadliest US concert events
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(NewsNation Now) — Details are still being pieced together about what happened at the Astroworld Festival in Houston on Nov. 5, which left ten people dead and dozens injured.
After a tragic chain of events unfolded during Travis Scott’s performance, the Astroworld Festival now includes itself in the list of the deadliest concerts in U.S. history.
Here is a quick list of the worst:
165 dead: Beverly Hills Supper Club, 1977
On May 28, 1977, a fire at the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, Kentucky, killed 165 people who turned out to see popular Hollywood singer and actor John Davidson during the Memorial Day holiday weekend. More than 200 people were also injured. Reports said the club, just outside Cincinnati, was operating beyond capacity.
100 dead: The Station, 2003
On the evening of Feb. 20, 2003, in West Warwick, Rhode Island, 100 people died and 230 were injured when pyrotechnics for the opening act Great White ignited flammable acoustic foam in the walls and ceilings surrounding the stage. A rush of people to one of the four exits caused trampling deaths in addition to those who perished from toxic smoke inhalation and burns.
11 dead: The WHO, 1979
On Dec. 3, 1979, 11 people died when British rock band The Who performed at Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati. Conflicting reports suggest that concertgoers outside the venue assumed that The Who was on stage earlier than scheduled and surged toward the only two doors which had been opened. Many were trampled and 26 other people reported injuries.
As a result, Cincinnati imposed a ban on unassigned festival seating that lasted for the next 25 years.
10 dead: AstroWorld, 2021
City officials are in the early stages of investigating what caused the chaos at the Travis Scott concert which left ten people dead and dozens injured. Scott’s high-energy performances are known for being chaotic, and incidents at his past concerts are being looked at as investigators try and piece together what went wrong in Houston.
4 dead: AltamonT Free concert, 1969
On Dec. 6, 1969, at the Altamont Speedway in northern California, a member of the Hells Angels motorcycle club performing security duty stabbed a gun-wielding 18-year-old named Meredith Hunter to death just 20 feet in front of the stage where the Rolling Stones were performing. The exact timeline of the incident is debated, but the event that approximately 300,000 people attended is remembered for considerable violence, including three accidental deaths: two caused by a hit-and-run car accident and one by a drug-induced drowning.
1 dead: Phish, 2021
Most recently, on Oct. 17, 2021, one person died and two others were injured after falling from upper-level seating during a Phish concert at the Chase Center in San Francisco.
The clear plastic barriers meant to protect people from falling “weren’t really designed for an event where everyone is up and dancing,” one concertgoer told CBS’ KPIX 5.
NewsNation affiliate KRON reports police say evidence leads them to believe that the man who died may have jumped.
This list excludes incidents that aren’t related to venue safety or security.
“If you’re noticing any trends here, the deadliest incidents included fires in small venues, with big crowds and not a lot of exits,” Paul Gerke said on “Morning in America“.
“All of these were spurred on by enormous crowds that were difficult to contain in spaces that were not necessarily prepared to handle that number of people.”
