Ticket holders at AstroWorld didn’t realize they’d be standing among the bulls. 

As if these were wild animals stampeding through the streets of Europe, bodies upon bodies were trampled by raging monsters who were looking for ways to become wild and aggressive when it was uncalled for. 

World-renowned rapper Travis Scott’s AstroWorld concert was to be a night filled with jumping around, singing and overall enjoyment of his music. What started out as a hyped-up Houston night turned out to be a tragedy; nine innocent civilians were found dead on top of a stampede of bodies.

“I think the recent Travis Scott concert was awful,” senior Julia John said. “The way his fans acted in general was insane. There were people lying on the ground unconscious and those around them either weren’t able to help or they did nothing.”

The nine people were identified as John Hilgert, 14; Brianna Rodriguez, 16; Jacob Jurinek, 20; Axel Acosta Avila, 21; Franco Patino, 21; Bharti Shahani, 22; Madison Dubiski, 23; Rodolfo Peña, 23; and Danish Baig, 27. 

“I just want to send out prayers to the ones that were lost last night, we’re actually working right now to identify the families so we can help assist them through these tough times,” Scott wrote on his Instagram page. “You know my fans, my fans really mean the world to me and I always just really want to leave them with a positive experience.”

Well, if Scott had no control, who is accountable for this travesty? All eyes then point towards the organizer, Live Nation, who is responsible for hosting multiple concerts across the United States. The fact that security was so blase and lackadaisical is something to notice. People were bulldozing their way past the barricades in the front entrance, and then trampling over thousands of individuals later: a situation that should have been controlled and handled. 

Especially since there have been previous incidents at Travis Scott concerts, this scene shouldn’t have been a surprise to many and was something that should have been expected by multiple security and law enforcement officials. 

“I understand Travis is supposed to be a ‘rager,’ but that was way too far,” John said. “His concerts have always been chaotic and I think it’s crazy that he didn’t tell fans to calm down in previous concerts before things ended like the most recent one.”

The question then has to be asked: is it safe to attend certain concerts in the future?  What will happen to music festivals such as Coachella and Lollapalooza? 

“I personally don’t think this is going to stop me from going to concerts,” senior Will Orozco said. “I’ve been to a couple of crazy ones and I can manage myself in these certain crowds.”

“This doesn’t make me too concerned for future concerts because I know that not every concert gets as crazy and dangerous as Travis’ do,” John said. “But, I wouldn’t be surprised if security, regulations, and limitations became a lot stronger.”

In order for concerts to retain the glory of being exciting and entertaining, organizers and other supervisors such as Live Nation should have security officials manage the situation with greater force and understand the worst-case scenario. Seeing bulls stampede through the streets of Europe is one thing, but seeing concert-goers stampede through barricades is disastrous.