What happened in the Astroworld tragedy? 6 takeaways from Netflix’s new “Trainwreck ”documentary

Key Points

• Trainwreck: The Astroworld Tragedy revisits the crowd crush that left 10 dead at Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival in 2021.

• The film claims that poor planning, ineffective stage placement, and slow responses from those in charge all exacerbated the severity of the event.

• Directed by Yemi Bamiro and Hannah Poulter, the documentary is now streaming on Netflix.

In November 2021, 10 concertgoers died and hundreds were injured during a terrifying crowd crush that occurred during rapper Travis Scott’s headlining set at Astroworld, an annual music festival in Houston hosted by the popular rapper.

Now, roughly four years since that night, Netflix is exploring the myriad of alleged planning and personnel failures that resulted in the calamity with a new documentary, Trainwreck: The Astroworld Tragedy.

Directed by Yemi Bamiro and Hannah Poulter, the film aims to capture the horrors of the evening and the specifics of what went wrong through interviews with Astroworld staff, concertgoers, and the friends and families of victims. (The Houston Police Department released a 1,266-page report on their investigation into the tragedy in 2023. A grand jury declined to indict Travis Scott, Live Nation, and other organizers on criminal charges. In 2024, Scott and Live Nation settled wrongful death lawsuits stemming from the incident.)

Approach with caution if you’re claustrophobic — the film’s footage of attendees crushed in the chaos is hard to stomach.

It also highlights commentary from Scott Davidson, a crowd safety expert recruited to work with Live Nation, who managed the festival, in the aftermath of the tragedy. Davidson says he was given a “treasure trove” of evidence, including site plans, emails, and text messages, to help in his investigation into Astroworld’s failures.

“I believe Astroworld 2021 was not an accident. It was an inevitability due to a lack of foresight and the abandonment of basic safety protocols,” Davidson says in the documentary, adding that he was “shocked” by what he found.

Below, we unpack the biggest bombshells from Trainwreck: The Astroworld Tragedy.

Astroworld staff allegedly lost control of the gates

Courtesy of Netflix

‘Trainwreck: The Astroworld Tragedy’

Though the crush occurred during Scott’s headlining set, Astroworld 2021 was a disaster from the minute the gates opened. Footage from the day in question shows attendees rushing the entrances, barreling past security, and knocking over metal detectors.

While this kind of behavior isn’t surprising, it’s usually considered during the planning process. In the documentary, Mark Lentini, a former commander for the Houston Police Department, opines, “What was going on was so totally predictable, [but] there didn’t seem to be any contingency plans or mitigating.”

Jackson Bush, who worked security at Astroworld 2021, says in the documentary that he was hired the evening before the festival started. He also claims that he was given no guidance onsite. “The only instructions that we had came from other workers that was working with us,” he says. “They were like, ‘Hey, they gonna rush the gates, so y’all be ready.'”

The chaos at the entry points distracted the festival’s security and attending police officers to such a degree that people without tickets began climbing fences and streaming onto the festival grounds.

Several interviewees remark that this kind of chaos is to be expected at Scott’s concerts. The rapper is known for riling up audiences, often encouraging them to climb onstage and bypass security. In 2015, Scott was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct after telling a Lollapalooza crowd to “put a middle finger up to security right now” and leap over security barriers during his set. Scott pleaded guilty and was sentenced to one year of court supervision, according to Rolling Stone.

Kirby Gladstein, a photographer who worked Astroworld, says she was told by festival organizers to “lean into the fans and the chaos.”

Gladstein also notes that a promo video for the 2021 festival, which is shown in the documentary, contains footage of attendees breaking down fences trying to get in. “It was stressed to us that we try and match that energy, showing how crazy it all is,” she says.

“That type of energy,” Davidson notes, “requires a high level of planning.”

Live Nation allegedly sold more tickets than were safe for the venue

Erika Goldring/WireImage

Travis Scott performs at Astroworld 2021

According to Davidson, Live Nation sold 50,000 tickets to Astroworld “before they’d worked out how this number would be able to safely view Travis’ set.” Later, he cites a finding that Scott’s stage only had viewing capacity for just 35,000.

“They planned for many thousands more people than could safely view Travis’ performance,” claims Davidson, who adds that the full number of attendees remains unknown since so many unticketed people managed to slip inside.

Davidson also cites text message exchanges he viewed between “key members” of Live Nation management who discussed not knowing how the festival would accommodate 50,000 people.

“The sellable capacity for the venue was set by SMG Global and approved by the Houston Fire Department (HFD) before tickets went on sale,” reads a statement from Live Nation shown at the end of The Astroworld Tragedy. “The number of tickets sold, and attendees on site did not exceed the approved capacity.”

Poor planning resulted in one side of Scott’s audience being far more packed than the other

Courtesy of Netflix

Travis Scott’s stage design, as depicted in ‘Trainwreck: The Astroworld Tragedy’

One of the biggest failures of Astroworld 2021, according to Davidson, was the placement of Scott’s stage, which could only be approached from the left-hand side.

Since the stage had a T-shaped barrier system that split the viewing area down the middle — a common feature of festival stages — this meant the “configuration created a trap on the left-hand side of the stage.”

With proper signage and security, Davidson believes audiences could have been directed to circle around the rear of the viewing area to take a spot on the right-hand side. Instead, they all piled into the left-hand side. “And so the compression just built and built where people could not escape,” explains Davidson.

Related: Travis Scott, Drake, Live Nation sued over ‘predictable, preventable’ Astroworld tragedy

This was compounded by the fact that Scott’s stage was used only for Scott’s set, meaning a huge influx of fans all streamed towards his stage around the same time.

All of the attendees appearing in the documentary recall the terror of the crowd crush, which made it difficult to move or breath. As more and more bodies compress into each other, the risk of falling and being trampled increases exponentially. Several concertgoers recount the “stacked” bodies piling up around them during Scott’s set.

A medical examiner concluded that all 10 Astroworld deaths were caused by compression asphyxiation. Each of them was on the left side of the stage, according to the doc.

“HFD, SMG Global, and the Houston Police Department (HPD) were aware of the event plans, which were developed in line with safety codes,” reads a statement from Live Nation shown in the documentary.

Live Nation let the show go on despite allegedly knowing the severity of the situation

Erika Goldring/WireImage Travis Scott performing during Astroworld 2021

One of the more distressing revelations in the documentary concerns allegations that Live Nation representatives understood the severity of the situation but allowed the concert to go on anyway. As Davidson puts it, a “common denominator” in the Astroworld 2021 incidents was “a failure to speak truth to power.”

According to Davidson, only two Live Nation representatives had the authority to stop the show in the event of an emergency. He says this is a deviation from the norm: “Any key decision maker, from police, fire, EMS, or Live Nation, should’ve been able to very quickly initiate a show-stop process.”

According to ABC News, Houston Police was aware of trampling and multiple injuries as early as 9:30 p.m. Lentini says in the documentary that law enforcement was looking for a manager from Live Nation about potentially ending or delaying the concert, but “couldn’t find him.” As ABC notes, Houston Police saw the concert as a potential “mass casualty event” by 9:38 p.m.

Per transcripts reviewed by Davidson, a Live Nation manager allegedly spoke to the audio engineer at 9:52 p.m., ordering the concert “shut down” by 10 p.m. Davidson notes the manager was aware of the severity of the situation by that point, quoting the manager as saying they witnessed “more crush victims than I’ve ever seen in my 25-year career.”

But the concert didn’t stop at 10 p.m. Instead, it went on for at least another 12 minutes. As Davidson tells it, Astroworld organizers and police worried about triggering a “crowd panic” by stopping the concert abruptly. “The idea of a performance continuing while even on CPR in progress is underway is insane. Unprecedented,” he says.

Davidson also cites alleged text messages between Live Nation staffers that further underscore how serious they knew the crush was becoming. “Panic in people’s eyes. This could get worse quickly,” reads one. “Someone’s going to end up dead,” reads another.

“The Festival Safety & Risk Director and HPD representatives agreed to and executed an early show stop,” reads a statement from Live Nation.

Conspiracy theories muddled the truth following the tragedy

Courtesy of Netflix

The family of Astroworld victim Rudy Peña mourns in ‘Trainwreck: The Astroworld Tragedy’

In the aftermath of the tragedy, conspiracy theories quickly spread online and in the news media.

As the BBC reported at the time, several social media posts went viral by calling the event “Satanic,” speculating that the crush was part of a “ritualistic sacrifice.”

Another prominent theory highlighted in the documentary blamed the medical emergencies on tainted drugs being injected into concertgoers’ necks with a needle.

As attendees note, these theories only served to distract from the actual causes, including poor planning and slow responses by those in authority.

“These people did not die from a needle in their neck,” says one concertgoer in the documentary. “The answers are right there in front of you. We’re telling you what happened. Why are people not hearing us?”

A lasting friendship formed between an attendee and the concertgoer whose life she saved

The Astroworld Tragedy is a harrowing watch, but there is one bright spot. Early in the film, we meet Sophia, a woman who had just gotten her nursing license weeks before the concert. We also meet Arturo, who suffered a heart attack during the show and, if not for Sophia’s intervention, likely would have died.

Years following the concert, the two remain close. “There’s no way that this all happened and we don’t talk afterwards,” she says.

“Hopefully we’re friends forever,” says Arturo.

Where can I watch Trainwreck: The Astroworld Tragedy?

Rick Kern/Getty

Travis Scott performing at Astroworld 2021

Trainwreck: The Astroworld Tragedy is currently streaming on Netflix.

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