Concerts: Safe or a Tragedy?

Concerts are supposed to be a place of enjoyment, socialization, and overall a safe space to have fun. Recently on November 5, 2021, although hoping for the time of their lives, ten people lost their lives and more than 300 were injured at the popular music festival “Astroworld”.

In 2020, many people were unable to attend the concerts due to the pandemic, but since the beginning of 2021 people have been able to go to concerts and festivals more and more. After such a long time without such a large social gathering, you could imagine how excited people were to finally have the fun they’ve been wanting to have. Although this can be seen as a positive thing, the energy can become overwhelming and violent, people being knocked down, fighting, threats, and even cases of death. When asked about how they felt about the recent tragedy, concertgoers here at South had some opinions on the matter.

Senior Aaron Smith recently attended a concert for the band “Dayglow”, and says “My experience was really positive and fun, I even bought a shirt. The Astroworld incident was terrible and tragic, I feel like it could have been avoided if Travis Scott paid more attention, and stopped when people were saying stop. Overall I’m thankful for my safety and the responsibility of those running the Dayglow concert compared to Astroworld.”

Another student, senior Anthony Addington attended a concert as well, and when asked about his experience, he said “ I went to the $uicideBoy$ concert in October, before the show even started the band members came out and told everyone that no matter what, if someone falls down, pick them up. Throughout the whole show there was never a single incident that I could see that put people in danger. It was awesome.”

With these statements, it shows that situations can be avoided, with that said, my heart goes out to those affected by the Astroworld tragedy.