Organizers’ Calculation Error Caused Too Many Attendees

A miscalculation by organizers contributed to too many ticketed attendees at the tragic Astroworld festival in November 2021, new court records show.

The documents, obtained by Houston Landing and filed in the weeks before organizers face civil litigation from some of the attendees of Travis Scott’s Houston fest against the rapper and Live Nation among others, also reveal that organizers fretted just 10 days before Astroworld about how the fest would fit 50,000 people outside NRG Park.

“I feel like there is no way we are going to fit 50k in front of that stage,” Astroworld security director Seyth Boardman wrote to the festival’s operations director 10 days before the fest, according to the new docs. “Especially with all of the trees!”

The reason why the 50,000 people became an issue: Organizers miscalculated a state fire code that mandated each attendee must have seven square feet of room within the venue to avoid overcrowding; organizers mistakenly thought the fire code was five square feet.

Had the correct math been applied, in addition to after-the-event recommendations made by an expert on crowd management, the ticketed crowd at Astroworld should only have numbered 32,000, plus another 2,500 for VIP. 

Other factors also likely contributed to the massive overcrowding in certain areas that ultimately resulted in the deadly crowd crush that killed 10 people: The number of trees that obscured vantage points — an issue going into the festival — resulted in congestion and overcrowding in areas with better sight lines. 

Also, there was the gate-crashers problem: “It’s the hundreds without bands on the perimeter,” one of the organizers wrote to Live Nation’s senior director for global security operations (via Houston Landing). “We are going to be absolutely screwed when the sun goes down.”

Earlier this month, Drake — who made a guest appearance during Scott’s Astroworld set — requested that he be dismissed from ongoing litigation in connection from the tragedy, with his lawyers arguing that the rapper “did not receive any security briefings, was not informed of any crowd control issues, injuries or deaths in the crowd, or any stop show orders at any time either before or during his 14-minute performance.”

A miscalculation by organizers contributed to too many ticketed attendees at the tragic Astroworld festival in November 2021, new court records show.

The documents, obtained by Houston Landing and filed in the weeks before organizers face civil litigation from some of the attendees of Travis Scott’s Houston fest against the rapper and Live Nation among others, also reveal that organizers fretted just 10 days before Astroworld about how the fest would fit 50,000 people outside NRG Park.

“I feel like there is no way we are going to fit 50k in front of that stage,” Astroworld security director Seyth Boardman wrote to the festival’s operations director 10 days before the fest, according to the new docs. “Especially with all of the trees!”

The reason why the 50,000 people became an issue: Organizers miscalculated a state fire code that mandated each attendee must have seven square feet of room within the venue to avoid overcrowding; organizers mistakenly thought the fire code was five square feet.

Had the correct math been applied, in addition to after-the-event recommendations made by an expert on crowd management, the ticketed crowd at Astroworld should only have numbered 32,000, plus another 2,500 for VIP. 

Other factors also likely contributed to the massive overcrowding in certain areas that ultimately resulted in the deadly crowd crush that killed 10 people: The number of trees that obscured vantage points — an issue going into the festival — resulted in congestion and overcrowding in areas with better sight lines. 

Also, there was the gate-crashers problem: “It’s the hundreds without bands on the perimeter,” one of the organizers wrote to Live Nation’s senior director for global security operations (via Houston Landing). “We are going to be absolutely screwed when the sun goes down.”

Earlier this month, Drake — who made a guest appearance during Scott’s Astroworld set — requested that he be dismissed from ongoing litigation in connection from the tragedy, with his lawyers arguing that the rapper “did not receive any security briefings, was not informed of any crowd control issues, injuries or deaths in the crowd, or any stop show orders at any time either before or during his 14-minute performance.”