We’re a year out from the
deaths at the Astroworld
festival and there are still
no clear answers as to who
exactly was accountable for
overseeing and ensuring the
event was safe. This lack of
answers is a focus of a new
KPRC. 2 streaming documentary
called Astroworld Countdown to
tragedy. The entire KPRC 2
investigates team worked on
this particular project. And tonight investigator Robert
And tonight investigator Robert
Arnold gives us a preview of
some of that work.
>> Overcrowding is the original
sin of live entertainment
events. 2021. This never should
happen. You don’t have to
oversell an event to
overcrowded. This should never happen again, period. Full
happen again, period. Full
stop.
Scott’s Astroworld festival is
far from the only sprawling
high energy event to be held at
NRG Park.
>> But on November, 5th, 2021,
something was different.
>> The problem said started
long before the crisis stage
when it was finally
acknowledged it was out of
control. Paul Wertheimer lives
in Los Angeles in founded crowd
management strategies.
>> A crowd craze. A craze is when you move towards something
when you move towards something
of perceived value and that
would be the art is for the
artists on
we spent the past 40 years
study how proud to be paid
during all types of live
performances. The
crowd craze, the creates a
crowd surge that ends up into
a crowd crush. Those dynamics
are known. Has the industry
gotten better over the last
40 years? No, the industry has
gotten things have gotten worse for fans. Wertheimer says an
for fans. Wertheimer says an
event like Astroworld requires
precision planning in crowd
management because he was a
standing room only to them or
what is referred to as festival
season festival seating.
This is the cash cow. We’re
live. Entertainment industry
festival seating standing room
environments forces, people in
the crowd. >> To compete against each
>> To compete against each
other for the best.
Prime location in front of the
stage. My name is Robert
Arnold, a reporter with channel
2 KPRC. We trying to get a
clearer picture of what was
happening leading up to Travis
Scott taking the stage.
>> By calling the Houston Fire
Department inspectors listed as
working the festival that
night. I was just comment.
Talk about your experience.
None would speak with us on
camera. And only one said it
was poorly planned but asked us
not to use their name. The
festival happened within city
limits, but on county owned
property, there is a memorandum
of understanding as to how the
2 entities will work together
on big events and an o***.
But I don’t.
See that it’s done much other
than create confusion and
finger pointing between
officials on county and city
side. In this case. Brandon
Anthony is the director of the
Texas Music Office. He also
headed the governor’s task
force on concert Safety, which
produced a report following the
Astroworld deaths. I think
we’ll see both sides continue
to stand off against one
another until the whole thing
is settled. I think that the
task force report
>> is dead on arrival for time
or is highly critical of the
governor’s task force’s report
saying it doesn’t provide any
new information, especially
when it comes to what the city,
the county police, the fire
department or live nation.
He’s doing a good future.
>> Tragedies, the industry just
rolls along, even though people
die young people, especially it doesn’t change anything.
it doesn’t change anything.
>> These interviews are part
of an hour-long KPRC, 2
documentary, the entire KPRC,
2 investigates team worked on
this project which streams
tomorrow at 07:00PM exclusively
on our KPRC. 2 live stream.