This is my first time reblogging and I don’t know how the format will turn out. I tried it once a couple of days ago, but couldn’t decide what to add to the post. So I reversed it to a draft. Now I am doing it again. This is a reblog about the Astroworld Festival stampede and crushing happened ten days ago in Houston, Texas, together with the author LiziRose’s own experience attending a crowded concert. It is actually quite frightening. I think women are more vulnerable in an out-of-control crowd since we have much less muscle strength.
I don’t have such an experience myself since I always try to avoid the crowd. However I’ve heard many incidents of stampede or crushing from the news. In the places where people go for pilgrimage, stampedes happen with a startling regularity. A crowd is a different beast altogether–almost not human even if it consists of humans– and if there’s no crowd control, waves of people can fall and crush like fleshy dominoes, resulting in twisted limbs or damaged organs or even death.
I just googled stampede and crushing and a huge list shows up from Wikipedia–the deadliest of all stampedes claimed 2400 lives in one incident. Unbelievable!!!
The concert promoter Live Nation is said to be the biggest and the most experienced in the industry. And it is said the company has a long list of safety violation for years. And in the first Astroworld Festival in 2019, three people were injured due to a similar stampede in a smaller scale.
As some people in the comments have noted, the organisers need to be held responsible. They need to be prepared for all kinds of potentially risky situations.
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So true. A crowd is a mad entity. Stay away from the madding crowd is probably the best option. however, we don’t want to live in fears. Life can be so tricky–one wants to be protective to oneself and one also wants to be brave.
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Yeah you definitely need a balance so I guess stay away from crowds that start getting rowdy or seem dangerous.
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So true. Crowd can be dangerous.
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That is scary. I have heard of too many incidences when huge concerts go out of control. I remember going to punk rock shows when moshing was a thing, that was when the crowd pushes each other around for no reason. Punk rock shows tend to be small, I’d hate to be in a mosh pit in a bigger venue.
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Wow, thankfully you only go to smaller concerts. They sound a little dangerous to me. Crowd is a crazy entity.
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I’m so happy you reblogged this, and you elevated it to a new level with what you added. “fleshy dominoes”—that is some visceral imagery. Wow. I didn’t realize that the highest death toll was 2400 lives at ONCE, is that the stampede that happened in 2015 during Hajj in Mecca? So sad.
Crowds are scary.
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Yes, I think so. I was really shocked when I see this. 2400. I can’t believe this. And people will go there still. They are not afraid of being crushed. I mean women too.
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That’s so crazy. I hope they’ve added some safety measures, like you said, even some barriers and partitions could help…
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Yes, crowd control apparatus would definitely help.
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It’s time organizers organize safe venues, especially in this COVID-19 period where social distancing is impossible in such crowd! Would be difficult to escape an uncontrollable crowd stampede… So sad!
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Agreed. I think any venue that tries to oversell tickets should be harshly penalized!
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I am just wondering if putting up more partitions or barriers will solve the problem. You know, when the crowd is divided…
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That’s true. Such crowd and no wonder the COVID figure is up. And people really should be careful when going to these venues.
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