Astroworld Festival joins a list of historical concert tragedies

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Flowers rest outside of the canceled Astroworld festival at NRG Park in Houston on Saturday. The crowd surge that killed eight people calls to mind other concerts and music festivals that turned deadly in recent decades.

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Candles, flowers and notes honor people who lost their lives in the Ghost Ship fire in Oakland, Calif., in December 2016.

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National
Man Sentenced In 2016 Ghost Ship Warehouse Fire In Oakland, Calif., That Killed 36

The city of Oakland reached a $32.7 million settlement with fire victims last year. Of that amount, $23.5 million went to families of people who died, and $9.2 million went to Sam Maxwell, who was the last person to escape the fire and suffered life-changing injuries.

August 2011: Indiana State Fair stage collapse

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The stage collapsed just before Sugarland was scheduled to perform at the Indiana State Fair on Aug. 13, 2011 in Indianapolis, Ind.

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The Record
Who Is Inspecting Outdoor Stages?

Two investigative reports later found that the scaffolding was not up to code and that the Indiana State Fair Commission did not have adequate emergency plans in place. Lawyers representing injured survivors and victims’ family members reached a $50 million settlement with 19 companies in 2014.

July 2010: Love Parade stampede

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People mourn at the site of the Love Parade stampede on July 27, 2010 in Duisburg, Germany.

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Life in Berlin
Remembering The Victims Of Love Parade In Berlin

In the aftermath, critics and prosecutors accused police and event organizers of failing to properly prepare for such a large event in such a small space. A decade of legal challenges ensued, with a German court ending the manslaughter trial of three techno-music promoters in May 2020 without a verdict.

And the Love Parade — which originated as an impromptu party in Berlin in 1989 — was immediately canceled forever.

February 2003: The Station nightclub fire

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Crosses mark the site of the Station nightclub fire on May 10, 2006 in West Warwick, R.I.

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Darren McCollester/Getty Images

The club’s two owners — brothers Jeff and Michael Derderian — and the band’s tour manager — Daniel Biechele — were each charged with 200 counts of involuntary manslaughter. They each accepted plea deals, and Michael Derderian and Biechele went to prison. The Derderians shared their side of the story in a televised interview with CBS News just last month.

Efforts to establish a memorial on the site of the club took more than a decade. Station Fire Memorial Park, a 1-acre park with gardens and granite monuments, was dedicated to the victims of the fire in 2017.

June 2000: Pearl Jam Roskilde Festival stampede

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Fans pay their respect as Patti Smith performs in Roskilde, Denmark on July 1, 2010 in memory of the nine people who died during a Pearl Jam concert at the 2000 Roskilde Festival.

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The Record
Band Together: Documentary Tracks Pearl Jam’s 20-Year Run

In the decades since, Pearl Jam members say they have met some of the victims’ families and even become close with some of them. The band released a statement in June 2020, on the stampede’s 20th anniversary, offering their apologies and condolences to the victims, their loved ones and witnesses.

«Everyone failed to live up to what was needed in those hours before and in those days following the tragedy,» read the statement, written by guitarist Stone Gossard on the band’s behalf. «The festival, the media, us included. We retreated and became angry after many reports implied PJ was responsible. Our words were nothing to help at that point. We hid and hoped that it wasn’t our fault. We have been trying our best to unhide ever since.»

December 1979: The Who in Cincinnati

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Debris litters the ground in front of the doors where people were trampled as they attempted to enter Cincinnati’s Riverfront Coliseum for a Dec. 3, 1979 concert by The Who.

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Bettmann Archive

«We held off by, you know, just holding ourselves up against doors, against the bars. We did anything we could do just to go ahead and protect ourselves because, you know, our feet were off the ground at points,» survivor John Hutchins, who was 17 at the time, told NPR in 2019.

Four decades later, The Who announced plans to hold their first Cincinnati concert since that tragic day. Their show was originally planned for April 2020, but postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

May 1977: The Beverly Hills Supper Club Fire

A packed dinner crowd had been waiting for singer John Davidson to take the stage at the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, Ky., when a fire broke out, killing 165 people and injuring many others.

The site of the nightclub — and specifically, the former Cabaret Room — has been home to memorials ever since. The Cincinnati Enquirer reported in August that construction would soon start on an assisted living center, apartments and homes on the property.

May 1974: David Cassidy’s White City Stadium concert

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Fans pictured at David Cassidy’s concert at White City Stadium in London on May 26, 1974, at which hundreds were injured in a crush.

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Mick Jagger performs with The Rolling Stones as Hell’s Angels guard the stage, during the Altamont Speedway Free Festival on Dec. 6, 1969 at the Altamont Speedway near Tracy, Calif.

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Music Features
Resurrected Stones Film Finds Pivot Point In Rock History

A chaotic scene played out in front of the stage during the Stones’ set, where 18-year old Meredith Hunter brandished a gun and 21-year-old Hells Angel member Alan Passaro fatally stabbed him — just 20 feet away from where Mick Jagger was performing «Under My Thumb.» Passaro was later acquitted on grounds of self-defense.

• stampede
• tragedies
• crowd control
• Concerts