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Billie Eilish, Linkin Park and more earn praise for stopping shows over safety concerns after Astroworld tragedy

Videos have also resurfaced of Dave Grohl and Post Malone

Clémence Michallon
New York City
Monday 08 November 2021 19:30 GMT
Travis Scott Astroworld Tragedy: Everything We Know
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Billie Eilish, Linkin Park, and more performers are earning praise for paying attention to safety concerns during past live performances.

Footage of these incidents gained renewed attention on social media on Monday (8 November).

Security concerns during concerts were being discussed online following the death of eight people after fans at the Astroworld music festival in Houston suddenly surged toward the stage during a performance by rapper Travis Scott.

City officials said they were in the early stages of investigating what caused the pandemonium at the sold-out event founded by Scott. About 50,000 people were there.

Astroworld Fest promo video

Experts who have studied deaths caused by crowd surges say they are often a result of density — too many people packed into a small space. The crowd is often either running away from a perceived threat or towards something, such as a performer, before hitting a barrier.

On video posted to social media, Scott could be seen stopping the concert at one point and asking for aid for someone in the audience: “Security, somebody help real quick.”

Authorities planned to use videos, witness interviews and a review of concert procedures to figure out what went wrong on Friday (5 November).

Back in September this year, Billie Eilish called out security at one of her own concerts, interrupting her performance to ask: “Security, why aren’t you paying attention? Like, for real.”

Grieving family of Astroworld victim demand answers

Footage shared to YouTube in 2018 also shows Eilish interrupting a show to ask about a fan who appeared to be passing out, and providing a water bottle to those helping her.

A video of Linkin Park stopping a concert over concerns for a fan also resurfaced over the weekend. Mike Shinoda can be heard in the clip asking the band to “hold up”. Chester Bennington then asks the crowd to “pick him [the fan] up right now” before asking attendees: “When someone falls, what do you do?” The crowd then replies: “Pick them up.”

Another resurfaced clip shows Post Malone getting off the stage during a concert, apparently to assist a fan. “She needs help. That girl back there,” he can be heard saying. “She needs help. Do you see her?”

Nurse reveals chaos of Astroworld in detailed eye-witness account

A video of the Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl confronting – and eventually kicking out – a fan who appeared to be causing a disturbance has also received thousands of likes.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

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