The Astroworld Tragedy: How Many People Died In The Crush At Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival In 2021

Review

Netflix’s new documentary, Trainwreck: The Astroworld Tragedy, provides new insight into the controversial festival that took place in Houston, Texas, and those who lost their lives during the event. Directed by Yemi Bamiro, Trainwreck: The Astroworld Tragedy focuses on the events of November 5, 2021, when the third Astroworld Music Festival took place, hosted by rapper and singer, Travis Scott and named after his third studio album. Originally scheduled to run for two days, on the first night of the festival, a crowd surge during Scott’s performance led to several crowd attendees being crushed and many more suffering serious injuries.

The newest entry in Netflix’s growing list of documentaries and the second installment of the Trainwreck documentary series, Trainwreck: The Astroworld Tragedy, explores the missed warning signs in the run-up to the festival, how emergency calls to stop the concert were ignored, and the criminal investigation that took place in the aftermath of the tragedy. The Netflix documentary includes interviews with survivors and the victims’ friends and families, who provide their own perspective of the events and audio transcriptions of the emergency calls that were placed throughout the concert.

10 People Died In The Astroworld Crush In 2021

The Dead Ranged In Age From 9 To 27 Years

In May 2021, it was announced that tickets for the Astroworld Music Festival were available for sale; it was the first time in two years that the festival would take place, after the 2020 event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the Netflix documentary, photographer Kirby Gladstein recalled her excitement at the news that tickets for Astroworld were on sale, stating that it meant that the production team could return to the event, which gave them «a really high chance that [they’re] working for Live Nation.» Per Variety, Astroworld tickets sold out in less than an hour.

The 2021 Astroworld festival faced troubles before the concert took place, with the event lacking trained security and fans breaching checkpoints while trying to enter the stadium during the day’s shows (via The Washington Post). Travis Scott officially began his performance at 9.06 p.m. In the minutes leading up to his performance, the crowd surged forward and became tightly packed, restricting movement. Video footage from the concert is shown throughout the documentary, showing concertgoers struggling to breathe in the packed arena, and being pulled out of the crowd, which survivors later called «a nightmare.»

In the aftermath of the festival, it was reported that around 300 concertgoers had been injured, and 10 people had died; eight were declared dead at the scene, while two more died in hospital, including the youngest victim, Ezra Blount, who was trampled after being separated from his father (via ABC News). In the documentary, friends of victim Rudy Peña recalled how he kept saying «I can’t breathe.» It was eventually reported by a coroner that the 10 victims of the Astroworld Festival crush had died due to compression asphyxia (via Rolling Stone).

Astroworld Was Permanently Canceled After The Tragedy

Travis Scott Received Heavy Criticism For His Reaction To The Events

After the Astroworld festival, Travis Scott and the concert organizers faced heavy criticism for their handling of the event and for ignoring audience members who pleaded for the show to stop; in the Netflix documentary, video footage of a concertgoer is shown climbing up onto the stage, saying that «people are dying.» Scott later released a video on social media, sending his condolences to those who died and that he «could never imagine the severity of the situation.» Scott’s video was called «a slap in the face» by survivors, and he faced severe scrutiny on social media.

ing the crowd crush, all scheduled performances for November 6 were canceled to allow a full investigation into the tragic events and, as of June 2025, there have been no announcements of any further Astroworld Festivals taking place in the future (via Cosmopolitan). Survivors and families of the victims later filed wrongful death lawsuits against Travis Scott and Live Nation; all lawsuits were eventually settled with the results not being publicly released (via Houston Public Media). While no criminal charges were filed, the events depicted in Trainwreck: The Astroworld Tragedy had a lasting impact on everybody who was in attendance.

Sources: Variety, The Washington Post, ABC News, Rolling Stone, Cosmopolitan, Houston Public Media

Trainwreck: The Astroworld Tragedy

R Documentary

A devastating crowd surge at a Houston music festival leaves ten dead and hundreds injured, prompting a deep dive into the systemic failures behind the tragedy.