Joe GallopA US congressional committee has launched an investigation and sent an open letter to Live Nation, requesting information into the deaths of 10 people at the promoter’s Astroworld Festival on 5 November.
The deaths included one of a nine-year-old boy, along with hundreds of injuries during crowd surges at rapper Travis Scott’s 50,000-capacity festival in Houston, Texas.
The committee said it plans to look at what steps Live Nation took before the planning and logistics, details about security, crowd control and mass casualty incident planning.
It said reports raised “serious concerns” about whether Live Nation took adequate efforts to ensure the safety of attendees. It will also look into what steps the promoter will take to prevent casualties at future events.
Live Nation, its Scoremore subsidiary and Travis Scott denied allegations against them after lawsuits were filed. Live Nation saw more than $1bn wiped off its market value following the tragedy.
The letter is addressed to Live Nation president-CEO Michael Rapino and asked the concert promoter to provide answers by 7 January, as well as a closed-doors briefing to the committee members by 12 January.
Live Nation said in a statement, “We are assisting local authorities in their investigation and will of course share information with the Committee as well. Safety is core to live events and Live Nation engages in detailed security planning in coordination with local stakeholders including law enforcement, fire and EMT professionals. We are heartbroken by the events at Astroworld and our deepest sympathies go out to the families and friends of the victims.”