Attendees at Travis Scott’s 2021 Astroworld festival recall the horrifying moments when excitement transformed into terror in the newly released trailer for Trainwreck: The Astroworld Tragedy, an upcoming Netflix documentary examining the deadly crowd crush incident.
The tragic event claimed ten lives when the massive crowd surged toward the stage as Scott began his headlining performance. However, as the trailer reveals, the conditions for the disaster were established well before the rapper took the stage.
At the time of Astroworld 2021, Scott was at the peak of his career, and the festival represented not only a significant hometown event for him but also a rare music festival in Houston. The enthusiasm was palpable from the moment the gates opened, with footage showing people rushing onto the festival grounds.
“They lost all control of the entry points,” one interviewee states in the trailer. “It was just overwhelming chaos.”
Another attendee comments on the anarchic atmosphere that developed once the event was underway: “You can do whatever you want because you’re in Astroworld.”
The trailer proceeds to show the infamous countdown clock that preceded Scott’s performance, before featuring harrowing firsthand accounts from attendees describing the terrifying sensation of being caught in the deadly crowd surge.
Beyond documenting the tragedy itself, the film explores its aftermath, including the civil lawsuits that were filed (some of which remain ongoing), the criminal investigation that was eventually closed without charges, and the enduring impact on survivors and victims’ families.
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Scott and Live Nation faced a wave of wrongful death lawsuits following the tragedy, all of which were settled by May 2024.
“I always think about it, those fans were like my family. You know, I love my fans to the utmost,” Scott told GQ in 2023. “It has its moments where it gets rough and, yeah. You just feel for those people. And their families.”
Directed by Yemi Bamiro, Trainwreck: The Astroworld Tragedy is scheduled to debut on Netflix on 10th June. The documentary is part of Netflix’s Trainwreck series, which previously examined Woodstock ’99 and has upcoming episodes covering American Apparel, the party that allegedly inspired the film Project X, and the 2013 Carnival “poop cruise” incident.
