On Thursday, Governor Greg Abbott announced the creation of the ‘Texas Task Force on Concert Safety.’
This announcement comes in response to the tragedy at the Astroworld Festival in Houston that left at least eight dead and hundreds injured, including a nine-year-old. The event drew an estimated 50,000 people and was headlined by hip-hop artist Travis Scott.
Tragedy ensued when Scott took the stage, and the crowd surged forward, trampling and crushing hundreds of attendees.
“Live music is a source of joy, entertainment, and community for so many Texans — and the last thing concertgoers should have to worry about is their safety and security,” said Governor Abbott in a press release. “To ensure that the tragedy that occurred at the Astroworld Festival never happens again in the Lone Star State, I am forming the Texas Task Force on Concert Safety […] this task force will develop meaningful solutions that will keep Texans safe while maximizing the joy of live music events.”
Leading the task force will be Texas Music Office Director Brendon Anthony. Safety consultants, law enforcement officials, firefighters, and music industry representatives, to be named in the coming days, will join him on the force.
The task force will hold meetings to develop methods to improve safety and security at live music events in Texas. Following these meetings, the task force will create a report with recommendations and strategies to protect concertgoers and ensure concert safety.
Currently, the state has little oversight over events with large numbers of people, like concerts and sporting events.
The responsibility for these large gatherings has always been on the cities where the events take place. Cities usually spread the burden among multiple departments, like police, fire, and health.
This decentralized process makes pinning any mishaps that arise from these events on any singular person or department difficult.
In Astroworld’s case, NRG Park, where the tragic concert took place, is located on property owned by Harris County but is overseen by a private corporation whose board is appointed by Harris County Commissioners to serve as advisers to event promoters.
Harris County does not grant permits for events at the park. Instead, permits are obtained from the mayor’s office to close streets and from the fire and health departments to put up tents, set off fireworks, and serve food.
The tragedy has sparked dozens of lawsuits by attendees of the festival. The suits have primarily been filed against Scott and Live Nation, the entertainment company behind the festival, rather than local government agencies.
Meanwhile, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo has called for “an objective and independent investigation into what happened,” alluding to the possibility of hiring an independent outside party to investigate where the accountability lies.