After Astroworld, music festivals face new scrutiny over crowd safety

Public officials, instrumentality enforcement and archetypal responders successful Las Vegas person met respective times this week to sermon assemblage information astatine this weekend's festival, said Officer Larry Hadfield, a spokesperson for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.

"We've had meetings astir this. It's portion of our planning," said Hadfield, who added that Day N Vegas is comparatively tiny compared to different euphony festivals successful the city. "We instrumentality into relationship what has occurred, look astatine contingency plans, instrumentality into information each those things and hole for scenarios, specified arsenic what happens if thing becomes dangerous."

Authorities crossed the US accidental they're committed to preventing different calamity

A grounds 225,000 physics creation euphony fans showed up for Orlando's past Electric Daisy Carnival successful 2019. The metropolis is expecting mobs of revelers for this weekend's three-day lawsuit arsenic well.

Orlando officials told CNN that the metropolis evaluates akin unrecorded events happening elsewhere and adjusts their staffing accordingly. It said it has capable information and aesculapian unit to screen the festival, but declined to supply specifics connected plans.

"The Orlando Police and Fire Departments monitors trends connected a continual ground and adjustments are made arsenic needed. There volition beryllium information and aesculapian enactment measures successful place," the metropolis said successful a statement. "The information and information of our visitors and residents remains our fig 1 priority."

Las Vegas' Hadfield besides declined to accidental whether the Astroworld calamity forced the LVPD to rethink immoderate information specifics. But helium assured festival attendees that the metropolis volition person plentifulness of resources astatine this weekend's festival, positive contigency plans with different jurisdictions successful lawsuit they request more. He urged attendees to spell casual connected the intoxicant and emblem down officials if thing doesn't look right.

In Daytona Beach, the Volusia Sheriff's Office said it's moving with local, authorities and national partners to supply information for Welcome to Rockville, a four-day stone festival headlined by Metallica. Event organizers person recruited section instrumentality enforcement officers to enactment astatine Daytona International Speedway, wherever the lawsuit is held.

"In summation to readying meetings that person already been happening, we person a elaborate operations program successful spot for this event," said Andrew Gant, a spokesperson for the Sheriff's Office. "Without going into circumstantial aspects of the information plan, our agencies are good prepared for managing ample crowds.

"All progressive are good alert of the tragic events successful Houston and are committed to preventing thing similar it from happening here."

Experts accidental lessons tin beryllium learned from Astroworld

Security experts are urging organizers to usage the Houston calamity arsenic a teachable moment.

Peter Eliadis, a erstwhile instrumentality enforcement official, said Astroworld volition beryllium utilized arsenic a lawsuit survey for years connected what happens erstwhile an lawsuit goes bad.

"Lessons learned volition beryllium applied and incorporated into aboriginal readying crossed the country," said Eliadis, the founder of Intelligence Consulting Partners, which assists successful readying large-scale events successful the US and overseas. "This includes stronger input from fire/EMS and instrumentality enforcement astatine the readying signifier of an event."

City officials and performance organizers indispensable instrumentality into relationship entertainers' past performances and determine whether those who pull unruly assemblage behaviour are invited astatine their events, helium said.

"Their determination should incorporated information and not conscionable archetypal fiscal summation that a performance volition bring," helium said, adding that lawsuits implicit the Astroworld calamity whitethorn drain promoters' profits.

Officials indispensable beryllium capable to rapidly intermission oregon unopen down a performance if it is compromising safety, Eliadis said.

Paul Wertheimer, laminitis of the Crowd Management Strategies consulting firm, takes a much cynical view.

"This incidental is simply a recurrence of past incidents," helium said, citing different events wherever concertgoers died. "Every clip lawsuit planners and promoters get a aftermath up call, they deed the snooze button. They're not gonna larn anything. It sounds antagonistic and cynical, but it's true. They accidental each the close things but they ne'er bash the close thing."

To debar much deaths, galore changes request to happen, Wertheimer said, including stricter lawsuit licensing, mandatory crowd-safety courses for promoters and nationalist standards for the mode concerts are managed.

"Right now, you person nary thought what venue is harmless and what's not," helium said.

One tiny festival organizer accuses ample events of cutting corners

An organizer of the Freakout Festival, a four-day lawsuit underway this play successful Seattle, said his concerts pull astir 2,000 radical a day, a tiny fig compared to astir euphony festivals.

The intimate standard gives lawsuit officials a amended grip connected security, said Guy Keltner, the festival's co-founder. He said helium knows his information squad by name.

"We ever instrumentality attraction of the folks successful our midst and benignant of ne'er consciousness threatened by these sorts of things," helium said. "I person a unit that I trust. We prosecute folks that we trust. We thin to person a precise alert unit and are perpetually successful communication. And signifier information is ever a priority."

Live Nation Entertainment, the performance promoter that organized the Astroworld Festival, has been cited astir a twelve times for galore information issues, records show. The institution has said it's "heartbroken" implicit Astroworld and is cooperating with authorities arsenic they analyse wherefore the lawsuit turned deadly.

Keltner accused larger events of mismanagement and cutting corners, and said helium hopes the Astroworld calamity volition enactment unit connected organizers to rethink however they operate.

"We've seen this hap for years," Keltner said. "We'll spot if caller regularisation comes retired of this oregon if the institution responds successful a mode that feels genuine and not just, 'how bash we negociate the atrocious PR.'"

Some changes are already underway

Some cities person already started implementing changes. Butch Spyridon, president of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp., said the metropolis is revamping information for its upcoming New Year's Eve events.

"We ne'er person had that instrumentality enforcement idiosyncratic connected signifier (at unrecorded euphony events). And arsenic I work and ticker the commentary implicit this event, and whose work -- should Travis Scott cancel oregon halt the show? -- it was a speedy reminder -- that's erstwhile you bash request the disposable beingness of instrumentality enforcement," Spyridon said.

"So it's going to beryllium the archetypal speech we person with our constabulary department. We privation idiosyncratic connected signifier ... who's besides successful interaction with cardinal bid for the event."

City officials besides program to modify their contracts with lawsuit promoters, adding a clause that gives them the close to postpone, hold oregon cancel an lawsuit based connected input from archetypal responders and exigency personnel.

"So there's not adjacent a question of who has the authority," Spyridon said.