Pollstar (11/10/21) Speer, Deborah
In the wake of the deadly crowd surge at the Astroworld music festival, reports indicate that an event operations plan (EOP) submitted by promoter Scoremore Shows to Houston police and fire officials for the concert failed to specify protocols in the case of a surge. USA Today also disclosed that communications between first responders and the medical team supplied by ParaDocs Worldwide were impeded by a lack of two-way radios. The Scoremore Shows EOP offers little clarity on what went wrong, and city officials continue to investigate any security or medical failures, with all stakeholders having pledged full cooperation. The EOP covered dangerous scenarios including an active shooter, bomb or terrorist threats and severe weather, but not crowd surges. The plan has guidance for shutting off power to the stage in event of emergency, but the point at which such a decision is made seems to be discretionary. Over 20 lawsuits have been filed, charging organizers with failing to implement simple crowd-control measures or staff properly. Meanwhile, the union head of the Houston Fire Department claimed firefighters did not have a presence inside the festival and were not provided radios to communicate directly with organizers. Houston police and fire department investigators have said they are scrutinizing surveillance video provided by Live Nation, plus dozens of clips from attendees that were widely shared on social media.
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