The Astroworld Tragedy on Netflix: Here’s everything that went wrong, explained

In November 2021, what should have been an unforgettable night of music turned into a devastating tragedy. During Travis Scott’s headline performance at Astroworld Festival in Houston, a crowd crush killed ten people and left hundreds injured.

Now, nearly four years on, a new Netflix documentary, Trainwreck: The Astroworld Tragedy, is taking a closer look at what actually happened that night. Released just yesterday, the film features interviews with festival workers, attendees, experts and victims’ families, painting a deeply unsettling picture of what went wrong.

So, here’s everything that went wrong at the Astroworld Festival:

Travis Scott’s shows were already known for chaos

Footage captured at Astroworld shows two concertgoers trying to get the cameraman’s attention to warn them of people being trampled during Travis Scott’s performance. The cameraman filming Astrofest avoids them entirely.#astroworldfestival #AstroWorld #ASTROWORLDFest pic.twitter.com/zdBrUAuLST

— Βƌβƌβơ⊔⟟ℓℓ⋲ (@WulfMunkey) November 6, 2021

Scott’s gigs had a reputation for being wild. Back in 2015, he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct after telling people at Lollapalooza to bypass security, according to Rolling Stone.

Photographer Kirby Gladstein, who worked Astroworld 2021, said organisers encouraged media to “lean into the chaos.” The film even shows promo clips of people breaking through fences, footage the team was allegedly told to replicate.

Too many tickets, not enough safe space

Two #ASTROWORLD attendees desperately try to resuscitate fellow attendees while Travis Scott continues performing. https://t.co/HG9h0BzGuJ

— drama (@dramaforthegirl) November 7, 2021

Crowd safety expert Scott Davidson, hired after the tragedy, said Live Nation sold 50,000 tickets without confirming whether the space could handle that number safely. According to Davidson, the main stage only had room for about 35,000.

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He cited internal texts from Live Nation managers expressing concern over where all the people would even go. The head of safety at Astroworld, Seyth Boardman, also raised concerns with the festival’s operations director about the stage size. According to BBC, Boardman said, “I feel like there is no way we are going to fit 50,000 people in front of that stage.”

Live Nation said the crowd size was within the approved capacity, which was signed off by SMG Global and the Houston Fire Department.

The gates were chaos from the moment they opened

When people trying to sneak in broke down barriers and already started trampling each other before the concert even started, it’s clear you either take action to control the crowd or cancel the concert. 😢pic.twitter.com/zKdDNGzMcE#AstroWorld2021 #ASTROWORLDFest #TravisScott

— Jena Min (@jenanewyork) November 7, 2021

Before Travis Scott even took the stage, festival goers were already rushing the entrances. People pushed down barriers, overwhelmed security, and ignored checks.

Mark Lentini, a former commander at Houston Police, said the chaos was “totally predictable,” yet no proper plans seemed to be in place. In the doc, one guard, Jackson Bush, said that he was hired just the night before and received no proper instructions. just word-of-mouth warnings to “be ready” for gate-rushing.

The stage design created a dangerous trap

NEW VIDEO from the stage at Astroworld. The Soliz Law Firm shared this with us from their recent 3-day site inspection. After being on stage… the attorney claims, “I could tell immediately Travis Scott could see what was going on in the crowd.” #AstroWorld pic.twitter.com/vecnSko7eh

— Matthew Seedorff (@MattSeedorff) November 18, 2021

The setup didn’t help. Scott’s T-shaped stage forced people to enter from one side, the left. That side became dangerously overcrowded, while the right stayed relatively open.

Davidson said this “trap” meant people couldn’t escape once the crush began. All ten victims were reportedly in that same overcrowded section.

Organisers allegedly delayed stopping the show

Footage captured at Astroworld during Travis Scott's performance shows fan jumping onto ambulance that was inside the crowd attending trampled victims & dancing on top of it. #ASTROWORLDFest #AstroWorld #astroworldfestival #ASTROFEST #TravisScott pic.twitter.com/4umI9AjwDJ

— Βƌβƌβơ⊔⟟ℓℓ⋲ (@WulfMunkey) November 6, 2021

Despite signs of a mass casualty event, the concert continued. According to ABC News, police knew by 9:30 p.m. that people were being trampled. In the next eight minutes, they’d declared it a mass casualty situation.

Davidson said only two people from Live Nation had the authority to stop the show. One of them allegedly told staff to shut it down by 10 p.m. after seeing “more crush victims than I’ve ever seen.” But the show didn’t end until at least 10:12 p.m.

Apparently, the delay came from fear of causing panic. The documentary includes texts between Live Nation staff that read “panic in people’s eyes” and “someone’s going to end up dead.”

Live Nation maintains that the show was ended early following an agreement with Houston police and the festival’s safety director.

Wild rumours distracted from what really happened

Watching

Travis Scott Astroworld Concert-10 people killed

this was an occultuc offering, many Satanic symbols at the Concert

Atroworld Concert was a ritual, with people serving as sacrifices

Butpeople who thrive in disguising lies,will tell you it's conspiracy theories pic.twitter.com/yUtTbrJlPa

— Citizen🐦 (@TeamNGN) June 10, 2025

In the days after the tragedy, conspiracy theories quickly flooded social media and news outlets. As reported by the BBC, some posts claimed the festival was “Satanic,” and part of a “ritualistic sacrifice.” Another rumour suggested people were being jabbed in the neck with drug-laced needles.

In the doc, several attendees pointed out these wild theories only distracted from the real issues: Poor planning, a dangerous layout, and a slow response by those in charge.

“People didn’t die because of a needle in the neck,” one person said. “The answers are right there. We’re telling you what happened, why isn’t anyone listening?”

Trainwreck: The Astroworld Tragedy is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news and drops, like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook. Featured image via Netflix.