At Astroworld, Once Upon a Time in L.A. and other events, Live Nation has been repeatedly accused of failing to follow industry safety protocols for controlling large crowds and protecting concertgoers and performers, according to a Times investigation.
after a 2011 stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair killed seven and injured dozens during a concert by the country duo Sugarland. Seventy-mph winds knocked stage equipment into packed crowds.In 2014, Eric Nathan Johnson II, 38, of Oakland was killed backstage at the Under the Influence of Music festival at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, Calif. Johnson, a concert promoter, had booked performer Young Jeezy to appear at a nightclub after the show.
Many experts and government officials believe the tragedy was preventable and have cited key security shortcomings, including a failed chain of command to stop the show, poorly designed barricades and a flawed festival layout. No criminal charges have been filed. Though officials declared it a mass casualty event about 40 minutes after Scott’s set began, the show continued until 10:14 p.m. In a copy of Astroworld’s event operations plan viewed by The Times, the positions of executive producer and festival director, each explicitly given “authority to stop show,” were left blank.Melanie Lopez of Rancho Cucamonga lights a candle at a makeshift memorial on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard for South L.A. rapper Drakeo the Ruler.
Live Nation’s Henrich declined to comment on the litigation, citing a judge’s gag order and the congressional investigation. But she said “safety and security protocols for Astroworld reflected months of coordinated planning and iteration with industry-leading experts, local public safety authorities and many other stakeholders. The detailed investigation is still ongoing, so anyone making conclusions at this point is doing so without all the facts.
Thomas, who worked on events like the hip-hop-heavy Hard Summer and electronic dance music event Electric Daisy Carnival, said cost-cutting promoters might think they “don’t need 100 security guards, they just need 50. Or that they don’t need stage barriers with foot plates that can’t be tipped over.
Randy Phillips, the former president and chief executive of AEG Live — a rival to Live Nation — attributed the repeated tragedies partly to “trying to cut costs to spend as little as possible.” “Since 2017, Live Nation’s in-house global security team has more than quadrupled,” Henrich said. “Live Nation has also spent tens of millions of dollars enhancing security operations and training, as well as leveling up technology and equipment at its venues and festivals.”Although promoters may have some full-time security staff, most, including Live Nation, contract much of their security and guest services through firms like Contemporary Services Corp.
But CSC has faced dozens of lawsuits alleging a lack of staff training, wrongful deaths and violent assaults by staff at sports and music events. And in 2020, CSC settled a California class-action suit from employees claiming lost wages and insufficient safety equipment.
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