Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has formed a task force on safety at concerts after 10 people were killed and hundreds injured at the Astroworld festival Nov. 5 in Houston.
“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,” Abbott said in a statement. “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. From crowd control strategies to security measures to addressing controlled substances, this task force will develop meaningful solutions that will keep Texans safe while maximizing the joy of live music events. I thank the members of this task force for coming together to work on this important issue.”
Members of the music industry, law enforcement and fire departments will be on the task force, the governor said.
Patrick Buchta, executive director of the nonprofit group Austin Texas Musicians, told KXAN artists are shaken by the Astroworld tragedy.
“Everybody is really feeling this at a deeply personal level cause any of them could have been on that stage or in that crowd,” he told the station. “You have to ask yourself in that situation, ‘Who’s responsible? When do you pull the plug on something like this?’”
Butcha, a singer and songwriter, said he has been forced to call out unruly crowds before from the stage.
“People are looking up to you on that stage and ultimately you are responsible,” he told the station. “Really when you are up there on stage, you may be one of the only people who has a perspective of what’s going on in the crowd.”
