Travis Scott addressed his fans in a video posted Saturday night (Nov. 6) following the tragedy that took place during his set at Friday’s Astroworld Festival in Houston, where eight people died amid a crowd surge.

“I just want to send out prayers to the ones that was lost last night,” Scott posted in a clip posted on his Instagram Stories. “We’re actually working right now to identify the families so we can help assist them through this tough time.”

He added, “You know my fans, my fans really mean the world to me and I’ll always just really want to leave them with a positive experience.”

“Any time I can make out anything that’s going on, I stop the show and help them get the help they need,” Scott said. “I could just never imagine the severity of the situation.”

“We’ve been working closely with everyone to just try to get to the bottom of this. City of Houston, HPD, fire department — you know, everyone to help us figure this out. If you have any information, please just contact your local authorities. Everybody, continue to just keep your prayers,” said Scott.

“I mean, I’m honestly just devastated and I could never imagine anything like this just happening,” he said. “I’m gonna do everything I can to keep you guys updated and keep you guys informed on what’s going on.”

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner confirmed at a press conference that took place shortly after 3 p.m. local time Saturday that there were eight fatalities from the music festival, and that the ages of seven of those who died ranged from 14-27 years old. One male victim of the incident was yet to be identified.

As of this afternoon, 13 of the 25 people rushed to the hospital Friday night were still there, and one of the 25 was confirmed to be a 10-year-old who remained in critical condition.

During the press conference, Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said “there were some individuals that were trampled” in the crowd surge. Houston authorities are awaiting autopsy results and plan to provide more information once all families of the deceased are contacted.  

Finner also confirmed a report about a security officer receiving a needle prick from an unknown person at the festival. The officer went unconscious, was treated with Narcan and was successfully revived. Fire Department Chief Samuel Peña confirmed “there were several, many instances where they administered Narcan on the scene.”

Scott’s Saturday night video follows a note he posted earlier in the day, a statement in which he echoed some of what he said on camera.

On Saturday afternoon, he wrote, “I am absolutely devastated by what took place last night. My prayers go out to the families and all those impacted by what happened at Astroworld Festival. Houston PD has my total support as they continue to look into the tragic loss of life. I am committed to working together with the Houston community to heal and support the families in need. Thank you to Houston PD, Fire Department, and NRG Park for their immediate response and support. Love you all.”

During a news conference Saturday (Nov. 6) about the tragedy that claimed eight lives during Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival on Friday (Nov. 5) night, Houston Police Chief Troy Finner confirmed a report about an officer receiving a needle prick from an unknown person.

“We do have a report of a security officer, according to the medical staff that treated him last night, that he was reaching over to restrain or grab a citizen and he felt a prick in his neck,” Finner said during the news conference. The security officer went unconscious, was treated with Narcan and was successfully revived. Medical staff treating the security officer later noticed evidence of a prick mark in the man’s neck consistent with that of an injection.

During the same press conference, Fire Department Chief Samuel Peña confirmed “there were several, many instances where they administered Narcan on the scene.” Later, when asked by press whether any person other than the aforementioned security officer was pricked by an unknown needle, Finner replied, “Right now we have that one.”

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner confirmed at the press conference that took place shortly after 3 p.m. local time that the number of fatalities remained at eight. The ages of seven of those who died ranged from 14-27 years old. One male victim of the incident has yet to be identified. The mayor added that six of the eight families have been notified.  

As of this afternoon, 13 of the 25 people rushed to the hospital last night are still there. Four of those taken to the hospital have been discharged. One of the 25 injured has been confirmed as a 10-year-old who remains in critical condition.  

In addition to the reported injection, Finner said, “There were some individuals that were trampled.” Houston authorities are awaiting autopsy results and plan to provide more information once all families of the deceased are contacted.  

Houston’s Institute of Forensic Sciences is tasked with identifying the individuals and their causes of death. Lina Hidalgo, judge for Harris County where NRG Stadium resides, said at the press conference, “I and my team have been on the phone with all of the relevant agencies trying to untangle as much as we can about what may have led to this. The roles like Live Nation, the City of Houston and Harris County had in any of this.” 

Hidalgo added: “It may well be that this tragedy is the result of unpredictable events of circumstances coming together that couldn’t have possibly been avoided. But until we determine that, I will ask the tough questions.”  

She went on to say that security and safety plans were put together by Live Nation, the City of Houston and Harris County in order to put on Astroworld. According to numbers provided by Live Nation and the Houston Police Department, there were 528 HPD officers and an additional 755 private security members on site last night when the incidents occurred. The number is an increase from previous years after Astroworld had fans breach the barricades in 2019.  

“Perhaps the plans were inadequate. Perhaps the plans were good, but they weren’t followed,” Hidalgo said. “Perhaps it was something else entirely.” 

Chief Peña said, “I believe we had a robust plan for a ‘non-event.’ The level of injuries, the number of people in the venue, quickly overwhelmed the third-party vendors that were providing security and the medical component.” He continued that the fire department had to augment those who were already at the venue, with 62 units responding.  

Houston officials said they would be receiving more footage tonight to help determine what happened at the festival. Live Nation and Scott’s team are said to be fully cooperating with the investigation. 

“This is an artist we know has a following particularly of young people with bright futures. Those are the people who went there to have a good time and no one, no parent, no friend, no sibling, should see their loved one off to a concert by a world-renowned artist and not be able to expect them to come home,” said Hidalgo.  

The son of R&B legend Gladys Knight has been sentenced to serve two years in prison for failing to withhold payroll taxes for the restaurants that bore his mother’s name, federal prosecutors in Atlanta said.

Shanga Hankerson opened his first restaurant, Gladys Knight’s Chicken and Waffles, in Atlanta in 1997. Over the next several years, he opened at least three more locations in Georgia and Washington, D.C.

Hankerson, 45, “willfully disregarded his tax obligations for many years,” Acting U.S. Attorney Kurt Erskine said in a news release. During his sentencing Wednesday, Hankerson, who pleaded guilty in July, was also ordered to serve a year of supervised release following his prison sentence and to pay more than $1 million in restitution.

He was the sole owner of the business and was required to withhold payroll taxes from his employees’ gross pay. From at least 2012 to 2016, Hankerson failed to remit more than $1 million in payroll taxes, prosecutors said.

“While ownership of a well-known restaurant in our community has its perks, it also comes with great responsibility,” IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge James Dorsey said. “Paying taxes is a way to give back to the community, but unfortunately Hankerson chose to use those funds for other means.”

Knight won a legal battle to sever ties to the business in 2017, and her son was ordered to stop using her name, likeness and memorabilia, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Brazilian sertanejo star Marília Mendonça has died in a plane crash in the state of Minas Gerais, according to an official statement posted to the singer’s Instagram page. The 26-year-old artist was on her way to perform in the city of Caratinga. All five passengers, including the plane’s crew, lost their lives in the accident.

“With immense regret, we confirm the death of singer-songwriter Marília Mendonça, her producer Henrique Ribeiro, her uncle and advisor Abicieli Silveira Dias Filho, and the pilot and co-pilot, of which we won’t reveal their names at this time. The plane took off from Goiania to Caratinga where Marília would perform tonight. At the moment, this is all the information we have.”

With more than 8 million listeners on Spotify and more than 22 million subscribers on YouTube, the folk singer-songwriter, who began writing songs at the age of 12, had become one of  biggest exponents of popular Brazilian music.

Last year, during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, her three-hour #LiveLocalMarília Mendonça event on April 8, 2021, had over 3.3 million peak concurrent viewers on YouTube. That same month, she hit No. 6 on Billboard’s Social 50 chart. In 2019, Mendonça won the Latin Grammy for best sertaneja music album thanks to her 12-track set Em Todos Os Cantos. 

Earlier Friday, Mendonça had posted on her Instagram account that she was taking off to Minas Gerais, asking her fans to leave her food recommendations. “This is my reality my people,” she wrote. “Tell me here in the comments what delicious foods I can eat in this wonderful state.”

Mendonça is survived by her 1-year-old son, Léo.

Live Nation stock jumped nearly 19% on Friday (Nov. 5) following the company’s third quarter earnings report the day before. Share prices soared from $107.52 to an all-time high $127.75 before closing at $123.80, giving the company a $27.8 billion market value.

A line from the Grateful Dead’s “Truckin’” perfectly describes concert giant Live Nation over the last 20 months: “Lately it occurs to me, what a long, strange trip it’s been.” In March 2020, the scale of the pandemic’s effect on Live Nation’s touring business had so successfully scared off investors that Live Nation’s share price reached a nadir of $21.70, giving the promotion giant a market capitalization of $4.9 billion. As the live entertainment market crept back to life, the share price steadily progressed to a heady $100 on Oct. 5 — and kept going.

Business has grown from a virtual standstill in early 2020, to revenue of $2.7 billion in the third quarter of 2021. (That’s compared to $575.9 million in the year’s second quarter and just $184 million in the third quarter of 2020.) Investors with enough foresight and fortitude to buy stock at the pandemic low and hold their shares could have earned a six-times gain on their investment — and could make more as pandemic fears fade and fans show up for a full slate of tours over the next three years.

Former Grateful Dead members touring as Dead & Company, were one of Live Nation’s high points in 2020 after selling over 184,000 tickets to eight shows from June to August, according to Billboard Boxscore. “This isn’t just young kids going to shows because they’re not scared,” said CEO Michael Rapino during the company’s earnings call Thursday. “The Eagles just had a wildly successful arena tour,” he said, while Dead & Company “were out doing full stadiums.” Whatever uncertainty Live Nation had about the touring market’s recovery came into focus in the third quarter. “We saw huge demand across the board, of all ages, all demos [and] all markets,” said Rapino.

In fact, Live Nation may have too much of a good thing. After dozens of major tours were either canceled or suspended during the pandemic, artists are clamoring to return to the road. Live Nation promoted 5,563 concerts in the third quarter, more than triple its second quarter show count and 15 times more than the prior-year period. Its third quarter show count and attendance needed to grow by 56% and 85%, respectively, to reach pre-pandemic levels, however, and worries of over-crowding have persisted throughout 2021. “The good news is ’22 is going to probably be a record year,” said Rapino, but “there’s only so many Fridays and Saturdays” that attract the biggest crowds.

To prevent a log jam of artists rushing for venues, Live Nation plans to extend its concert pipeline through 2023 and into 2024. “You’re never going to have a bunch of tours on the same weekend piled on,” said Rapino.

Besides, the concert business can ramp up only so quickly, noted president and CFO Joe Berchtold. In the short-term, promoters are constrained in hiring staff and artists have a more difficult time getting road crews and buses (as Billboard reported in June). Whatever wrinkles exist will be smoothed out over time as the company will return to a pre-pandemic level of activity, said Berchtold.

While the supply of concerts is undeniable, the state of consumer demand is less clear. Billboard has reported about troubling no-show rates for some concerts — 10% of fans who bought tickets in 2019 and 2020 to see Guns N’ Roses did not show up. Established live acts such as the Eagles and Zac Brown have suffered from no-show rates as high as 25% at some concerts. Separately, Steven Severin, co-owner of independent venue Neumos in Seattle, told Billboard in September it has seen 20–30% no-show rates at some shows that would normally attract an older audience. That’s a damaging trend for a promoter or venue owner that counts on food and alcohol purchases on top of ticket sales.

But Berchtold pushed back on reports on the topic, saying, Live Nation has seen a “low single-digit” rise in no-show rates from historical averages. “It seems that the people that want to go to the shows are going to the shows,” he said.