USA and UK concert venues reel from a spate of crush deaths

Venues in the UK and USA are reeling from a spate of concert crush deaths.

Three women in their thirties died after a crowd surged at a concert by US rapper GloRilla at Rochester, New York, in March 2023.

The cause is being investigated by police who are looking at the size of the crowd, whether shots were fired, and whether pepper spray was used.

The concert venue has had its licence revoked while the police investigation takes place. Read more about this here: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/mar/10/third-person-dies-after-crowd-crush-at-glorilla-concert

Here in the UK, two people died after a crowd crush at London’s Brixton Academy in December 2022 and the Metropolitan Police are investigating. Read the latest news on this incident here: Strict new safety measures imposed on London fatal crush venue

And ten people died at rapper Travis Scott’s Astroworld festival in Houston, Texas, in November, 2021, because of a crowd surge.

A Texas grand jury recently decided that Scott will not face criminal charges over the deaths at his festival, though he is still facing several civil suits over the deaths and injuries.

Read more about this story here: https://news.sky.com/story/travis-scott-will-not-face-criminal-charges-over-deadly-crowd-surge-at-concert-12912044

Other artists have recently had to stop their shows to prevent a crush tragedy, including former One Direction singer Louis Tomlinson, who had to stop his Washington DC show to help protect his fans in November 2022. Read more here: Louis Tomlinson Concertgoers Report Crush As Star Stops Show To Help Fans

The Protect Alliance’s Jodie Read said: “This is a very real worry for the owners and managers of venues and the musical acts themselves who have been devastated by the deaths and injuries caused by crowd crushes.

“In the UK, we’re making important changes to the law to ensure the safety of concert goers with the introduction of Martyn’s Law.

“This legislation requires venues to have properly trained staff, effective communication, detailed risk assessments, and a clear plan for if something of this nature goes wrong.

“It’s part of the new law drawn up in the wake of the 2017 Manchester Arena attack at an Ariana Grande concert and is named after one of the 22 innocent victims, Martyn Hett.

“His mother has campaigned for these measures for years in a bid to ensure no other family has to suffer as hers has done.

“We urge all music venues to get prepared for the new law.”