As ambulances and fire trucks raced with sirens by Natalie Thurston and Sam Smith as they sat on a sidewalk in Houston waiting for a ride, Sequim’s friends say that’s when they definitely knew something was wrong.
Friends and colleagues Cody Bell, a 2018 Sequim High graduate, were three of the nearly 50,000 people who ventured into the Texas city for the Astroworld festival and event headlined by Travis Scott, one of their favorite rappers.
As they began researching articles and reports online, they were horrified to learn of the tragedies surrounding the sold-out event. As of Tuesday, Nov. 16, AP News reports that 10 people have died during or later from injuries sustained on the set of Scott on Nov. 12 — including Axel Acosta Avila, a 21-year-old computer science student at Western Washington University.
More than 300 people were injured and at least 25 hospitalized, AP News reported.
“We were all pretty shaken up,” Thurston said.
As more information became available, the friends said they started watching videos of first responders trying to help people who had been crushed in the mosh pit and had trouble. trouble breathing.
“At some point on Saturday I had to go to the bathroom because I felt so sick,” Thurston said.
Texas trip
Astroworld was something the friends started planning in early summer, they said.
“We’re all fans and we all wanted to do something together,” Smith said. “It was a good idea to bond.”
“It’s Travis Scott; it’s going to be huge and fun,” Thurston said. “We’re going in November so that’ll get us out of this awful weather.”
The friends arrived in Houston from Sequim on Nov. 10 with plans to explore the city and see the venue before the show started.
Thurston attended Scott’s tour at the Tacoma Dome in 2019 and felt prepared.
“Honestly, it wasn’t out of control when I went (there) and it was sold out,” she said. “I was in the pit (mosh) but they weren’t out of control. Travis fans care about each other.
Arrival
Upon arriving for Astroworld’s scheduled first day at around 10:30 a.m., the friends said they saw the gates were broken and security at the entrance was lax. Inside, ventured to the merchandise tables, where things got unruly.
“Immediately the crowd started pushing and condensing,” Smith said.
Thurston said Scott’s shows are known for their high energy and people seemed excited because Houston is his hometown and the 2020 concert was canceled due to COVID-19.
“People were waiting and they (were) ready,” she said.
However, attendees kept pushing, breaking down doors and throwing them away, the friends said, leading police to shut down the queue for goods.
“(Police) were telling people to stop and they started getting angry,” Thurston said.
A woman passed out in the queue and the doctors had to come, the friends said, and they heard people screaming that someone was Tased, but they didn’t see it.
“There was no music yet, just kids wanting a t-shirt,” Thurston said.
The friends chose to find a place to enjoy the music and headed to the second stage. Scott’s stage was dedicated to his evening performance.
“I’ve been to a lot of shows, so I know how to work my way up the middle and up front where I thought we wanted to be,” Thurston said.
Intensity
The intensity was there throughout the day, they said, and security pulled them out during Master P’s set around 2 p.m. to the front of the stage.
Thurston said Smith got attached to her and wouldn’t let go despite the crowd pushing each other.
“(I thought), ‘I wasn’t losing her,'” Smith said.
They went to get water and had lunch and relaxed a bit because it was hot and they were sunburnt.
At around 3:30 p.m., they returned to the crowd to wait for other performers along a doorway that divided the crowd, they said.
Thurston said he saw several people being taken out because the push was so hard.
Around 8 p.m., the friends went to Scott’s main stage for his 9 p.m. set time.
“I felt good all day, but then I didn’t feel good,” Thurston said. “All of a sudden, I felt super nauseous.”
Smith suggested they go get water, so they did.
Where they were, the friends said, is where “all hell broke loose”.
At around 8:30 p.m. a 30-minute timer began on the scene, Thurston said and that’s when the jostling started and escalated again, until seconds before Scott walked out.
The friends stayed away and enjoyed the music, not knowing that people were dying in advance.
“People around us weren’t pushing. They were dancing and just watching,” Smith said.
Thurston said he saw many attendees exit the mosh pit although “drenched in sweat, struggling to breathe.”
“The people in front were the most affected and the people behind were pushing and pushing to get closer to Travis but they didn’t know what was going on in front,” she said.
The friends saw doctors walking past them and noted that Scott had stopped playing a few times to warn people during his roughly 70-minute set.
“He ended it like a normal concert and thanked people for coming,” Smith said. “It seemed short to me.”
raw emotion
After the show ended, Thurston said he received a text message from Bell’s brother asking him to call his mother. Friends said Bell lost his phone and wallet at the show and they don’t know where it is.
Smith said that in case anything happened, they planned to meet at lockers, so the couple stood on top of a lamp post to find him. Bell ended up staying an extra day in Houston as he waited for his passport to arrive from his parents so he could travel, Thurston said.
He was unavailable for the group interview earlier this week.
More than a week later, the friends said there was still a lot of raw emotion thinking about the show and listening to Scott’s music.
“I almost feel guilty for having fun,” Thurston said.
Separating an incident from an artist and their art is something they have considered and will likely continue to listen to their music.
“With Travis’ music, there’s something going on,” Thurston said. “I am emotionally and mentally touched by it. It helps you get through things.
“Everyone has an artist they’re really attached to, so it’s really difficult when something like that happens to the artist you’re attached to.”
Thurston said she follows the victims’ court cases and finds the situations “heartbreaking” to consider.
“To think it could be us; it’s so sad,” she said.
The friends said they send their condolences, thoughts and constant prayers to the family members involved.
As she lined up for merchandise at the Astroworld festival in Houston, Natalie Thurston of Sequim said attendees broke down doors and threw them away, prompting police to shut down the line before the music even started begins November 12. Photo courtesy of Natalie Thurston
