Sylvester Turner issued a statement saying representatives from the Toyota Center had discussed — and would continue to discuss — safety issues with city officials
Travis Scott has scheduled his first show in Houston since the 2021 Astroworld tragedy, with the city’s mayor Sylvester Turner saying the rapper “booked the Toyota Center for a concert in October.”
Turner’s shared his statement yesterday after Scott teased a tour in support of his new album Utopia on social media. While dates and venues were briefly shared online, they were quickly removed; Scott then wrote in all-caps on Instagram: “Utopia tour soon. US and Euro dates soon to be announce. Miss the road I miss y’all.”
Along with confirming the October date for Scott’s show, Turner said city and venue officials discussed safety measures and concerns and would continue to do so going forward. “Before today’s announcement, Toyota Center representatives convened meetings with public safety officials and the City’s special events office,” Turner said. “They will continue working together to ensure this concert’s safety, not unlike the many other concerts and events held at Toyota Center each year.”
Turner also noted that the Toyota Center — an arena that can hold about 19,000 people for concerts — is “a different type of venue” than NRG Park, which hosted an estimated 50,000 people the night of the deadly Astroworld crowd crush. “The Toyota Center has been a good partner with the City of Houston, and we expect this to continue for this and every other concert,” Turner said.
Back in June, it was announced that Scott and other festival organizers and workers involved in Astroworld would not face criminal charges over the crowd crush that killed 10 people. Additionally, a third family of one of the victims recently settled their lawsuit against Scott, Live Nation, and others, though civil suits from thousands of attendees — amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars in potential damages — remain outstanding.
Even as Scott has pushed ahead with his new album, the Astroworld tragedy has continued to loom over him. Notably, the same day he released Utopia at the end of July, the Houston Police Department released its full 1266-page investigation into the tragedy.