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Columbus concert venues expect little change in wake of Astroworld tragedy

Eight people died and several others were injured at Travis Scott's Astroworld Festival in Houston on Friday.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Concert promoters are taking a hard look at what changes if any should happen in the wake of the tragedy at Travis Scott's Astroworld Festival in Houston Friday.

10TV wanted to know if local concert venues are planning any changes to the way concert-goers are seated.

“The safety of our guests, artists, athletes and staff is our highest priority. Columbus Arena Sports and Entertainment (CASE) evaluates all policies and procedures on an ongoing basis, including safety and security protocols. For festival and general admission floor seating, security is enhanced and the capacity is limited by state and local guidelines,” said Gary O’Brien Director of Communications Columbus Arena Sports and Entertainment which oversees concerts at Nationwide Arena and The Schottenstein Center.

Concert promoter Denny Young is the president of Elevation Group which owns the Wonderbus music and arts festival in Columbus. He doesn’t expect the music world to change because of this tragedy.

“Festival seating can be done safely with the right planning,” he said.

Young said the Travis Scott festival was a disaster in the making.

“These events time and time again in those environments are playing with fire and music can be a very safe form of entertainment but the idea to create a riotous environment with tens of thousands of people is completely irresponsible,” he said.

Travis Scott performed at the Schottenstein Center in February 2019 without incident.

Paul Denton, a former commander for the Columbus Division of Police, who planned large-scale concerts said there are a lot of questions that still need to be answered regarding the safety of the festival

“Once the information came in that something was wrong how did that communication flow? and how did that handoff from event staff to public safety staff work?” Denton said.

Denton added anytime there was festival seating when he was overseeing the concert it had to be signed off by police to make sure there was enough security.

“The National Fire Prevention Association has a standard the recommends having one crowd manager for every 250 attendees,” he said.

You can read more about the investigation here.

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