When Concerts Should End and Lives Be Saved

   What? you say. We don't need a law requiring artists and police to shut concerts down when they are getting out of hand?

   Ahh, but we do. 

   Oh, I  hear you when you argue that the pit rushes and body crushes are not something we should be regulating with laws. First off, dancing and squeezing your body with others in the pit is all a lot of fun. We call it moshing, and it's such a rush to be in the middle of a good, good mosh. Second, it's not the fault of the artists or producers; don't blame them for the deaths and violence. And, third, these things don't happen near often enough that we need a law so we can crack down on them.

   Ahh, but yes we do. 

   Let's hold both the performers and police more accountable. Make it law that when artists and show producers should be able to tell that people's lives are in danger, they must cut the party short. And, if they don't? Then it falls on the police to step in and end the festivities.

   The stampede at the Who concert in 1979? Not their fault. Nor was it Pearl Jam's fault in 2000 when eight people died from asphyxiation, and a ninth person from chest injuries.

   But, how about jumping up to 2021 when eight to 10 people were killed at a Travis Scott concert in Houston? Bodies were being hauled off. Fans were crying for the concert to be stopped. A couple fans even tried to get the attention of a cameraman by stepping beside or in front of the camera to plead for the event to be ended.

   Not to mention that a call went out declaring the conditions unsafe maybe as much as a half hour before the performers called it a night.

   It's not like a concerned fan could have jumped on stage, and pulled out all the speaker wires to end the event. No, fans really would have busted into a riot had that happened. Simply put, it is only the performers who can end the show, least you invite only more trouble in the form of a riot. 

   With bodies being carted off and fans screaming to stop the concert, it seems Scott should have realized it was time to end the show. He didn't. Perhaps he didn't see the people being carried away. Perhaps he did, but didn't think they were too serious. Perhaps he didn't hear the cries from the crowd to stop, stop, stop. Perhaps his cameraman just didn't see the two people who stood in front of him, pleading for the concert to end. Scott said he didn't realize people were dying until he was in a restaurant later that night and received word. Then, he was quick to express his horror and concern.

  So, write the law to say if the promoter and artist don't immediately stop the show, then the police will step in and end it themselves. No, go one better: Say there must be a police officer right on stage at all times. If someone is being carted off to the hospital and the performer isn't noticing it, then the officer will, for it is his (or hers) responsibility to be scanning the audience, not just for bodies being taken away, but to observe if the crowd surges are becoming dangerous. And, he's got radio contact with security elsewhere and with paramedics who might be getting involved.

   These tragedies might only happen once in a blue moon. No matter. If we can get a law in place before the next one breaks out, we should. If we human life means anything to us, we should at least do this much.