Nearly five years after a stampede at Houston rapper Travis Scott’s Astroworld festival almost financially destroyed his empire, he is back on stage with the second leg of his current tour, poised to achieve the second-highest grossing rap tour in history.
Travis Scott On the Road
In 2023, Travis Scott’s Utopia – Circus Maximus Tour sold out venues across North America and is now back for a 16-show Live Nation-promoted European run.
He took to his social media to announce the tour.
According to Poll Star, when tickets went on sale on May 10, his millions of fans from all over the world rushed to purchase seats in arenas all across Europe, including the 43,661-capacity RheinEnergieStadion in Cologne, Germany, and the 48,300-capacity Deutsche Bank Park in Frankfurt, Germany, both of which are currently sold out.
The star, who is the father of two children, daughter Stormi Webster, 6, and son Aire Webster, 2, with Kylie Jenner, will have his biggest U.K. headlining performance to date on July 11 at London’s 48,256-capacity Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The “Sicko Mode” artist will also play Ippodromo SNAI La Maura on July 23 in Milan, Italy. That venue holds 78,000 seats, and as of May 15, it had already sold almost 54,000 tickets.
With fans buying tickets in such a high demand, Scott, his management and the Live Nation team have added a few more dates to his European itinerary, which originally was set for 12 dates. His Dutch fans will have another opportunity to see him at Arnhem’s GelreDome in the Netherlands. The promoters are adding a second night to the venue.
A second night has also been added to the Frankfurt concert. New dates have been booked for concerts in the cities of Madrid, Spain, and Lisbon, Portugal.
Touring Data tweeted out that the Circus Maximus Tour is on track to become one of the five highest-grossing hip-hop tours in history.
.@trvisXX's "Circus Maximus" now aiming for $130-140 million from over 1.1 million tickets in 61 shows, following additional dates in Europe. It will mark the second highest-grossing tour by a Rapper in history.
— Touring Data (@touringdata) May 15, 2024
Event Date; City; Venue
06/28 – Arnhem @ Gelredome
06/30 – Arnhem…
If the new projections prove correct, La Flame will be whizzing past major hip-hop experiences like Kendrick Lamar’s The Big Steppers Tour, 50 Cent‘s Final Lap Tour and Drake and Migos’ Aubrey & The Three Migos Tour.
Top Tours by Rappers:
— Touring Data (@touringdata) May 15, 2024
Revenue; Artist; Tour; Shows
$215.9M; #Drake; It's All a Blur; 50/80
$110.9M; #KendrickLamar; The Big Steppers; 73
$105.0M; #50Cent; The Final Lap; 92/97
$103.1M; #Drake; Aubrey & the Three Migos; 54
$82.4M; #TravisScott; Circus Maximus; 38/61
$81.0M;…
One of the last times that Scott performed in Italy, it was at the actual Circus Maximus in Rome, one of the great prides of the nation — dating back to antiquity — and the inspiration for the name of the massive concert.
In August 2023, the audience rocked so hard in their seats at the almost 2,000-year-old venue that citizens, as per the Italy’s fire service, believed the city was experiencing an earthquake. Authorities received “hundreds of calls,” CNN reported.
The uproar was caused when Scott, brought his friend and the uncle of his children, Kanye West, out as a surprise guest. This was the first time that Ye performed since he lost billions of dollars because of his erratic behavior and anti-Semitic statements.
When Scott returns to Europe, he will probably not perform in spaces as old as Circus Maximus. His fan base is so massive that the ancient facilities cannot withstand the combination of the show performances, the foot traffic and the epic partying that caused people to fear a natural disaster was falling upon Rome.
“The Circus Maximus is a monument. It is not a stadium, not a concert hall,” Alfonsina Russo, director of the head of the Colosseum Archeological Park, said last year. “These mega rock concerts put it at risk, including the Palatine Hill nearby. Rock concerts should be held in stadiums so as not to endanger public safety.”
Public safety is a major issue with Scott and his performances.
Astroworld Tragedy
During a performance at the Astroworld festival on Nov. 5, 2021, ten individuals tragically lost their lives, as the artist initially continued performing despite the unfolding crisis.
Authorities say trampled victims aged 9 to 27 succumbed to compression asphyxia, a fate likened by experts to being crushed by a car.
In response, a deluge of lawsuits, numbering well into the hundreds, have been directed at the chart-topping artist, squarely placing responsibility on his shoulders.
Despite efforts by Scott and his legal team to quash these civil suits, State District Judge Kristen Hawkins rebuffed their attempts in April 2024 with a succinct one-page order.
Even with this effort by Scott’s attorney, behind the scenes lawyers began settling the lawsuits in 2022. Scott and Live Nation have settled all but one wrongful-death lawsuit. The settlements were announced just as jury selection was set to begin on May 7 for the first case, brought by the family of 23-year-old Madison Dubiski, Vulture reported. Nine of the 10 lawsuits have been settled. Dubiski’s family reached a confidential settlement.
The remaining wrongful-death lawsuit is from the family of 9-year-old Ezra Blount. A trial date has been set for Sept. 10.
Scott and Live Nation still face approximately 2,400 injury lawsuits related to the festival, reported Vulture.
