Ivan Villareal ‘19

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The first weekend of Thanksgiving break, I attended the first annual Astroworld Festival, curated by homegrown talent Travis Scott and Cactus Jack Records. The festival was a special leg of the ongoing Astroworld Tour, that will hit 27 cities all around America.

Since Travis Scott was raised in Missouri City, a suburb of Houston, he decided to put on a show for his hometown. This was Travis’ homecoming. He was fresh off the tremendous success of his number-one charting, platinum record “Astroworld.”

With this festival, Travis planned to bring back Astroworld, the former Houston staple, a 57-acre Six Flags amusement park, closed in 2005, that Travis explained he had fallen in love with at a young age.

Along with the music, the festival featured a mini-Astroworld, complete with roller coasters, spinning globes, magicians, haunted houses, and an arcade.

In addition to Travis, the concert hosted multiple other popular artists including the rising phenom Sheck Wes, young vocalist Trippie Redd, the ever influential Young Thug, grimey Smokepurpp, certified superstar Gunna, the legendary Lil Wayne, the high energy duo of Rae Sremmurd, and platinum rapper Post Malone.

However, none of these artists even came close to giving the performance that Travis Scott gave. Travis opened his set with the platinum record, Stargazing, when the beat dropped and Travis came on the back stage instead of the main stage. Everyone was confused as to where he was. Little did we know that Travis himself was performing from a roller coaster. This theatric brought a unique buzz to the crowd.

Other memorable song performances included Beibs in the Trap, where he brought out Nav, Mamacita with Young Thug, and RIP Screw with Rae Sremmurd and Don Toliver. Rightfully so, Travis closed his set out with Sicko Mode, the number- one charting song and all-time classic.

The title Astroworld was very fitting because I felt as if I was on a different planet when Travis said his tearful goodbyes at the end of the show. Travis put on a festival for the ages and brought an feeling of unparalleled hometown pride to Houston.