Travis Scott’s Utopia concert at Rome’s Circus Maximus left at least 60 members of the 60,000-plus crowd needing medical attention, CNN reports, after someone dispersed pepper spray into the concert crowd Monday. Rome’s civil protection department also documented the injury of a 14-year-old who scaled a false wall to see the concert for free before falling 13 feet.ย
The rapper’s one-off show at the historic Italian site also drew “hundreds of calls” to local fire services from concerned residents who mistook the crowd’s movement for an earthquake. While Circus Maximus, located near the Colosseum, has become a popular concert venue for the city in recent years, hosting acts like Guns N’ Roses, Bruce Springsteen in 2023, Monday’s performance drew concern from historians who worry that these kinds of events are causing damage to the ancient site. Scott’s Utopia performance had originally been planned for the end of July at the Giza pyramids in Egypt before it was called off by local authorities.
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Monday’s performance also featured a surprise appearance by Kanye West, who joined Scott on stage for “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” and “Praise God.” This unexpected cameo marks West’s first live appearance since his antisemitic comments last year led to a downturn in his career. Scott told the crowd as he introduced his controversial collaborator, “There is no Utopia without Kanye West. There is no Travis Scott without Kanye West, there is no Rome without Kanye West.” Prior to Monday’s concert, West had last appeared on stage in February 2022, where he launched Donda 2 with the help of scandal-stricken artists DaBaby and Marilyn Manson.
Utopia marks Scott’s first full album after a crowd surge at his 2021 Astroworld Festival in Houston left 10 people ages 9 to 27 dead due to “compression asphyxia,” injuring thousands of others. In June, the rapper was cleared of any criminal charges for the incident. “He never encouraged people to do anything that resulted in other people being hurt,” Scott’s lawyer, Kent Schaffer, said after a grand jury declined to bring charges against his client. While the “SICKO MODE” artist has sympathy for the families of the victims, Schaffer said at the time, “Travis is not responsible. Bringing criminal charges against him will not ease their pain.” The rapper still faces multiple civil lawsuits stemming from the fatal Houston concert.
