Travis Scott’s Rome concert was so rowdy that nearby residents thought an earthquake had happened
Topics: News, Celebrity, Travis Scott
Keryn Donnelly
Featured Image Credit: Samir Hussein/WireImage. Instagram/Travis Scott
Topics: News, Celebrity, Travis Scott
Travis Scott's concert at Circus Maximus in Rome earlier this week was so rowdy people nearby thought there was an earthquake.
During the concert on Monday night, the US rapper asked the 60,000-strong crowd to make some noise when he introduced Kanye West as his surprise guest.
The crowd jumped and screamed so vigorously and Italy’s fire service said it had received 'hundreds of calls' from concerned residents who feared there had been an earthquake in the Italian capital, according toCNN.
Romans, including those living some distance from the site, also shared their stories about shaking windows, beds and chandeliers on social media, with comments like 'Anyone feel an earthquake?'
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Giovanni Diaferia, a seismologist at the Italian Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, wrote on X: “60k people, 70 kg each, jumping and reaching 0.15 m from ground radiate an energy of E = 6.2 MJ which is equivalent to a magnitude 1.3 earthquake, at each jump!! Enough to be recorded by a seismic station 9 km away.”
And on Tuesday, the institute said its national seismic network stations 'clearly registered the enthusiasm of Travis Scott fans in concert at Circus Maximus'.
Now archaeologists have questioned whether musical events should be held at the ancient site where chariot races were held more than 2,000 years ago.
Alfonsina Russo, director of the Colosseum Archeological Park, has called for an end to rock performances at the Circus Maximus.
An #earthquake at the #TravisScott concert in in #Rome?
— Giovanni Diaferia (@GioviDiaferia) August 9, 2023
60k people, 70kg each, jumping and reaching 0.15 m from ground radiate and energy of
E = 6.2 MJ
which is equivalent to a magnitude 1.3 earthquake, at each jump!! Enough to be recorded by a seismic station 9 km away! pic.twitter.com/inFfBNxUiG
She said only opera and ballets should be staged at the grassy oval arena.
“The Circus Maximus is a monument. It is not a stadium, not a concert hall,” she told Italian news service AGI.
She continued: “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.”
The Circus Maximus, which is situated at the bottom of the Palatine Hill near the Colosseum, has also played host to Imagine Dragons, Guns N’ Roses and Bruce Springsteen over the European summer.
Taylor Swift fans recorded some similarly rowdy scenes during the pop star's two Seattle shows.
Seismologist Jackie Caplan-Auerbach - a geology professor at Western Washington University - revealed that the event did in fact cause a 'Swift Quake' equivalent to a 2.3 magnitude seismic event.
“I grabbed the data from both nights of the concert and quickly noticed they were clearly the same pattern of signals,” she told CNN.
“If I overlay them on top of each other, they’re nearly identical.”