The Archive

Ten people were killed at the Travis Scott Astroworld Festival in November. The killer? A phenomenon known as “crowd surge.” Crowd surge refers to instances of a dense crowd suddenly creating a powerful force of momentum, a “surge-like” wave in the ocean. As a result, people get caught in the throng and are crushed and trampled. However, as Stan Choe of the Associated Press notes, asphyxiation — a fatal lack of oxygen — is the greatest danger posed by crowd surges.

Swedish pop band ABBA is set to return to the stage this November — or, at least their digital avatars are. The ABBA Voyage concert, to be held in a custom-built arena in London, will feature a performance by the band’s specially-created digital avatars, accompanied by a live band. This week, in honor of the band’s long-awaited reunion, I’m listening to ABBA.

All you need is love, and maybe a dose of the Mersey Beatles, too. Live at The Ark, Liverpool’s Mersey Beatles, a Beatles tribute band, brought down the house with a two-set performance of the Beatles’s number-one hits. Referring to themselves as John, Paul, George and Ringo, the Mersey Beatles stayed true to their idols’ roots. The show was part of their 2021-2022 world tour, including appearances across the Midwest and Southern states.

In an effort to ward off the exhaustion of COVID-19 quarantines, college finals and the tail-end of Michigan’s brutal winter blues, I’ve turned to music for a much-needed mood booster. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I’ve found some sunny rays way back in the ’50s. Nostalgia has always been comforting, but is there something else at play that makes older music feel so good? I have a sneaking suspicion: Modern music has lost its pep.