Houston's police chief said he spoke briefly with rapper Travis Scott on Monday to express his "public safety concerns" before the artist took the stage for a weekend performance that resulted in the deaths of eight people and the injuries of scores more in a stampede.

As legal action grew on behalf of concertgoers crushed in Friday's catastrophic crowd surge, while police sought a criminal investigation into the disaster, Chief Troy Finner publicly admitted sending words of caution to Scott in person.

According to a source close to Scott, the hometown recording sensation, who was on stage as the headliner of his Astroworld festival when the incident occurred, he has canceled an appearance set for this weekend at a similar outdoor event in Las Vegas.

On Monday, Scott announced that he would cover all burial expenses and provide assistance to individuals who were affected. According to a statement, he is also working with law police and local officials to "respectfully and appropriately interact" with victims and their families.

The victims were crushed in a surge of fans near the stage at NRG Park at around 9:30 p.m., with some unable to breathe and others trampled underfoot. Hundreds of others in the sellout crowd of 50,000 were injured throughout the day.

After a gradual buildup of disruptive activity over several hours, fans described a chaotic scene.

Finner said he spoke with Scott and his head of security "for a few moments" before the headliner's ill-fated performance, according to a statement issued via Twitter.

“The meeting was brief and respectful and a chance for me to share my public safety concerns as chief of police,” Finner wrote, making no explicit mention of concertgoers’ accounts of gate-crashing and increasingly unruly behavior throughout the day among the largely young crowd.