Remembering the Who Concert Tragedy in Cincinnati
Eleven Trampled to Death on December 3, 1979
The Who, are 1990 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees and recently received Kennedy Center honors. Their success began in the early sixties and spanned decades. Their accomplishments are great indeed; but in Cincinnati the group's name still calls up shadows of the unforgettable tragedy of December 3, 1979 when minutes before the opening number that evening, eleven fans were trampled to death.
The popular group was riding a wave of success from hit albums and the rock opera, "Tommy." They had not come to Cincinnati since 1975, so thousands waited anxiously outside the Riverfront Coliseum (now the U S Bank Arena) for the doors to open. Then came the rush, only a few minutes of fans pressing to get out of the cold and score first-come-first-serve seats; but it took only those few minutes for dozens to fall beneath the feet of the crowd. Many were injured and eleven were trampled to death.
The Show Goes On-
The incident was over quickly. The majority of the eight to ten-thousand early arrivers located seats, settled down and the concert went on as scheduled with The Who performing hits the crowd had been so anxious to hear. No one told them what happened. The members of The Who didn't find out eleven of their fans had died until after the show. Many concertgoers never found out what had happened until they read the newspapers the next day.
Locked Doors and Festival Seating?-
Seeking to find a reason for the tragedy, local authorities set up a citizen's task force which found numerous faults: ticket sales, alcohol use, ushers, contraband, security, not enough entrance doors open in advance of the scheduled concert time and other crowd management issues.
Ultimately the task force report concentrated on the combination of too many locked doors, crowd anticipation, unresponsive security and 'festival' seating that set up a competition among concertgoers creating "deadly crowd surges and rippling human waves" in a rush to secure the best seats.
Festival Seating Banned-
For over twenty-five years crowd management has been a priority in Cincinnati; festival seating was banned, causing major concerts to bypass the city for years. City authorities allowed a waiver of this rule for Bruce Springsteen in 2002 and overturned the ban altogether in 2004.
On The Who's website, the tragedy is a simple notation on the group's history page; but in Cincinnati nothing can erase the memory of what's been named "the most horrific rock concert incident in the United States.."
Published by Carol Rucker - Featured Contributor in Lifestyle
I'm celebrating African American History Month by featuring some of my favorite articles below. I am a native Cincinnatian with a passion for many things. I love creating and inspiring creativity. I enjo... View profile
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9 Comments
Post a CommentTo the Keith Moon comment above. Keith Moon was already dead when this occurred so i really doubt that this event had anything to do with his so called spiral down!!Another juls and jim!!
I HAVE TO WONDER THE AFTERMATH OF THE CINCINATTI CONCERT INCIDENT MAY HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO KIETH MOONS ALCHOLHOLIC SPIRAL
I want to thank my wonderful Mother for not allowing me to attend that tragic concert. I was 13 and had just started going to concerts. Two months before I was in the front of the line to see Boston and I was literally carried by the crowd surging to get in. My prayers go out to the families of those lives that were lost that tragic night - 30 years ago.
and her husband didn't know that she was dead until after the concert
you can say what you want. they were still trampled to death. my cousin connie was one of them. she was the mother of two little childern.
Good article but I must correct a point: the 11 who died that evening did not die due to trampling, nor was there any stampede. The stark truth is that they were literally "squeezed" to death. The coroner ruled death due to "asphyxia by compression of the chest." To me, that paints a different picture, as stampede implies people were knowlingly trampling others underfoot in their quest to get into the coliseum. Not so. Most were not even aware that there was a serious situation forming. Very tragic.
This tragedy has has a wide-ranging impact on concert management in the past 30 years. Dealing with ticketing and seating has been radically changed in stadiums and parks and definitely for the better. I just saw a re-run of WKRP the other day where they acknowledged the incident.
Such a vivid account. Thanks for sharing this, sad as it is.
This was an unfortunate incident, Carol, and barely receives a footnote in the crazy world of rock news. When people think 'rock tragedy,' most think of Altamont and/or the deat of some rock star, like Hendrix, Morrison, or Joplin. This episode and the Great White fire should immediately come to mind instead. These were the tragedies. And the Cincinnati Who tragedy also still wins most tasteless t-shirt caption ever -- "I'd Walk Over You To See The Who." Remember those? Good reporting...