It didnt take long for the media to jump on the story. Because of this incident, general admission seating was banned for 25 years in Cincinnati. A citizen’s task force was organized by local authorities to make sense of the tragedy, and they found numerous contributing factors such as not enough opened doors (duh), poor security, and festival seating. The show went on as planned.The members of the Who were not told of the tragedy until after their performance that evening.Įleven people lost their lives at the Riverfront Coliseum that night. I screamed with all my strength that I was standing on someone. The helplessness and frustration of this moment sent a wave of panic through me. “ A wave swept me to the left and when I regained my stance I felt that I was standing on someone. Ron Duritch, who was caught in the crush, described the situation:

People were knocked to the floor, fighting for breath and their lives with each surge of the crowd.

But when the doors were closed, people were crushed against each other and the building itself by the thousands of other people behind them, who had no idea that the main entrance was closed off. When the doors were open, ticket holders pressed through. Eyewitnesses watched with disbelief as these doors opened, then closed, then reopened, then shut, to open again, and so on. When it was time to admit the crowd, the Coliseum staff only opened one or two of the many available doors to handle the massive throng of people. The promotors were more concerned about people sneaking by ticket turnstiles. Worst of all, concert organizers refused a police request to open more main entrance doors to prevent concertgoers from getting crushed. There was no attempt to manage the large crowd queued at the door, many who’d been waiting since 1 p.m. The communication between event organizers and security was almost non-existent. There were other serious safety issues well. General admission meant the race went to the swiftest, so the adrenaline ran high the closer it got to showtime. When the doors finally opened, they’d run like hell to ensure a prime spot near the stage. Though COVID delayed the original plans, countless Cincinnatians are eagerly awaiting when the band can make good on that promise - and no doubt hoping this time for a show that will be memorable for all the right reasons.The British rock band the Who hadn’t played Cincinnati since 1975, so the excitement level was at 11 among the fans standing outside the Riverfront Coliseum on December 3, 1979.įor the majority of the people attending the concert - 14,000 out of the over 18,000 in attendance - tickets were either for festival seating (standing room) or general admission (unreserved seating.)ĭie-hard followers of the band braved the cold to line up outside the venue for hours. Daltrey's bandmate Pete Townshend also announced that year that The Who would soon be returning to play Cincinnati for the first time in four decades. The visit represented a real moment of healing for many. In 2019, The Who's Roger Daltrey made a visit to that high school to meet with organizers of a scholarship fund in memory of those students. That night, several of the victims had been just teenagers, three attending the same high school. As Cincinnatian Paul Wertheimer (who watched the news of that day in 1979 unfold and was moved to become an expert in crowd control) told the Los Angeles Times, the Houston incident was 'preventable.'Īs the Cincinnati Enquirer noted, disasters such as these inevitably bring up painful memories for survivors of The Who concert disaster. Given recent events, though, cities may once again be reassessing its merits. In the aftermath of the event, Cincinnati banned festival seating, though it lifted the ban some 24 years after the disaster, citing improvements in crown-control procedures, says History. 'It's this girl,' he told Rolling Stone, 'and her head was at my waist and she said, 'Excuse me, my feet are back there somewhere.' She was horizontal.'

He went on to describe feeling a tug on his arm amid the crush of bodies, only to look down and see a young woman asking for his help. Phil Sheridan went on to describe the crush of people trying to get through turnstiles - some three at a time as ticket takers tried in vain to ask for their tickets.

I saw guys with blue lips – they couldn't get oxygen.' I went down twice and wasn't sure that I would make it. It would be nearly half an hour before police could make their way through the crowd.Īs attendee Mark Helmkamp later described the scene to Rolling Stone, 'it was a slow squeeze, not a stampede. Concertgoers streamed through the entry en masse. With no visible security and too few police, the few trying to control the situation were simply overpowered. Around 7:20, the crowd surged and one set of doors shattered.

The who trampled cincinnati