Security personal insisted they had opened at least four doors, although they had sixteen doors the crowd could have entered through for admittance. After the shock came the blame game, then the lawsuits. Emergency services quickly removed the victims from the sidewalk surrounding the Coliseum as the concert went on. A hard decision, but likely the right one. Horrified, the mayor decided to keep the band in the dark and continue the concert, fearing a cancellation might mean a riot and even more victims. They notified police and police notified Cincinnati’s mayor. Security didn’t see the victims until the bulk of those outside the Coliseum had filtered in, and then 11 trampled bodies were revealed on the ground. The flooring between the turnstiles and the entrance to the concert hall was covered with wallets, watches, crumpled tour programs and souvenirs…and thousands of bloody footprints. There was no group panic.” This “slow squeeze” began at roughly 6:30 and didn’t stop until past 8, well into the Who’s first set. Some people went berserk and started swinging their elbows. People were climbing up on other people’s shoulders. I kept my arms in front of my chest to keep from getting crushed. I couldn’t keep my feet on the ground the whole time. I saw, I think, four ticket takers after I walked over all the shoes to get in. I saw guys with blue lips – they couldn’t get oxygen. I went down twice and wasn’t sure that I would make it. I was stuck in it for forty-five minutes. “…It was an incredible bottleneck it was a slow squeeze, not a stampede. AFTERMATH In a later interview, concertgoer and witness Mark Helmkamp dismissed the idea of a stampede in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine’s Chet Flippo. According to security staff, the crowd rushed through in a mad stampede, but given the size of the crowd and the forced bottleneck of the open doors, a stampede would have been almost impossible. Security opened two doors: two doors, each eighteen inches wide, to usher in more than 7,000 anxious fans. 16 of those stood at the front of the Coliseum to admit ticket holders. Riverfront Coliseum has a total of 106 doors. The crowd grew and grew and by the time the doors were opened, almost 7,000 cold, anxious rock fans were shivering outside the glass doors, waiting to enter. An area radio station has mistakenly said concertgoers would be admitted as early as 3PM, an error that likely made the crowd larger and more irritable. By 5, thousands were waiting outside the Coliseum’s bank of glass doors. On the chilly December day, dedicated fans began appearing at 1:30 in the afternoon for a concert that wasn’t supposed to begin until 8:00 in the evening. The majority (15,000 out of about 18,000) of the available tickets were sold as general admission, first-come, first-served, which meant the first people in would nab the closest spots. In the end, and with the benefit of cooling tempers and time, the blame most likely belongs to the concert organizers and the Riverfront Coliseum management. RIVERFRONT COLISEUM Conservative media blamed the kids. Their management received blame for scheduling a late soundcheck, which had frightened many concertgoers into believing the show was beginning without them. The band said they knew nothing of the incident until after the show was over. The band was tarnished for years afterwards they continued the concert despite the 11 bodies lying outside the doors of the Riverfront Coliseum, and even played an encore. Most news media reports-even the venerable Walter Kronkite-blamed it on a stampeding crowd of unruly rock fans. Everyone blamed the disaster on someone else. The Who World Tour 1979 looked to be their best. It had given new life to a band that feared the show might be over only a year earlier. THE WHO, 1979 Without Moon’s mercurial temper and drinking problem, few problems arose…and Jones was a much better technical drummer.

With the new single “Who Are You” blasting from radios worldwide, their tour had been a massive success and gone as smooth as an Ex-Lax milkshake.

It was a frightening moment, and one that helped me better understand the Who Concert Disaster at the Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati on December 3rd, 1979.ĭespite the loss of Keith Moon in 1978, the Who remained one of the world’s most popular rock bands in 1979, adding famed drummer Kenney Jones to fill Moon’s throne.

For ten minutes we gripped those barricades with white knuckles. That crowd, as mindless as a tsunami, would swallow us, crush us, and wouldn’t recede until the set was over and the band had gone. I realized that if one of us fell, no amount of kicking or screaming would save our lives. The tide of bodies and beer pressed us hard against the metal barricades. The 15,000 people lounging across the Tweeter Center’s massive lawn seating concentrated in minutes, all centering on where we stood.

The who trampled cincinnati