Dec 3, 1979 (45 years ago) Riverfront Coliseum Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
When I arrived at Riverfront coliseum at 6:30 PM, no doors had been opened by security and there were already about 5,000+ fans standing/sitting on the pavilion around the main entrance. The closest I could get was about 50 yards from the main entrance. By 7PM, the crowd around me had doubled or tripled in size, and that's when security finally opened (only) the doors near the main entrance, probably to control the crowd better to facilitate their new 'pat down' procedure that every fan received as they entered the coliseum. Security lacked the staffing to open more doors around the coliseum due to implementing their search for illegal recreational substances and contriband. At at about 7:10PM, everyone could hear the equipment sound checks, but contrary to what the media reported, nobody was panicking thinking the concert had started. By 7:20PM, the sound checks stopped, and i was still about 40-45 yards away from the main entrance doors. At 7:26PM, it happened! Suddenly, everyone around me starts running towards 2 doors that a security guard had just opened that were about 40 yards to the left from the main entrance. Through everyone running, I caught a brief glimpse of the guard propping a steel chair against the right side door. I started running towards it hoping to get inside much sooner, but had only ran maybe 10 steps when i had to stop because the person in front of me had stoped. Over everyone's head, I saw the right side door just as it closed. Apparently, the guard had panicked seeing everyone running towards him, and simply grabbed the chair as he went back inside to safety, locking both doors behind him. Now, everyone turned around and started running to try and get back to the place they were before the guard opened those 2 doors. I managed to get about 5 yards from where I was (still about 45 yards from the main entrance). A few seconds later, I was picked up and carried by a force that came from behind me on my right side that carried for 10-15 feet before I knew what was happening, but by then I was already falling (I was actually being pushed down by the person behind me). I tried to move my arms out in front of me (the natural reaction everyone has when falling down to protect their head), but couldn't due to the tightly packed crowd around me. Realizing there was nothing I could do to prevent whatever was about to happen, I just closed my eyes, fully expecting to feel the pain of being 'trampled under foot". Only recently did I remember thinking "Well I guess this is how I will die!". But, with my eyes closed, instead of pain, it felt like I was being pushed back upright from a force that was came towards the front of me, in the opposite direction of the force carrying me forward. As I opened my eyes to confirm it, I was overjoyed to see the heads of the crowd, and I silently begged this force to continue, because I had almost regained my balance. Fortunately it did, and I was finally standing on my own two feet. The stampede was over, having stopped as quickly as it started, and probably only lasted for a few seconds. But it was scary to say the least. My first thought was I was damn thankful just to be alive and uninjured, but that quickly turned to rage towards whoever was behind me because they almost killed me. As I turned to yell at whoever it was, everyone around me has this strange, bewildered look on their faces and in their eyes, kind of like "WTF just happened?". I even saw a bit of puzzled remorse in the dude's eyes I was about to yell at. I didn't say a word, and just turned back around, thankful to be alive and uninjured. It took at least another 45-55 minutes before I was at the main entrance and handed my ticket to a security guard, received my ticket stub back and then (SURPRISE!), I received a "pat down" before I could enter and go find a seat. The concert had already started, so I missed The Who perform their first few songs. When I was outside, I never saw anyone lying on the ground, nor did I step on anybody. I heard people screaming, but that happened at every concert I'd ever been to, so nothing new in that respect. In truth, I never found out about the tragedy until I got home and turned on the news. It was strange however, at the concert, hearing bits and pieces of conversations of other fans talking about dead bodies, bloody clothes etc., because it wasn't what you'd normally hear anyone talk about at a concert. I've had over 4 decades to think about Monday evening on December 3, 1979, and know that regardless of how terrifying that stampede was, I'm extremely lucky to have survived and get to watch perform a fantastic concert. Or, perhaps I should say sadly, that I was luckier than the 26 rockers with tickets that missed the concert because they were taken to local hospitals due to their severe trauma and crushing injuries that received frm the same stampede I was involved in, or more tragically, the 11 rockers with tickets that not only missed The Who concert on the cold winter Monday night of December 3, 1979, but also the rest of their young adult lives, may they all R.I.P., they are not forgotten.
Art Pop, Art Rock, Beat Music, Blues Rock, British Rhythm & Blues, Classic Rock, Freakbeat, Garage Rock, Hard Rock, Mod, Pop Rock, Power Pop, Progressive Rock, Psychedelic Pop, Psychedelic Rock, Rock, Rock And Roll, Rock Opera, Symphonic Rock, and British.
Uploaded by Walter Winsor
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Thank you so much Walter Winsor for uploading all of your pics, although a couple of the news articles weren't fully legible, even after I magnified them..
I'm convinced that the Cincinnati city council was upest about all of the illegal drug use happening before, during and after these rocks concerts, and in turn, they demanded something be done about it (to coliseum security), or else 'heads will roll'. After all, this was basically the same city council that forced Jerry Springer to resign from the council after Jerry's personal check was found at a massage parlor in a vice raid. After resigning, Jerry publicly apologized, accepted the blame and asked for forgiveness, and in turn, was elected as Cincy's youngest mayor. But the city council (mostly Charles Keating) also went after Larry Flint, editor of Hustler magazine, trying to remove his magazine and freedom of speech. So, I'm just saying the city council was used to throwing their weight around whenever it suited them on any issues they had. Otherwise, why would coliseum security suddenly start giving everyone a pat down searching for drugs as they entered the coliseum, unless they were given an ultimatum to do something about the drug use happening at the concerts? It was never much of an issue at any of my previous concerts at Riverfront coliseum, so it makes me wonder why security started the searches (legalities be damned). Afterall, the end result of those pat down searches prevented security from opening more doors because they didn't have the staff available due to the new search procedure being implemented. From a security standpoint, it made sense to have everyone enter through the main entrance because they could control the crowd more effectively which would faclitate the search., but sadly, it also created a bottleneck of humanity (18K+ half frozen fans) trying to get inside the coliseum, most of whom only had a general admission ticket for the concert (not a reserved seat). So yeah, you can blame 'festival seating", and rock music, and drugs, all you want, but SPOILER ALERT: it takes longer than 1 hour and 5 minute to validate the ticket, give back the stub AND give the fan a "patdown" for 18K+ people, and regardless of the type of event they're attending. That's my 2 cents on the subject, after thinking about what really caused the tragedy. Obviously security, but it easily could be a little more complex for the real reasons. Food for thought, anyway.
@Walter Winsor -- I have searched the UC archives and that edition of the NewsRecord is the only one NOT in there. A little strange, no?
@Paul Caplan- can you share your write-up or any photos you have of the concert?
I was covering the concert as the Music editor for the UC NewsRecord.
My cousin Karen dropped off/picked up Aliki and myself. It was very rough getting through the doors but we didn’t know that people were literally dying within feet/yards from us until we were in the car going home.
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