40th Anniversary of Who tragedy documentary on Cincinnati tv tonight.

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Ty D. Tatman, Dec 3, 2019.

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  1. Ty D. Tatman

    Ty D. Tatman Forum Resident Thread Starter

  2. blastfurniss

    blastfurniss Forum Resident

    Location:
    Marion, OH, USA
    Thanks Ty. I was 9 but I remember waking up the next morning and hearing about this. If any good came of this tragedy it's that the mad stampedes for general admission events were eliminated. The WKRP episode on the tragedy was a really powerful statement at the time.

     
  3. GoodKitty

    GoodKitty FloydM

    Location:
    Pacific
    I hope this doc can be seen on youtube eventually ....
     
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  4. Ty D. Tatman

    Ty D. Tatman Forum Resident Thread Starter

    The irony is GA concerts always worked up fine right up 75 at Hara Arena. There were two tiers of tickets, you were either in the seats - and you could pick any seat in the stands you wanted or you were on the "GA FLOOR" and could stand wherever you wanted. They also had the common sense and decency to open more than a couple of doors and use turnstiles. Riverfront and the promoters were selling the entire floor and 90% of the seats at GA for 18,000 and then only opening a couple of doors and trying to make the kids go through a turnstile that was understaffed on a 36 degree night along the Ohio River. They were lucky it didn't happen before and if it hadn't have happened to The Who it would've been the next band that played there.
     
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  6. BwanaBob

    BwanaBob Forum Resident

    Location:
    Maryland, USA
    Yikes, I remember when this happened thinking by the grace of God this could have very easily happened at ELP playing Cornell University Barton Hall in Jan 1978.
    It was also General Admission, no two tiers like someone else mentioned. They had everyone line up at an entrance that I remember being towards the right side of the front of the facility.
    It was chilly and people were antsy. When it came time to let us in, the door was opened but they also opened another door further to the the left. Panic ensued as people to the rear of the original line surged to the newly opened door. I was lifted off my feet and then stumbled, and got a few knees in my back. If I had fallen completely to the ground I would have been trampled to death. I wasn't the only one this happened to. Scary ****. I shudder when I hear reminders of the Cincinnati tragedy.
     
  7. Me too. What surely will be a difficult topic, seems also like an important one to consider more deeply, and discuss the ramifications of / planning for how to prevent / etc.
     
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  8. Cool hand luke

    Cool hand luke There you go man, keep as cool as you can

    Location:
    Massachusetts
    That was a very moving episode. I remember seeing that. I was 12 years old. They handled that very well, I thought. I don't see a TV sitcom today having the balls to deal with such a subject.
     
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  9. Ty D. Tatman

    Ty D. Tatman Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Particularly in 1980. The CBS affiliate in Cincinnati, WKRC, wasn't even going to air it initially but after previewing it they realized it wasn't exploitative at all and went with it. I actually lived just outside of Cincinnati when all this was happening. There still is an eerie feeling going into that venue. The historical marker only made it worse. I hope one day they just raze that venue and build another new, nice and SAFE arena nearby.
     
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  10. GoodKitty

    GoodKitty FloydM

    Location:
    Pacific
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  11. G L Tirebiter

    G L Tirebiter Forum Resident

    Location:
    east of Pittsburgh
    I was at the Pittsburgh show at the Civic Arena two days earlier. Our seats were way up high but, after getting frisked upon entering and having my pipe confiscated (and it was a nice deer antler pipe... hey, I thought I was being a hippie) we had to bogart a few joints. That was a crazy time....
     
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  12. neo123

    neo123 Senior Member

    Location:
    Northern Kentucky
    I remember when it happened. I was in 8th grade and only 12 (almost 13.) It was all anyone talked about for at least a year straight.

    I may or may not watch it tonight. WCPO News has been advertising this doc for the past few weeks via commercials and announcements during their news programming.
     
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  13. pscreed

    pscreed Upstanding Member

    Location:
    Land of the Free
    Attended many many concerts at Hara Arena, went to high school in the Dayton area. You’re right I don’t remember any issues at that venue in those days.

    But I was also was at the 12/3 concert in Cincy Colosseum - that was a different venue, different city and a different story...

    A premonition? We bought our tickets at a Sears store for The Who disaster. They used to be a ticket master outlet if you can believe that. Folks were lined up around the block on the day of sale. It was a riot when they opened the doors and a couple of guys went through a plate glass wall floor to ceiling window inside the store stampeding to the ticket window. Just to buy tix. Crazy.

    Little did we know what was going to happen on the night.
     
    Last edited: Dec 3, 2019
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  14. Ty D. Tatman

    Ty D. Tatman Forum Resident Thread Starter

    I get that comparing a 5k minor league rink to a monolithic 18,000 seater is a bit of apples to oranges but I guess my point was that GA seating isn’t the culprit if it’s done properly. The **** they were pulling at Riverfront from 75-79 was heinous.
     
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  15. pscreed

    pscreed Upstanding Member

    Location:
    Land of the Free
    agree 100%... you are absolutely correct.

    and boy do I miss those nights at Hara... magical.

    had a friend that worked at NCR in Dayton... we printed our own tickets :)

    hell it was a long time ago. hopefully the statute of limitations has run out...
     
    Last edited: Dec 3, 2019
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  16. Nomadicarchivist

    Nomadicarchivist Forum Resident

    Location:
    Washington D.C.
    Much like the Great White fire and the Pearl Jam incident it is VERY difficult to keep disasters such as these from occurring from time to time
    .
     
  17. Ty D. Tatman

    Ty D. Tatman Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Check out Are the Kids Alright by John Fuller if you can track it down.
     
  18. GoodKitty

    GoodKitty FloydM

    Location:
    Pacific
  19. omikron

    omikron Avid contributor to Paul McCartney's bank account

    Location:
    Lexington, KY
    You can download the WCPO app on Amazon Fire and watch it live right now.

    Proof of concept. Watching it right now.
     
  20. Nomadicarchivist

    Nomadicarchivist Forum Resident

    Location:
    Washington D.C.
    No need to download app. I opened the net browser on my Xbox One, went straight to www.wcpo.com and clicked on the title.
     
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  21. pscreed

    pscreed Upstanding Member

    Location:
    Land of the Free
    Geezers (like me) will remember the crowd chanting “open the f ing door” at those general admission shows back in the day... and the crush of fans trying to get to the door once it opened.

    it was only a matter of time until something really terrible happened.

    two of those victims were 15 year old girls from the same small town high school.

    tragic.
     
  22. Bob M.

    Bob M. Forum Resident

    Location:
    Buffalo, NY
    I attended the show the following night in Buffalo, NY. It was the strangest atmosphere I've ever experienced at any show. Roger Daltry dedicated the show the "friends' we lost last night.
     
  23. slipkid

    slipkid Senior Member

    I remember it well at the time. Had tix to see them just a week later at 2 shows in Philly. The tragedy was a huge deal on the news. My mom didn't want me to go, afraid things like this happen all the time at out of control rock concerts etc etc, blaming hordes of drugged out kids or blaming the band for inciting things. But it was a perfect storm that caused this, the way the venue didn't open enough doors, the eagerness of the crowd to get in for the best spots in festival seating etc. Such a horrible thing, totally avoidable as well.

    I can only imagine what it felt like for those poor kids but have experienced similar crowd problems myself. At an Iron Maiden show I was at about 15 years ago or so, I was in the "PIT" and it was standing only, no seats. I don't know how many people were in there but if for example there was enough room for 500 then there had to be like 2000 squeezed in there. A recipe for disaster like Cincinnati. You literally could not move your arms at times but for the most part it was fine, just uncomfortable. But late in the show when the band came to the front of the stage and tossed souvenirs into the crowd like drumsticks & guitar picks, the pit turned into one living organism of humanity that surged forward and to the sides, you had no control of where your body was going, and my feet were not even on the ground, was even hard to breathe. It was insane. I thought of those poor kids back in '79 in Cincinnati and wondered if I was going to end up like one of them. A girl to my right was getting crushed and was screaming. As we flew about in a wave I saw some people on the ground covering their heads. Thankfully it only lasted about 1 or 2 (excruciating) minutes. And when it was over I found that I had been moved from the back of the pit all the way to one foot from the stage. I remember security coming in there and carrying some injured people out, some being passed over the barriers in front of the stage to other security guys. Also after that the pit was much less crowded and much more comfortable. Either a lot more injured people had been carried out than I thought or people with some sense got the hell out of there. I've been in some other tight spots in concerts but that was the worst/scariest.
     
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  24. Nomadicarchivist

    Nomadicarchivist Forum Resident

    Location:
    Washington D.C.
    Have only teared up 6 times so far. Damn this is hard to watch
     
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  25. Mooserfan

    Mooserfan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eastern PA
    Very moving program. I only wish more was discussed about exactly why those doors weren’t opened, all of them and earlier. Lots of “the band wasn’t responsible”, ok, but what else can you tell us? More journalism needed in this documentary. That said, I think it was tremendously sensitive to the families and others affected, and ended with a note of hope. Bill Curbishley appears to be a man of integrity, as well.
     
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