What caused The Who concert disaster?
The late 1970s was a struggle for The Who. After enjoying immense critical and commercial success at the onset of the decade with masterpieces such as Who’s Next, as life and tastes changed, so did the band’s status. While they were still popular, as 1978’s Who Are You, and its title track confirmed – their street cred plummetted. This decline was exacerbated by the tragic death of drummer Keith Moon in September of that year. He died only two weeks after the album arrived.
The death of such a close friend and pivotal cog in the band has spelt the end of so many other groups. In some morbid form of synchronicity, the death of John Bonham, the drummer of The Who’s hard rock peers Led Zeppelin, would be the end of them two years later.
However, only the day after Moon’s death, guitarist Pete Townshend issued a statement maintaining that The Who were “more determined than ever to carry on”, wanting the spirit of the group that Moon had poured his life into to push forward while noting that no one could “take his place”.
Despite Phil Collins asking to take Moon’s place, due to having some time off Genesis and a recently failed marriage, Townshend had already asked Small Faces and Faces legend Kenney Jones to pick up the sticks. He officially joined in November 1978.
In May 1979, The Who returned to the live arena with a show at the Rainbow Theatre, which was followed by those at the Cannes Film Festival and at New York’s Madison Square Garden. With the Quadrophenia film released that summer, and a growing mod revival movement thanks to the likes of The Jam, it looked like The Who had done the unthinkable and had returned from the brink. Add the nostalgic rockumentary, The Kids Are Alright, to the mix, and all the signs were there that The Who had survived the late 1970s and punk.
Then, another tragedy struck. On December 3rd, 1979, a crowd crush at a Who show at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Coliseum, killed 11 fans. The light at the end of the tunnel quickly dimmed, and what could have been a resurgence was quashed.
So, what actually caused The Who concert disaster?
According to reports, fans were originally informed through the radio that the general admission ticket holders would be admitted at 3:00pm. This meant that at 5:00pm, a large crowd had formed, eagerly awaiting the British band. All the doors were expected to be opened at the same time, but only a single pair of doors on the far right of the main entrance was opened. This was the catalyst.
As the attendees entered the stadium through this solitary opening, those waiting in front of the other doors began pushing forward. What ensued was a heartbreaking and avoidable disaster of the kind we have seen over the years at shows and other entertainment events. After a short time waiting, knocking on the doors and the glass next to them, the crowd presumed that no other doors were opening.
Around 7:15pm, the situation began to escalate, thanks mainly to whispers spreading that The Who were on earlier than planned. Due to this misinformation, the full crowd surged and pushed towards the doors that were open. This caused an enormous crush, where many were trampled, and some suffered even more serious injuries. Tragically, 11 people could not escape the crush and died from asphyxiation. They were aged 15 to 22.
Making things worse, the band’s manager, Bill Curbishley, convinced the fire officials, who had advised him to end the show, to continue it to avoid further hysteria. The show went on as planned, and the band were not informed of the tragedy until afterwards. Instead of staying, they performed in Buffalo the following night, and since, Townshend has maintained that they wished they’d stayed in Cincinnati.
The families of the victims sued the band, concert promoter Electric Factory Concerts, and the city of Cincinnati, and the class action suit was settled in 1983. In response, the city also banned unassigned festival seating for the next 25 years. In 2022, The Who finally returned to Cincinnati, and they set about healing the wounds that had been open for over 40 years.
