Re: The GA rush

[Jonathan Bayer <jonathanbayer@xxxxxxx>]

My apologies if this came through twice -- i  wasnt sure if my first email made 
it.

I had tickets for that Who show (it was the coliseum, not the stadium), but 
ended up going to see them in Cleveland a few days later.  A few of my friends 
who attended the Riverfront show saw the crush and just walked around to the 
other side and got right in. The reports in the link below are correct (from 
what my friends told me)-- the soundcheck sent people into a panic. And there 
were not many doors open. Sneaking into GA shows was always an issue; I have a 
few unripped ticket stubs from GA shows because so many people rushed the door, 
they couldnt check all tickets. And once you were in, you didnt need a ticket.  
Riverfront in particular was always a mess. I believe there were some issues at 
the LZ shows in '77 (unfortunately, i have no first-hand knowledge of those 
shows!)  I saw Bad Company there in '79, before the Who show, and it was so 
packed that people were sitting in the aisles and on one of the scoreboards. 
The promoters were accused of overselling shows, which was probably true. 

I also attended a World Series of Rock show at Cleveland Stadium in '79 
(Aerosmith, Nugent, Journey, Thin Lizzy, AC/DC and the Scorpions, who are not 
listed on the poster below, but were an unannounced warm-up band) where there 
was a lot of violence, including fatalities.  As was typical for large GA 
shows, thousands of people showed up the night before to get the best seats and 
rush the stage. There was large mass of people and many were under the 
influence and sleep -deprived, so that probably didnt help.

I usually rushed towards the loge seats near the stage, since im not the 
tallest and i was younger than most concert goers, It usually worked out pretty 
well, since most of the crowd rushed the stage, leaving me to an actual seat 
with a good view of the stage!  I still like those seats. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Series_of_Rock

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMMS_1979_World_Series_of_Rock.jpg

On Jan 27, 2011, at 10:25 AM, Jeff Lester wrote:

>> From: Kurt Finchum <finchumk@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
> 
>>   I remember there's a
>> scene in The Wall in 
>> which they throw the doors open and everyone rushes in like
>> a stampede.  Was 
>> that the way it used to be in the magical 70s?  I can't
>> say I'm sorry I missed 
>> that.
> 
> Surely you've heard about The Who at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati in 
> 1979. :-(
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979_The_Who_concert_disaster
> 
> -Jeff
> 
> 
> 
>