BY MIKEY MIGO
It's not a common occurrence, but once ever so often tragedy has struck a concert. Sometimes it's due to a promoter, venue, or band sloppily handling and checking into all aspects of their show. In the past, especially during the rock boom of the 60's and 70's, things have gone horrible wrong. Today, we're going to take a look at some of the more notable concert tragedies.
Hopefully, everyone learns from the past…
Four Dead at the Altamont Free Concert
On December 6th, 1969 the Altamont Festival was held in Northern California. It was a free concert with over 300,000 people attending what people wanted to consider "Woodstock West". The line up looked great with Santana, Jefferson Airplane, and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young only being part of this all-star line up. The headliner would be The Rolling Stones. It just sounds like a great idea.
What When Wrong: Security. Simple as that. The promoters of the show completely screwed up by hiring The Hells Angels to take part in the show as the security. Paid in beer, the Hells Angels showed up to "bounce" the show with sawed off pool cues. As the night went on, the Hells Angels got more aggressive. They even knocked a member of Jefferson Airplane out. This lead to the Grateful Dead leaving the show and refusing to play. This left a gap for a few hours before the Stones would perform. Meanwhile, things got bad. Many people were injured and four people died. The most notable death was that of Meredith Hunter. The Angels claimed he drew a gun on them, but before any shots were taken he was stabbed and then literally kicked to death. Many would agree that this was officially the end of the 60's Hippie movement.
The Who: Eleven Dead in Cincinnati
In 1979, The Who returned to the forefront with some big concerts. On December 3rd, 1979 eleven fans were killed at the Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati, Ohio. The show was set up as "festival seating" meaning the entire show was first come-first serve to get as close to the stage as possible. The crowd started lining up in the cold waiting to get in. The crowd got impatient as time went on. The band got off to a late start and had a late sound check before the doors opened. The crowd outside heard this and took it as if the show had started and they were missing the set. This resulted in the crowd pushing, shoving, and trampling others to get into the assumed on-going show. In result eleven people died and dozens were injured on various levels.
What When Wrong: Lack of communication, lack of security, and festival seating are probably the most common points of reason. One aspect to look at is that the venue only used a few doors that night to avoid people trying to sneak in. So with a limited entrance to the show the more people were in line. Granted I wasn't even alive at this point, but I sorta have this vision in my head of a very bad game of Chinese Telephone. Slowly the word goes to the back that they're playing inside turns to chaos. I could be wrong, but that seems to the most logical reasoning. The Who weren't even told about the deaths until afterwards to avoid a cancellation and possibly an even worse situation. For the longest time Cincinnati outlawed festival seating. This was changed as performers and bands insisted on having general admission close to the stage. Basically, the pit. This is a tragedies that changed the face of concert going forever.
Woodstock 99: Woodstock Sells Out
In late July of 1999, the original promoters attempted to capture lightning in a bottle twice with this 30th Anniversary show. The line up would basically be your run of the mill stars of the late 90s. We saw the likes of Korn, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kid Rock, Metallica, Ice Cube, Bush, Rage Against The Machine and even Limp Bizkit took the stage during the festival. MTV, and all the major music media were there to cover the show and it would be featured on Pay Per View that weekend. A generation who heard nothing but good things about their parents Woodstock, would have their time to make their own memories.
What When Wrong: Corporate Greed + Cock Rock = Ignorance and Violence. No outside food was allowed inside, which forced people to have to pay insane prices for food, water, and merch. When I say "insane prices", I'm talking FOUR BUCKS for a small bag of ice. When the temperature got into the 100's many vendors wanted to sell food and drinks at a lower cost, but the promoters REFUSED. Then the ever so retarded Fred Durst peforms "Break Stuff" and that's what the cock rock fans did. They literally destroyed the location, vender structures, and the legacy of Woodstock. The fires wouldn't start until the Red Hot Chili Peppers took the stage. Huge fires would burn high as the band covered Jimi Hendrix's "Fire". When it was all said and done seven people were arrested, four women were raped, and six people were injured. What started as a festival promoting peace and love basically turned into Yuppiefest with the main focus seeming to be about corporate greed and anger.
Great White: Fire In the Nightclub
On February 20th 2003 100 people were killed at a Great White concert in Rhode Island. "The Station Nightclub" was a normal location for hair metal and older acts to visit and play, so it was no surprise that Great White would have a show there. The venue prepared pyrotechnics for the small club performance and things went horrible wrong. The sparks generated from the pyro went up the wall behind the band and up to the ceiling. This fire spread rapidly and people stampeded to leave the venue. Many went for the main entrance as opposed to the other three entrances. This lead to the entrance being blocked by a mass of people and 100 people dieing and more than half the crowd being injured. Among those who passed on was Great White's guitarist Ty Longley and radio DJ Mike Gonsalves.
What When Wrong: The venue sucked and the owners were very dumb in having pyro in a small night club. On top of that, they didn't even have a sprinkler system in place. It's been said by investigators that sprinklers would of dulled the fire down long enough for most, if not all the patrons to escape safely. Realistically, when I attend a show in a nightclub I don't expect to see pyro and I'm sure I'm part of the majority on this. Why they thought it would be a good idea to use it in a settling like this is a question I'm sure many people are still wondering today.
The Death of "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott
"Dimebag" Darrell Abbott obviously made his claim to fame with Pantera. We all grew to respect and in turn love the guy for his awesome guitar work and overall being an awesome guy. When Pantera called it quits, Dimebag got together with a new band, Damageplan. The band began to receive their proper due and began touring. At a tour stop in Columbus, Ohio on December 8th, 2004 things would never be the same. Darrell Abbott was shot by concert-goer Nathan Gale at point blank range five times. Along with this devastating blow to metal and humanity itself, three other people were shot and killed in the shooting. Fan Nathan Bray, club employee Erin Halk, and the band's security guard Jeff Thompson were all taken from us that night.
What When Wrong:Security! Security! Security! How the venue let a guy slip on in WITH A GUN WITH OVER FORTY ROUNDS is fucking ridiculous. There's no mishap here or accident. The whole situation is based on complete negligence and is really sickening. It's one thing for a kid to get into a show with some weed or even a chain on his wallet, but a gun? Are you fucking serious? Apparently, Gale (the shooter) had mental problems thinking the band could read his mind and were mocking him. So it's obvious that the kid wasn't "all there" to begin with. But the main issue with this tragedy was the lack of making sure the performers and fans were safe. This venue obviously failed to do so and should be a parking lot right now.
These things still happen today at concerts, but luckily things have tightened up a lot since this handful of tragedies happened. We can all complain about it at times, but security has grown leaps and bounds at most venues across the country. It's still interesting to look back at what people went through to attend a concert of their favorite artists.
Next time you're out at a concert be thankful for the experience and keep an eye out for your fellow concert-goers. If someone is passed out with no one to aid them, let someone know. If someone falls down, lend a hand and help them up. For the most part, if someone is at the same show as you they have at least one thing in common with you outside of wanting to have a good time.
Basically, don't be a dick and please take part in the human race.
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