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The Who Concert: 30 Years Later

Bryan J. Wagner,
age 17 Ft. Thomas
David J. Heck,
age 19 Highland Heights
Connie Sue Burns,
age 21 (mother of two) Miamisburg, OH
Jacqueline L. Eckerle,
age 15 Finneytown
James Theodore Warmoth, age 21 Franklin Township
Karen L. Morrison,
age 15 Finneytown
Peter Douglas Bowes,
age 18 Wyoming
Phillip K. Snyder,
age 20 Franklin Township
Stephen McGhee Preston, age 19 Finneytown
Teva Rae Ladd,
age 24 (mother of two) Newtown
Walter H. Adams, Jr.,
age 22 Trotwood, Ohio
The Who Concert: 30 Years Later
complete program audio
Listen here for the complete Cal Levy interview from our Around Cincinnati archive.
Listen here for the complete interview with WVXU's Kevin Reynolds who attended the concert.

Sunday, November 29 at 8:00 PM

December 3, 1979 became an infamous night in Cincinnati history as the deaths of eleven concertgoers forever changed crowd control and emergency preparedness. The Who concert has never been forgotten, and there has never been such a complete look at that tragedy and its aftermath as The Who Concert: 30 Years Later. This one hour special, produced by Lee Hay and hosted by Brian O’Donnell, will air on Sunday, November 29 at 8:00 p.m., immediately following “Around Cincinnati.”

Leading in to the 8:00 p.m. special will be an extended interview on Around Cincinnati as Brian O’Donnell talks with Cal Levy, the on-site promoter at Riverfront Coliseum that night for Electric Factory Concerts. This is the first interview he has given since the night of the tragedy. There will be excerpts of this interview included during Cincinnati Edition Sunday morning, between 7:00 – 8:00 a.m. and during The Who Concert: 30 Years Later special.

The guests appearing in The Who Concert: 30 Years Later represent concert-goers, police, lawyers, first-responders, reporters and others directly impacted by the event.

Included in the program are:

  • Cliff Radel will talk about the concert from his viewpoint as a writer and pop music critic. He describes the crowd and how he covered the concert for the Cincinnati Enquirer.
  • Karol Brown and Jay Patterson talk about being pushed by the crowd towards the doors and how terrifying the experience was.
  • Jay Aronoff discusses being at the concert and his friend, Peter Bowes, who passed away that night.
  • Michael Ladd talks about being at the concert with his wife, Teva Ladd, (who was one of the victims) and getting separated from her.
  • Gary Miller talks about the response by the Red Cross that evening and how the event changed disaster responses for future events.
  • Craig Kopp remembers his role that night covering the tragedy for WEBN and his contacts with news organizations around the world.
  • Johnny Schott reviews some of the safety techniques now in place since the concert.
  • Cal Levy opens up about his memories of an evening which impacted him for years after the concert.
  • Dennis Miller (lawyer for The Who) discusses The Who's visit to Cincinnati in 1980 to give depositions in the lawsuits which had been filed.
  • Dale Menkhaus reviews the police response to the tragedy that evening.
  • Paul Wertheimer talks about the Task Force report to the City of Cincinnati which he worked on, the positive impact of this report on other crowd management issues around the world even today, and the need for a memorial marker for the victims at US Bank Arena.

The special will also incorporate songs played by The Who during that night’s concert. The audio from that evening is only available as a bootleg called "Stampede." So, the music for the special will come from various The Who cd releases.

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The Who Concert: 30 Years Later Images

A used ticket from the December 3rd concert
Photo courtesy of Ted Weis

The Who Concert: 30 Years Later Links

Are the Kids All Right?Are the Kids All Right?: The Rock Generation and its Hidden Death Wish
by John G. Fuller

Cincinnati Enquirer Blog
cincinnati.com/blogs/whoconcert/

Crowd Management Strategies Task Force Report
www.crowdsafe.com

Crowd Management Strategies: A Trust Betrayed
www.crowdsafe.com


Time Magazine, Monday, Dec. 17, 1979:
www.time.com

TV Guide: WKRP in Cincinnati Who concert episode
www.tvguide.com

Cincinnati Enquirer, Tuesday, December 4, 1979
Part 1
Part 2

Larry Nager’s award-winning Cincinnati Enquirer 20th Anniversary article:

The XPN "All About the Music" Blog
wxpn.blogspot.com

"In the News"
www.youtube.com

The Who, Buffalo, NY: Tuesday, December 4, 1979
www.youtube.com


The Who Concert Setlist for December 3, 1979

Substitute
I Can't Explain
Baba O'Riley
The Punk and the Godfather
My Wife
Sister Disco
Behind Blue Eyes
Music Must Change
Drowned
Who Are You
5:15
Pinball Wizard
See Me, Feel Me
Long Live Rock
My Generation
I Can See for Miles
Sparks
Won't Get Fooled Again
Encore:
Summertime Blues
The Real Me

The Who Concert: 30 Years Later Soundtrack

The Who: Subsitute
Live at Leeds

The Who: The Real Me
Quadrophenia

The Who: Quadrophenia
Quadrophenia

The Who: My Generation
The Kids Are Alright

NKU Students Respond to the Tragedy

Three students of Samual Lapin, Professor of Communications / Rock & Roll History at Northern Kentucky University have written essays in response to The Who Concert: 30 Years Later. You can read them here:

Ashley Brown: The Who Tragedy
Brittany Babcock
Jill Sergent: The Who Reflection

Ohio Associated PressThe Ohio Associated Press Broadcasters Awards

The Who Concert: 30 Years Later (Lee Hay, Brian O’Donnell) recently won The Ohio Associated Press Broadcasters Awards First Place award for Best Documentary in a Large Market.

Finneytown Friends Honor Who Concert Victims

From Cincinnati.com, August 14, 2010
More than 30 years later, Finneytown High alums John Hutchins and Steve Bentz still remember the Who concert tragedy that killed 11 people, including three of their classmates. Now Hutchins and Bentz want something hopeful to come from such sad memories.

Survivors to Mark Anniversary of The Who Concert Tragedy

November 18, 2010
Two memorial events will be held for the victims of the 1979 tragedy on the evening of Friday, December 3, 2010.

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