Last Updated: Tuesday, August 17, 2010 Part One: Cincinnati Gets Ready For The 30th Anniversary Of The Who Concert Tragedy Updated: Monday, November 30, 2009 While the disaster was a crowd craze, rather than a stampede, the headlines remain no less riveting. Photo: The Cincinnati Enquirer c 1979 It was three decades ago on December 3, that 11 concertgoers were crushed to death outside of Cincinnati Riverfront Coliseum (now U.S. Bank Arena) in Cincinnati, Ohio. On that chilly, brutal Monday night an estimated ten thousand concertgoers were trapped in an unmanaged crowd in front of the venue's main entrance. The rest of the story is well known by most people around the world and in the concert industry. In fact, every year stories are written about the tragedy. The Who concert is always meantioned when ingress chaos occurs, such as the 2008 Walmart Black Friday fiasco in New York. Occassionally, TV documentaries about December 3, like VH1's acclaimed "Rock Story: Concerts Gone Bad (2000), are aired. But, while the tragedy is recognized each year, it has never been commemorated publicly since a candlelight vigil was held the day after the disaster. This week, history will be made. A public ceremony for the 30th anniversary will be held according to organizers Patti Collins and Brian Powers. A special candlelight vigil at the site of the tragedy coinciding with the December 3rd disaster time frame is planned, followed by a silent march to nearby Christ Church. At the church, various speakers will recall their December 3 experiences, friends and relatives lost or injured, and the contribution the city made to concert crowd safety in the aftermath. The anniversary ceremony will culminate with a call to place a plaque or sculpture at the site of the tragedy. Crowd management Strategies/Crowdsafe.com believes its time to honor the young people who lost their lives or were injured at The Who concert. And, it is certainly time to recognize the monumental contribution Cincinnait made to concert crowd safety and toward the recognition of crowd management as a necessary requirement when public assembly events are planned. Note: This is the first part of a four part series on the 30th anniversary of The Who concert tragedy. [ home ][ crowdcafe ][ new ][ crowdshop ][ contact ] Crowd Management Strategies © 1997 - 2006. All rights reserved. Crowdsafe is a registered trademark of Crowd Management Strategies © 2006.