The Who Concert

Safety precautions elaborate

By Bill Hensel Jr. and John Gravois

Post Reporters

Precautions are being taken here to ensure a violence-free concert Friday featuring The Who, as the band is to perform on the third anniversary of one of the most tragic occurrences in rock 'n' roll history, officials said Thursday.

The concert is to be held just three days after the city fire marshal's office here attempted to halt a concert at the University of Houston for fire code violations brought on by the crowding of aisles at Cullen Auditorium.

Three years ago, on the evening of Dec. 3, 1979, an out-of-control crowd awaiting entrance to a Who concert in Cincinnati surged into the concert hall, trampling and suffocating some fans who stumbled and fell. Eleven people died. Scores of others were injured.

The immediate blame for what some people termed a stampede was shifted from group to group. The fact the Cincinnati concert featured "festival" seating

(open, general admission seating where fans begin lining up hours before the event to get the best seats) shouldered the brunt of the criticism.

Cincinnati city officials said that in addition to festival seating, a delay by concert promoters in opening the doors of the concert arena to fans awaiting festival seating was also a factor in the deaths and injuries to the fans.

There were no serious incidents reported at The Who's Houston appearance on that same tour — a July 1980 concert at The Summit.

The Houston Who concert Friday in the Astrodome is to feature some festival seating, with thousands of people expected to be standing on the floor in front of the stage. The capacity of the Astrodome for the concert is 60,000 people; about 10,000 on the floor and about 50,000 in the stands, Houston Sports Association officials said.

Promoters, however, don't expect a sellout crowd. The concert is being hosted by Pace Concerts and FM

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