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97 radio, and a Pace spokeswoman said Thursday that although tickets were selling fairly well, they were not selling as well as expected. She said it appears "the recession has finally hit Texas" from the standpoint of the rock concert industry.

The Astrodome's operators said they met well in advance of the concert to discuss crowd control. Mike Crowley, vice president of administration for the HSA, said promoters and HSA officials had meetings "for some time" concerning security and operations.

"Obviously, we are taking all the necessary steps to ensure the patrons' safety and that of the building," Crowley said Wednesday. "We are certainly not going to let any buildup outside the building take place."

During a Houston concert Tuesday — by the group Devo on the UH campus — the city fire marshal's representatives said people were blocking aisles in violation of fire codes. A member of the band and five others associated with the event were arrested.

The fire marshal's office, when contacted by HSA officials, initially said there should be no festival seating in the Astrodome for The Who concert. The fire marshal's office was overruled, however, by H.G. Cude, a deputy building official with the city's building inspection department.

Cude, in a Nov. 10 memo to Fire Chief V.E. Rogers and Fire Marshal Eddie Corral, said a review by his office was that the original intent of the Astrodome was that it accommodate all types of events.

Cude wrote that the request by the HSA to use the dome for musical events "is inclusive of festival seating" as long as there is seven square feet of floor space per person.

Cude said the city building code does not address large stadiums with a cover but does address large stadiums with no cover. He noted that the Astrodome was the first facility of its kind in the country, and there were no specifications or requirements in the building code for such a facility.

Cude also said the occupant level on the field at the Astrodome, based on ground-level exits, is 10,200 people.

The majority of the people at The Who's 1979 Cincinnati concert, many of whom were panicked but apparently unaware of the frightening consequences of the rush, eventually found their way into the coliseum to see the show go on.

And go on it did, with members of the band performing without knowledge of the death and destruction that had preceded their entrance onstage. They were given the numbing death toll immediately following their performance.

Shortly thereafter, in an interview with a Cincinnati Post reporter, band member Roger Daltry was quoted as saying The Who would stay away from playing concerts where festival seating is featured unless it is an outdoor concert or in a stadium.

One Houstonian said he doesn't care how well crowd control at the concert will be handled — he is going to stay away after being caught in the crush in the Cincinnati event in 1979.

Randy Wallace, now a reporter for KPRC radio in Houston, said no amount of security precautions could lure him into the Astrodome Friday night to see The Who again.

"That night three years ago was a living nightmare," he said. "Seeing them again under any circumstances would have brought it all back."

Wallace said he and a group of friends were among several thousand people crowded around one of the banks of doors to the Cincinnati arena waiting to get into the concert.

"It seemed like we had been out there forever when they finally opened a couple doors one at a time," he said. "As soon as the crowd noticed one of the open doors, everyone pushed for it. There was a time when you didn't have to walk; the crowd just moved you along."

It was during that rush that Wallace was knocked to the ground. "I was on my knees and couldn't get up. The crowd just kept moving, and I started worrying that I might not get up at all.

"Then out of the clear, blue sky, an arm reached down from behind me, grabbed me by the arm and pulled me up. I wanted to turn around and thank whoever it was, but I couldn't. People were packed too tight, and I didn't want to risk getting knocked down again."

Officials here will be prepared to open the doors to the Astrodome sooner than scheduled — if necessary — to alleviate crowding or pushing outside the facility. General admission for the floor is scheduled at 3 p.m. and reserved seating admission at 4 p.m.

Crowley said there will be more than 100 armed and uniformed Houston policemen and Harris County deputy constables working security during the concert. They will be serve primarily as backup to an unarmed security force of 400 "peer group security personnel," Crowley said. There will also be more than 150 ushers and other Astrodome personnel helping with security and crowd control, he said.

Crowley said one of the most important security measures at concerts as large as this is to keep the crowds away from the stage.

"The stage will be 8 feet above the floor Friday night — something that is not normally done — to ensure that people will have to be quite a ways back from the stage to see well."

In the event that the crowd still surges towards the stage, security personnel may use fire hoses or other devices to push it back, Crowley said.

Everyone entering the concert will be searched for drugs, alcohol "and anything that could conceivably be used as a projectile," Crowley said.

Contrary to popular belief, festival seating is the safest of all for concerts in arenas such as the Astrodome, he said. "The problems with concerts that had festival seating in the past has not been with the seating, but with the way it was handled."

"In the first place, if you put chairs on the floor, the people aren't going to sit in them anyway," Crowley said. "And if something does happen and you need to get people out in a hurry, the chairs become obstacles. All they do is get in the way of a speedy, safe evacuation."