Worst Concert Disaster of All Time

[Beware the Beast Man]

Just FYI, this is in no way meant to disparage those who were killed last night in Columbus. I'm just curious to see what you all think was the worst-ever concert disaster.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

1. Woodstock 99.

I gotta say that with the state of how the kids act today, there was no way they were going to regenerate the feelings of the first one. And they were insane to think that if they got todays kids in that kind of venue they weren't going to do what they did.
Duckie

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

were you there?

I was. They way they treated us, they were BEGGING for it to happen. $5 bottles of water in 90+ degree heat for 3 days. Staff members spreading blatant lies about things like the Rolling Stones making a surprise performance. Inadequate facilities. You fry people for three days in those conditions, eventually, people are going to pop.

It's an easy cop-out to just blame the kids and the new "reckless generation" for things while ignoring the exploitation of them by the "adults".

[YellowRubberDuckie]

13. Actually some of my friends went...

And it's my generation that did most of the damage.
Duckie

[Beware the Beast Man]

14. Equal blame.

Perhaps the promoters were counting on rain, like the last two Woodstocks, because who in the hell books a 3-day festival in mid-summer on an abandoned military base?
Still, concertgoers should know by now that wherever they go, they are going to get gouged.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

18. Equal blame is fair... but I never hear that.

It's always "those damn kids". Never the idiots who planned the thing.

[motely36]

2. I remember the Cinicinnati concert

my family lived in Dayton at the time. It was all over the news.

[StopTheMorans]

3. how many people died at the Who show?

100 people died in Rhode Island; I thought way less than that died at the Who show? :shrug:

[Beware the Beast Man]

4. 11 people, many others injured.

I agree, the Great White concert was much worse, because it was so damn unnecessary, between the club's faulty fire safety and the band's decision to use pyro in a venue that small.

[CO Liberal]

6. I Think 11 Died at That Who Concert

But it led to the elimination of general admission seating.

[DinahMoeHum]

26. I remember, and even reserved seating has it's own problems.

And since then, I made it a point that when booking for seats, I would NEVER take an "orchestra" or "floor" seat. AFAIAC, that area is a deathtrap in an emergency.

I would choose a "mezzanine" seat close to an exit, AND when I got there, I would note the exit location, plus a secondary exit, just in case.

:smoke:

[bloom]

5. 165 died at the Beverly Hills Supper Club - a nightclub

in Newport, KY - May 28, 1977.

[TheMightyFavog]

7. Altamont....

With satan’s hog no pig at all, and the weather getting dry
We’ll head south from Altamont in a cold blooded travelled trance
So clear the road my bully boys and let some thunder pass
We’re pain, we’re steel, a plot of knives,
We’re transmaniacon mc

Behind the pantry, behind the tree, the ghouls adopt that child
Whose name resounds forever, whose name resounds on terror
And I’m no fool to call that hog, cause man I remember
Those who did resign their souls
To transmaniacon mc

And surely we did offer up behind that stage at dawn
Beers and barracuda, reds and monocaine
Pure nectar of antipathy behind that stage at dawn
To those who would resign their souls
To transmaniacon mc

Cry the cable, cry the word, unknown terror’s here
And won’t you try this tasty snack, behind the scenes or but the back
Which was the stage at altamont, my humble boys of listless power:
We’re pain, we’re steel, a plot of knives
We’re transmaniacon mc

[sniffa]

8. e. warwick fire

too cLose to home for me

[Beware the Beast Man]

9. I'm sorry

I just can't fathom why a club that small would insist that a pyrotechnic show would be okay. I guess some promoters care more about asses in seats than the welfare of their patrons.

[sniffa]

15. that was scary

i remember hearing about it, and making crass jokes, and not reaLLy absorbing the magnitude of it. the video footage of the tragedy stiLL gives me chiLLs - aLL those peopLe who were stuck in the doorway, reaching out and screaming for heLp; aLL dead.

[CO Liberal]

10. We Can't Forget The Coconut Grove Fire

Coconut Grove Fire in Boston

Fire claimed the lives of 492

One of the great tragedies of Boston was the November 28, 1942, Coconut Grove fire. The Piedmont Street club in the Bay Village neighborhood was filled with people, some on military leave, others celebrating the Holy Cross romping of Boston College, and still others enjoying a night out on the town.

The fire claimed the lives of 492 people and injured 166, making it the worst nightclub fire disaster in history. It could have been even worse. The club exceeded its 600-person capacity, with around 1000 people inside.

In addition to many patrons, workers, and local people, cowboy actor, Charles "Buck" Jones died in the fire. There were also many heroes. According to The Citadel library, W.C. Goodpasture, Citadel class of 1940, died a hero, saving others.

It is believed that the fire started in the Melody Lounge. A 16-year-old bar boy, Stanley Tomaszewski, lit a match to replace a light bulb that had been removed by a patron. How things happened next is unclear, but artificial palm trees and drapery quickly caught fire. It took only 15 minutes for the fire to engulf the building.

http://boston.about.com/cs/bostonnightlife/a/coconut_grove.htm

[jmowreader]

25. I think they HAVE forgotten the Cocoanut Grove

If you google the Cocoanut Grove fire, and I have on many occasions since the Station Nightclub fire happened, you'll notice that the four MAJOR reasons that fire was as bad as it was were:

* too many flammables in exposed areas

* crowd size over legal occupancy maximum

* paranoia on the part of the owners

and

* improper building design

Barney Welansky built a nightclub with a revolving door and no flanking outswing doors, he welded most of the fire exits shut so people wouldn't skip on paying their tabs, he decorated the place in rattan and they admitted about a thousand people that night. Result: 492 people died and 166 were injured that night. The building was only rated for 400! This is the second-worst fire disaster in American history.

The worst disaster was the Iroquois Theatre in Chicago--602 died after an overheated spotlight ignited the overhead during a show with a 2000-person crowd. Most of the people who died in this one either went from smoke inhalation or from being trampled. Aside from the lack of alarms and sprinklers, The Firehouse Magazine says the Iroquois was well-designed.

Now go forward to the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, Kentucky, the third worst fire disaster in American history. This one killed 165 people in May 1977. All but five of those people were part of a 1200-person crowd in the Cabaret Room, which was rated for about 500. This one was caused by copper fixtures hooked to aluminum wiring, paneling with no drywall under it, no sprinklers, and inadequate exit doors as well as a shitload of pre-Cal TB 117 flexible polyurethane foam in the seating.

And we all know about The Station--100 people roasted because of cheap soundproofing, a ceiling painted with tar, too few (and unfindable) exits, and a fuckwad for an owner. The best part (in a thoroughly morbid way): Jeff Derdarian, one of the two brothers who owned The Station, was a television news reporter who did a piece calling the cheap flexible polyurethane foam he used to soundproof his own bar "solid gasoline."

Oh, they forget the Cocoanut Grove. They always forget the Cocoanut Grove.

[eyesroll]

11. I'm going to have to go with Great White/Rhode Island

The Columbus shooting, I don't think, qualifies as a "disaster" -- some nutjob with a gun. If it didn't happen on stage, it could have happened on the sidewalk outside.

The big show disasters were more due to the mob mentality than anything else.

In Rhode Island, though, 100 people died because of negligence, really -- pyro where it didn't belong, flammable stuff everywhere and no adherence to fire codes to speak of, etc...

[americanstranger]

20. I did a benefit for the Station families a year or so ago...

That's some sad shit, I'll tell ya. Just about everybody in that town was directly affected by the fire, and they got screwed by the aid agencies that were supposed to be raising money for them. I blogged about it here, just after the benefit:

http://www.blah3.com/archives/00001146.html

I feel bad for those people up there. But they have my admiration, because they keep on going and trying to help themselves when no one else will.

-as

[Beware the Beast Man]

24. Great piece.

I had no idea that Clear Channel was too busy covering their ass to help these poor people.

[johnnie]

12. I would say the Who show

It is very close to the Great white show in terms of a horrible tragedy, but the Who show seemed to be more of a tragedy to me. It was a friggin stampede of people because the band was doing a soundcheck and everyone wanted a good seat. It was senseless. The Great White show was stupidity on the band and their management's part for not knowing how to run a safe and professional show.

[signmike]

16. I got Shanghaied to a Linda Ronstadt concert 20 years ago...

...worst personal 'musical' tragedy. Ow, my ears, my EARS! They'll never be the same. I went through Small World once at Disneyland, too, what a glutton for punishment I am. x(

[charlie]

17. Kansas City Hyatt Regency was pretty bad

It was an old fart's tea dance with an orchestra in the atrium of the hotel. People dancing and swaying on the 4th floor skyway caused it to collapse, pancaking into the 2nd floor skyway underneath, then onto the crowded bar area on the ground. 114 dead.

http://www.kcstar.com/projects/hyatt/

[Enraged_Ape]

19. The Great White Disaster, by far

There are good deaths, and there are bad deaths. Being roasted alive to see a cheesy '80s hair band definitely qualifies as a bad death.

[DrWeird]

21. Wasn't there a Smashing Pumpkins concert?

Where several people got hit by a bolt of lightning?

[Beware the Beast Man]

23. That's a mish-mash of two stories!

:hi: Yes, a few people were struck by lightning at the Tibetan Freedom Festival a few years ago. And I believe that there were a few people crushed to death at a Smashing Pumpkins concert in 99. Where did that happen?

[mr_hat]

22. Jimi's set at Woodstock was disasterous.

Playing for a field of garbage and those few too trashed to have already left.