The first entertainment event (opening night) to be staged at the facility was a rock concert by
The Allman Brothers Band and special guest
Muddy Waters on the
Win, Lose Or Draw Tour on September 9, 1975, attended by 16,721 persons. The following year, on October 2, 1976, the
Grateful Dead played a two-set show which was officially recorded and released as
Dave's Picks Volume 53.
Elvis Presley played two shows (2:30 pm and 8:30 pm) at the Riverfront Coliseum on March 21, 1976. On June 25, 1977, he gave his second-to-last concert here, with 17,140 persons attending. In 1979, The
Bee Gees played two sold-out shows during their
Spirits Having Flown Tour. In 1981, Bruce Springsteen concluded
The River Tour on September 13 and 14. The
Grateful Dead came back on April 8, 1989, for their second and last show at the venue. Video of this performance is available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com//watch?v=H4bd2Dv-xkA. On March 28, 2010, singer-songwriter
Taylor Swift performed a sold-out show at the venue during her
Fearless Tour. Musical duo
Twenty One Pilots performed as part of their
Bandito Fall Tour on October 22, 2019, then again for
The Icy Tour on August 21, 2022. On October 24, 2019, Canadian singer
Celine Dion performed a show during her
Courage World Tour. She had performed at the venue previously when the facility was named "The Crown", as part of her ''
Let's Talk About Love Tour'', on September 19, 1998. On August 24, 2022,
My Chemical Romance performed a sold-out show at the venue as part of their
Reunion Tour. Multiple other artists and groups have performed at the venue, including
Paul McCartney,
The Eagles,
Elton John,
gospel music artist
Ron Kenoly, and several performances of
Handel's Messiah.
1979 The Who concert deaths On December 3, 1979, 11 teenagers and young adults were killed by
compressive asphyxia, and 26 others were injured, during a
crowd crush caused by a rush for the best seats before the start of a sold-out concert by English
rock band The Who. On that evening, a total of 18,348 ticketed fans were attending, which included 14,770 in general admission seats. The concert was using
festival seating, where seats were made available on a first-come, first-served basis. When the fans waiting outside the Coliseum could hear the band conducting a late sound-check, they incorrectly presumed that the concert was beginning without them and tried to break through the still-locked venue doors. Some people (at the very front of the crowd) were either trampled underfoot or squeezed to the point of suffocation while standing, as the crowds pushing from behind were unaware that the doors were still closed. Only a few doors were in operation that night, and there were reports that management did not open more doors due to union restrictions and the concern of people gate-crashing the ticket turnstiles. As a result, the remaining concerts scheduled for 1979, namely
Blue Öyster Cult on December 14 and
Aerosmith on December 21, were canceled, and concert venues across North America switched to reserved seating or changed their rules about festival seating. Cincinnati immediately outlawed festival seating at concerts. After establishment of a crowd control task force by Cincinnati mayor
Ken Blackwell, the first concert held at the facility after the tragedy was
ZZ Top with
the Rockets on March 21, 1980, on ZZ Top's
Expect No Quarter Tour. On August 4, 2004, the Cincinnati City Council unanimously overturned the ban on festival seating because it placed the city at a disadvantage for booking concerts. Many music acts prefer festival seating because it can allow the most enthusiastic fans to get near the stage and generate excitement for the rest of the crowd. The city had previously made a one-time exception to the ban, allowing festival seating for a
Bruce Springsteen concert on November 12, 2002. Cincinnati was, for a time, the only city in the United States to outlaw festival seating altogether. ==Other events==