ABC/Richard CartwrightThe Who‘s Roger Daltrey appears in a short documentary about a dark moment in the history of the band.
Before a December 1979 Who show at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Coliseum, 11 young people were killed when a crowd of fans tried to push their way through the venue’s entry doors.
The video, which is posted on The Who’s official YouTube channel, features footage of Daltrey paying a visit last July to a high school in the Cincinnati suburb of Finneytown, Ohio, which was attended by three victims of the tragedy: Stephan Preston, 19, and Jackie Eckerle and Karen Morrison, both 15.
Roger is shown meeting students, teachers and alumni and checking out the school’s memorials to Preston, Eckerle and Morrison. The singer also is seen signing a guitar and copies of his 2018 new solo album, As Long as I Have You.
Daltrey also is shown talking with a man who was at the 1979 Who show in Cincinnati. Roger talks about the guilt he carries with him regarding the incident, and also praises the band’s longtime manager Bill Curbishley for convincing the police and fire department to allow the show to go on after the tragedy. Roger believes more injuries would have occurred if the band had canceled.
The man chatting with Daltrey tells the singer that his visit to the high school was “healing” and “cathartic” for the local community. Roger responds by saying he hopes to come back to the school with band mate Pete Townshend.
In 2010, the P.E.M. Memorial Scholarship Fund was founded in memory of the three students who were killed. It provides scholarships annually to three graduating Finneytown seniors who plan to study the arts in college.
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