10 The Who fans redeem tickets from canceled 1979 show (VIDEO)
Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend of The Who perform at halftime of Super Bowl XLIV between the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints on February 7, 2010 at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
Ed McConnell was “pretty angry” when former Providence Mayor Vincent Cianci Jr. canceled The Who concert in 1979 due to safety concerns.
Eleven fans had died at the British rock band’s Cincinnati show earlier in the tour.
Now, 33 years later, McConnell wants to thank him.
McConnell is one of 10 hardcore Who fans who redeemed their tickets for the canceled show – and this time he got much better seats.
“I knew exactly where they (the tickets) were,” McConnell said, the Providence Journal reported today.
“One of them was sitting in a cigar box in a closet and the other one was stuck on a cork board in my parents house in my brother’s old bedroom.”
The Dunkin’ Donuts Center, which was to be the venue for the 1979 show, agreed to honor the tickets, the Associated Press reported. Fourteen tickets were traded in today and they will be auctioned off to help the Special Olympics.
Clutching his new ticket, which has a face value 11 times greater than the 1979 ticket that cost $11, McConnell said he has “much better” seats than the ones allocated to him in the “upper arena” more than three decades ago.
“They are much better. These are lower arena,” a smiling McConnell said.
The Who will play at the Dunkin' Donuts Center on February 26.