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SALT LAKE CITY — The deadly concert in Houston over the weekend joined a list of other concerts over the years that ended in tragedy, including a similar incident in 1991 that killed three people in Salt Lake City.
The Salt Palace isn't the same place it was 30 years ago, but the terrible outcome at a rock concert there is similar to what happened at a concert over the weekend in Houston.
"The music gets going, people get pumped up and they start squishing towards the stage, and pretty soon, you have no way to escape and it's really, really dangerous," said Paul Murphy.
In 1991, Murphy was a reporter, covering the deaths of three teenagers at an AC/DC concert at what was then the Salt Palace.
The crowd got too excited and moved forward, trampling over several people.
"I think the tragedy there was the fact that all of the people who died were kids," said Murphy. "I think it changed the way concerts were held and promoted in Utah."
As an avid concertgoer, Murphy has also had many experiences attending his own concerts when he was concerned for his safety, or the safety of others, while in a crowded space.
"The crowd was nuts. I mean, they just kept pushing and pushing against me, to the point where I thought I was in danger," he said of one concert. "It was scary because, I mean, I just heard about those people dying in Cincinnati. I thought the same thing could happen to me."
The music gets going, people get pumped up and they start squishing towards the stage, and pretty soon, you have no way to escape and it's really, really dangerous.
–Paul Murphy
On another occasion, he said a crowd was pushing in on him at a concert and he saw a woman lying on the ground.
"She was about to be stomped to death, and had I not picked her up, I'm pretty sure she would have been killed or seriously injured," he said.
Murphy said he believes there needs to be "a lot of safeguards in place in order to have general admission. Or you're going to have a tragedy like what we saw in Houston."
