When AC/DC returns to the Salt Lake Valley next Thursday, for the first time since 1991, the audience will be in reserved seats in the E Center.
"No, we don't want anything bad to happen again," said Daidrie Miller, vice president of marketing for United Concerts, which is producing the performance.
The last time the Australian band was in town, the audience rushed the stage and trampled to death three teenage concertgoers at the Salt Palace, a Salt Lake County venue.
The incident resurrected enforcement of a 1982 city ordinance that outlaws "festival seating" at concerts. Major venues in Salt Lake City now ban the practice of allowing audience members to stand on the auditorium floor, where the crowd often inches toward the stage.
"Since we're in the city, we don't allow it; it's as simple as that," said Brandon Spevak, director of marketing at the Delta Center.
That's one of the reasons U2's concert tour bypassed Salt Lake City this year. "In their contract, the band required festival seating and wouldn't budge on the issue," Spevak said. "We were the only venue big enough to accommodate the show. But we couldn't allow festival seating. So the band opted not to play here."
Still, other venues around the valley, such as Saltair and the Utah State Fairpark, which as a state-owned facility is not governed by the city ordinance, still allow festival seating.
"We don't have very many Salt Lake County venues anymore, since we turned the Salt Palace into strictly a convention hall," said Salt Lake County spokesman Jim Braden. "But you have to remember the accident at the AC/DC concert wasn't because of festival seating. It was because the people surged forward and trapped the people on the floor."
Miller said whether festival seating is allowed depends on where the concert is held. "It all depends on the venue, really," Miller said. "We do work with places that allow festival seating. And we haven't had any problems since the last time AC/DC was in town."
The E Center, located in West Valley City, still offers festival seating at selected concerts. Although AC/DC audiences will be in their seats, past E Center concerts, such as Blink 182, Beastie Boys, Phish and OutKast, featured festival seating.
But that doesn't mean the entire venue for those concerts was a free-for-all. The tickets for both the lower and upper bowl seats were reserved.
"We only allow festival seating on the main floor," said Kevin Bruder, general manager of the E Center. "All the other tickets are reserved. We never do any general-admission concerts where all the seats in the house are first-come, first-served."
The E Center's policy is straightforward, Bruder said. "Before we even book a show, we call other venues where the show was performed to see how it went. We go to shows before we decide if we're going to allow them to play here. And we sit down and talk with the fire marshal to see what we can do to make the experience more safe, and take extra precautions with barricades and heightened security."
"The security is very tight and strict at venues these days," Miller said. "We are concerned for the audiences."
E-MAIL: scott@desnews.com