Was it Spectrum or rectum?

The two words are so similar that its almost uncanny. I read an article yesterday in the Philadelphia Inquirer how the parent company will tear down the old arena to make way for a new entertainment and retail complex. Good riddance, I say. Yes, some of my favorite concerts of all time were performed there (Grateful Dead, Allman Bros., Jeff Beck) but I'd have to say that with all the wistful memories that are pouring out, one of the single most scary moments of my life took place there.
It was March of 1987 and I'm going to my first GD concert. It's a cold, windy day in March and as is the tradition of going to GD concerts, we arrive early to party in the parking lot. But it's so cold you can barely hold that freshly rolled spliff between your finger tips. Everybody's looking forward to the show but most likely it's so cold that people just want to get indoors. Here's the problem, the geniuses at Spectacor, or whatever company was running that dump at the time, decided they could double book the facility that day with some sort of pro-wrestling show in the afternoon. The transition period of breaking down the wrestling set, and setting up the rock concert equipment is taking way too long. The show is about to start and still the doors are not open (not that the Dead ever started on time). I'm in line outside the arena with my date and suddenly there is a big crowd forming in the cement steps up to the Spectrum gates. Everyone knows there's a bottleneck going into these things, but this time, no one is moving forward. The crowd is packing in and pushing more and more. The forward momentum is in inches and the pressure coming from the back is immense. With my date infront of me, there is a girl in back of me and we're becoming more intimate with each other than either of us had ever expected. I get trapped against a stairway railing and I'm getting pushed up the stairs with no where to go, left or right. Suddenly, there is is big trash can in front of me and I get pushed into it. With my heart racing, I'm pushing to my right to avoid it but there's a solid wall of people against me with no give. I basically have to knock this can over over and straddle it to move forward. I'm hearing other people in the crowd yelling about people falling over and almost getting trampled. There is a palpable feeling of panic in the air.
This is by far the most unnerved I've ever felt in a big crowd, with no exaggeration. Thoughts of a Who concert and people getting trampled in Cincinnati are foremost in my mind (Yes, that's right, I'm the eternal optimist).
So we finally get in relatively unscathed, and the concert is great and everything. Afterwards, we go out to the car where we're supposed to meet the couple who drove us there. The car is gone. Luckily, there are other folks we came up with who can drive us home. As it turns out my friend's wife had passed out in the crowd and hit her head on the cement outside the vaunted Spectrum. She was immediately rushed to the hospital. A great time was not had by all.
Ed Snider, I hope you made a lot of fricking money that day by double booking two major events and almost getting people trampled. There was another time where a friend of mine came into the Spectrum on his own two feet and left in an ambulance stretcher, but that was no fault of the Spectrum's.
On balance, I had many great times there at the Spectrum, far more numerous than the bad times but this one bad time will never be forgotten. And for that one moment, I say Good Bye, you old cruddy building.