Back in 1979, a little band out of the UK called The Who was slated to play a show in Providence, Rhode Island. But after 11 people were killed during a stampede at a Who show in Ohio, the venue nixed the concert. In a few months, that same band will be playing that same venue, and folks who still have tickets to that cancelled performance are being allowed to exchange them for seats at the upcoming show.

The folks at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center say that in addition to allowing jilted 1979 concertgoers to exchange tickets, they will be taking any of the old tickets it receives and donating them to the Special Olympics of Rhode Island for an eBay auction.

Granted, since most people either got refunds on their tickets after the show was cancelled or simply lost the ticket in the three decades since, only 14 tickets were turned in yesterday.

One person who successfully exchanged his ticket says he had previously gotten refunds on most of the second-row seats he’d purchased in 1979, but chose to keep one in a binder as a memento.

Another man said he had to dig through boxes of his old items to find the 1979 ticket in a collection with 65 other concert tickets from over the years.

The Who fans trade in 1979 tickets 33 years later

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