Incident Overview · Verification Limited
Washington ColiseumConcert Incident
A 15 October 1973 concert involving Rare Earth, Funkadelic and Ohio Players is linked by later citation trails to disorder, injuries, arrests and fire-safety concerns. The venue and location are well supported, but the detailed incident account remains only partly verified because the key contemporary article was not directly accessible in the research set.
What Happened
Incident Overview
Core Findings
What the Evidence Supports
The strongest finding is location-based. The venue can be identified with confidence as Washington Coliseum, also known as Uline Arena, in Northeast Washington, D.C. Official and heritage records place the complex at 1132, 1140 and 1146 3rd Street NE, with additional location wording around Third and M Streets NE.
The event link is weaker. The uploaded research file records a 15 October 1973 concert involving Rare Earth, Funkadelic and Ohio Players, with a later citation trail pointing to a Washington Post and Times-Herald report titled “Fire warning cited after coliseum row.” That title suggests disorder and a later fire-safety issue, but the original article was not directly opened in the research pass.
The casualty and arrest figures therefore remain caution-only. Claims of 40 injuries, including 11 police officers, and 56 arrests should not be presented as confirmed figures. They belong in the evidence file as reported claims pending direct inspection of the contemporary article.
No verified fatality was found in the accessible material. The most honest reading is: venue confirmed, incident lead identified, detailed sequence and figures not yet verified. Dull, but safer than making the evidence do jazz hands.
View Cautions →Quick View
Incident Highlights
Year
Reported concert incident date.
Injuries Claimed
Citation-trail figure only; not directly verified.
Arrests Claimed
Also unverified from an opened primary article.
Fatalities Verified
No death found in accessible sources.
Chronology
Known Sequence
Venue established
Uline Arena became known as Washington Coliseum and was used as a major entertainment venue in Northeast Washington.
Concert date supplied
The incident is linked to 15 October 1973 and a bill involving Rare Earth, Funkadelic and Ohio Players.
Citation trail found
Later references point to a Washington Post and Times-Herald article titled “Fire warning cited after coliseum row.”
Reported claims identified
The inaccessible article is cited for injuries, arrests, and fire-safety concerns, but was not opened directly.
Evidence caution applied
The page treats detailed casualty and arrest figures as unverified until the original contemporary article can be inspected.
Reliability
Operational Picture
Venue Strong
NPS and LOC material strongly support the Washington Coliseum / Uline Arena location.
Concert Detail Weak
The Rare Earth / Funkadelic / Ohio Players incident detail rests on a later citation trail.
Casualties Unverified
The 40-injured claim was not confirmed from a directly opened contemporary report.
Arrests Unverified
The 56-arrest figure is also citation-trail material, not primary-opened evidence.
The location is solid. The incident figures are not. Do not present the injury, police-injury, arrest, emergency-exit, or vehicle-fire details as verified unless the original 18 October 1973 article is opened and checked.
Conflicts
Disputed or Weak Details
Disputed Detail
Casualty and arrest figures from an inaccessible source
A later citation trail to The Washington Post and Times-Herald article titled “Fire warning cited after coliseum row” attributes 40 injuries, including 11 police officers, and 56 arrests. The underlying article was not directly opened in the research set, so these figures are not treated as verified.
Later citation trail: 40 injuries, including 11 police officers, and 56 arrests.
No independently opened original source with different figures was located.
This is not a normal source-vs-source conflict. It is a verification gap: a specific claim exists, but the primary article could not be inspected directly.
Unverified Details
Contemporary incident confirmation
A directly opened original contemporary source confirming all 15 October 1973 incident details was not found.
Gas canister sequence
The claim that a gas canister was thrown onto the main floor was not directly verified.
Locked emergency exits
The claim that some emergency exits were locked during the incident was not directly verified.
Casualty count
The reported figure of 40 injured, including 11 police officers, was found only through a later citation trail.
Arrest count
The claim of 56 arrests was not confirmed from an opened contemporary report.
Vehicle fires
The claim that police scooters and a motorcycle were set on fire was not directly verified.
Fatalities
No fatality figure tied to this incident was verified in the accessible sources.
References
Reference Cards
Harry G. Lynn; Owned Beatles Concert Venue
4 March 2006
Obituary of former owner Harry G. Lynn. It states that he owned the Washington Coliseum, that it was an arena in Northeast Washington, places it at Third and M Streets NE, and says he renamed Uline Arena to the Washington Coliseum in 1960.
Visit Source →History Buffs Fight to Save Uline Arena
11 June 2003
Venue-history article describing Uline Arena / Washington Coliseum as a major Washington gathering place and entertainment venue. It is useful for venue history and significance, but does not directly verify the 15 October 1973 concert incident.
Visit Source →50th anniversary concert reenacts Beatles’ first U.S. show at the Washington Coliseum
6 February 2014
Retrospective confirming that Uline Arena / Washington Coliseum still stood at Third and M Streets NE. It is a location confirmation source only, not a direct source for the 1973 incident.
Visit Source →Demolition Of Arena Postponed
24 December 2003
Later report placing the site at 1140 3rd St. NE and describing the venue’s broader historical use. It supports address and venue background only.
Visit Source →National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Uline Ice Company Plant and Arena Complex
Filed/processed 2007
Primary official record confirming the property name, Washington, D.C. location, and street address at 1132, 1140 and 1146 3rd Street NE. It also describes the arena as a major entertainment and recreation property.
Visit Source →NPGallery Asset Detail: Uline Ice Company Plant and Arena Complex
NPS asset page
Official NPS access point for the National Register material on the Uline Ice Company Plant and Arena Complex. It supports the title and registration record for the venue site.
Visit Source →Uline Arena, Corner of M and 2nd streets, NE, with entrance building at 1140 3rd Street, NE
Documentation compiled after 1968
Library of Congress record identifying Uline Arena, giving the alternate title Washington Coliseum, and locating it at the corner of M and 2nd Streets NE with the entrance at 1140 3rd Street NE.
Visit Source →Open Evidence
