It was his first concert.

The arena was dark.

The crowd was wired.

More than 13,000 fans were packed into the Salt Palace that Jan. 18 night to see the Australian hard-rock band AC/DC and 14-year-old Curtis Child had managed to elbow his way into a choice spot near the front of the main floor.

When AC/DC finally appeared, a mob of fans charged the stage. Not an unusual occurance at general-admission rock concerts, where ticket-holders typically push and shove their way forward trying to get as close to the band as possible.

But this time, something went wrong.

The crush swelled. Panic set in. Kids started screaming. Security guards lost control. Bodies began stacking up, like dominoes, in front of the stage.

Before AC/DC could stop the show, half a dozen people were seriously injured. Three were taken from the concert in comas and later died.

Autopsy reports reveal that Child--along with Elizabeth Glausi, 19, and Jimmie Boyd, 14--died of "compression asphyxiation," a condition in which the lungs are crushed so badly it becomes impossible to breathe.

"No parent should ever have to face such a tragic and senseless death as my son's--especially as the result of a rock 'n' roll show," said Bruce C. Child, whose son died as a result of the Jan. 18 stampede, in a telephone interview Friday.

"This was his first concert. Honestly, I was much more concerned about something happening to him in a car on the way down or back. I had no idea that things like this went on."

Child blames his son's death on "festival seating"--a practice in which promoters remove seats from the main floor of an arena or stadium and allow ticket-holders to sit or stand where they please.

Festival seating arrangements have been prohibited in Los Angeles by order of the Fire Prevention Bureau since 1982. Other Southland fire departments have instituted similar measures. (A Grateful Dead concert in December, 1989, at the Forum in Inglewood has been the sole exception.)

However, an estimated 15% of the 6,000 U.S. rock shows presented around the country each year in auditoriums with 10,000 or more capacity do employ festival seating, according to the North American Concert Assn.. Despite the tragedy in Utah, most promoters defend "festival seating" as a safe alternative to reserved seating.