Many Times Bitten, Twice Shy

Many Times Bitten, Twice Shy - I'm not shocked we've had such a rash of club disasters in the past week - shocked, perhaps, only that it's taken this long to have a serious disaster.

As the death toll in the Rhode Island Concert Fire climbs toward 100, the word is leaking out that the band had no permission to use pyrotechnics.

Great White used pyrotechnics during three other shows - Feb. 7 at the Pinellas Park Expo Center near Tampa, Fla.; Feb. 13 in Allentown, Pa.; and Tuesday in Bangor, Maine - without discussing it with promoters or the venue, according to concert organizers or their spokesmen.

Domenic Santana, the owner of the Stone Pony club in Asbury Park, N.J., said Great White failed to tell him they were using pyrotechnics during a Valentine's Day show.

"Our stage manager didn't even know it until it was done," said Santana. "My sound man freaked out because of the heat and everything, and they jeopardized the health and the safety of our patrons."

Officials at other clubs said Great White asked before using pyrotechnics and complied when they were turned down. One of those venues was the Oxygen Nightclub in Evansville, Ind., where the band played Feb. 3.

The motto among a lot of rock and roll people is "it's easier to get forgiveness than permission". The Chicago and Rhode Island disasters greatly - and justifiably - overshadowed our own near miss, when the Fine Line in Minneapolis suffered $100,000 in damage from another band that not only used pyrotechnics, but apparently made it a habit:

Members of the The Jet City Fix never told club owner Dario Anselmo that they would be shooting anything off during their set, Anselmo said. The band played a show at Luther's Blues bar in Madison, Wis., on Sunday and was yelled at by the owner after it did the same thing, Anselmo said.

I'm amazed that we haven't seen more of these sorts of things. Bands and their roadies (those that have roadies) are incredibly casual about these thing - usually from ignorance. I've seen lots of bands fire off pyros in bars. I'd be amazed if more than a few of them had permits.

Posted by Mitch at February 23, 2003 08:02 AM