Massive Club Fire at Great White concert

People have long known that it's a dump. But never before now have I considered what a deathtrap it is.

Whaddya mean? You're watching the footage aren't you? Fun in that they're not the worst band ever to walk the earth. Dumb in that they set the place on fucking fire.

Do you have a concept of how these things work? Even a band as washed-up as Great White has management who arranges this shit. They're the ones setting up the shows; at that point there should be a conversation along the lines of "do you have a pyrotechnics license"; "yeah, what do you have?"; "blah blah". Somewhere, this discourse broke down. Either the management misrepresented their stage show, or the club lied about their capacity to handle same. Or lied about the license. Who knows at this early stage. But don't accuse the band of "killing people" for Christ's sake.

I know I'm going to check to see where the exits are at shows from now on (and never be too far from one..)

..wouldn't a place like that have been required to have a sprinkler system?

Only thing is, when I was thinking of problematic deathtrap nightclubs in the city, I wasn't thinking of these places.

i know they've undergone renovations since the last time i was there (almost 2 years ago) but wasn't there an emergency exit out to the back alley from the pool room?

A friend of mine nearly died that day of dehydration.

Oh, and get this.. the headliners were the Charalambides.

I had nothing to do with the addition, but the guy who was the main booker wanted to do their label/booker a favor I guess. Noble, but it turned out to be rather awkward and bad. (Thankfully, that was the only bad moment of all the shows, and have amazing respect for the folks who kept that all-ages venue alive)

Anyway, the World Inferno Friendship Society did a variety of pyrotechnics inside a venue that was an ALL WOOD ART SHACK!

Smart, guys. Really smart. Thanks for stinking up the place, too. Hope you guys are now banned from playing shows ever again.

"Remember this next time someone tells you 'there is no such thing as bad publicity'."

Ouch. No kidding. The owner of the Stone Pony apparently wants Great White impaled in the sun. I think a lot of people are feeling that way about this.

In all cases.. :(

There's a lot of finger pointing going on right now between the surviving band members and the owners of the club. What strikes me about this is that EVEN IF the management of the club didn't know about the pyro effects, they are still guilty of GROSS NEGLIGENCE. If you own a business, it is your duty to know what is taking place in your establishment - either by a stage manager, a soundman, or some other person who is involved with the set-up of the equipment. It is also your duty to have procedures in place in the event of an emergency, such as fire extinguishers, plans to show people the exits in the event of a fire, etc. What strikes me about this tragedy is that there appeared to be little to no response from the club staff during the fire. Yes, there are those heroic people who saved others, but I'm referring to the more basic needs of having staff open exits and use fire extinguishers during the initial moments of the fire.

I also listened to Mr. Santana, of the Stone Pony, as he professed his disgust at Great White and how he was taken completely by surprise by their pyro effects. Again, while this may be true, his lack of knowledge of events in his venue reeks of negligence. Of course, he's going to claim his ignorance - he's trying to cover his ass. Do you think he'd say that he knew they were going to use pyros without the permits? No way. Same thing with the owners of The Station.

I'm not taking sides here, only making an observation. I think the owners are at the least guilty of negligence and as far as the band, I don't know. They might be telling the truth because according to accounts from other clubs on this tour, they were denied permission to use pyros and didn't use them. Also, Great White played The Station 18 months ago, without pyro. Why would they suddenly decide to use them, especially after NOT doing so at other venues on this tour?

Beyond the legal ramifications, my heart goes out to all the victims and their families. This is a terrible tragedy, absolutely horrific.

I hope that from this disaster come measures that will prevent such a thing from happening again.

Meanwhile, in the 'uh, yeah, duh,' category, CNN's legal talking head had this to say, and while most of it is sound, the concluding comment is a bit 'the hell?':

And I'm not so cynical to think that liability is the only reason. I think that club owners genuinely don't want scores of people dying in their clubs.

Gee, ya think?

Meanwhile, over at the missing guitarist from Great White's guestbook, you've got people posting good wishes and remembrances...and then you've got a whole bunch of incredibly tasteless jokes from a slew of people at fuckedcompany.com as well. Smooth.

ie fans and punters and rock reviewers and posters to forums like these (who are obviously all smart and eloquent and care abt other ppl and whatever)

too much of rock/punk/rap subculture at ordinary times: "the govt sucks, it's like square guys in suits who don't get it!! FUCK THE SUITS, MAN!!"
too much of rock/punk/rap subculture at times like these: "where are the laws which we assumed kept us and our loved ones safe?"

this and chicago and anything like it are horrible and sad obv, even from far across the sea, not least bcz foax like great white were basically totally goofy and harmless and who the hell deserves this, least of all them?

when did you last see a review of some show at some dingy shack (or rave or whatever) saying "the band totally rocked, but btw this club is a horrific fire risk — go there at yr own peril, or let's get the bands that we like to boycott it till the owners take action"?

kerry — quite correctly — said that consumer groups shd regularly check these places out actually WHEN THEY'RE IN USE: all i'm pointing out is that consumers groups = orgs including fans themselves, and if everything is just left to a vague "measures must be taken", w/o pitching in yrself (obv i don't mean YOU ALEX MUST ORGANISE THIS, i mean the "you" most directly in the line of fire in these situations, ie the punters who go to such venues regularly anyway), then you WILL find that the measures taken will probbly leave yr area devoid of ANY funky little outlaw spaces etc etc (ie cf the v.good point you made up-thread, re city authorities simply shutting all clubs to save themselves the headache)

Dave, you live far (by RI standards) from The Station; I rent movies at the Blockbuster down the street from it ALL THE TIME.

Scary shit. Death toll is at 96, making it worse than Waco in terms of deaths.

I don't think I knew anyone, but given how small a state this is, it wouldn't surprise me to find out that I know friends of friends aunt's cousins sisters and shit.

The band said they would never play the song "Desert Moon" again. "I don't think I could ever sing that song again," said lead singer and founder Jack Russell.[4] Guitarist Mark Kendall stated, "We haven't played that song. Things that bring back memories of that night we try to stay away from. And that song reminds us of that night. We haven't played it since then and probably never will."[5] The band has since resumed playing the song.[6]

omg

flashes of "I vowed to my father I would never use hamster style again."

Almost ten years. Some good news:

http://news.providencejournal.com/breaking-news/2012/09/owner-donates-station-land-to-memorial-foundation.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/01/us/memorializing-100-who-perished-in-rhode-island-nightclub-blaze.html?hp

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/27/world/americas/brazil-nightclub-fire/index.html

Saw that. Pretty horrible. Have a friend from there, well from the town where the hospital is.

An accordionist who had been performing onstage with a band when the blaze broke out was among the dead, drummer Eliel de Lima told Globo TV.

Ten years ago tomorrow.

And ten years ago today. The Providence Journal's special features

Overviews of all the victims via the Boston Globe

The Station Fire Memorial Foundation.

The video with he hand transplant was heartbreaking and would have been regardless of where the guy got burned.

Also inspirational.

Great White's Jack Russell to play first New England show since Station fire

So Great White decided to play a show in North Dakota with zero social distancing and zero masks and needless to say Twitter is dragging them for it...

17 years ago, 100 people died in the Station Nightclub fire after
Great White’s tour manager lit pyrotechnics inside the small club during a show. One of the band’s biggest hits is called “Once Bitten, Twice Shy.”

Who had this on their 2020 bingo card? https://t.co/43iHWZ98fT

— Billy Jensen (@Billyjensen) July 11, 2020

Do people not remember what happened last time Great White ignored public safety guidelines? https://t.co/aBfayZH1OZ

— Warner Bros. Re-Release Cop Killer (@MetalShayne2000) July 12, 2020

Great White really pumped to add another entry to the “Tragedies” section of their Wikipedia page huh https://t.co/LZWVQY3OUE

— Casey Malone (@CaseyMalone) July 11, 2020

Eh, nothing bad has ever happened to the audience at a great white concert before, right? https://t.co/DRzujyU0lf

— Brendan Kelly, provocateur/total dildo (@badsandwich) July 11, 2020

Great White in 2003: Kill 100 people by bringing too much pyro to a small club.

Great White in 2020: Hold my beer. https://t.co/YV8YyVt8eT

— Metal Injection (@metalinjection) July 12, 2020

Whoa. I'm genuinely shocked by this.

All the simpering apologies for their reckless pyro antics that got 100 people killed in 2003 feels like a bunch of hot air now. This is beyond irresponsible. Fuck @GreatWhiteRocks.#ClassicRock #GreatWhite #HairMetal https://t.co/nnBMtK8cgZ

— Play That Rock’n’Roll (@playthatpodcast) July 12, 2020