Just a fun topic. I don't mean scary like you pissed yourself like a little kid, or maybe ya did
We opened up for Skip and "Dead Flowers" at Aldo's one time in 01 or 02, I had a faze I went through where I would spit fire after we played Highway to Hell. Anyway, the blast was so big I thought I burnt the faces off the people up in the crows nest and the ceiling looked like it was gonna light up too. It didn't thank God, but I quit spitting flame after that. After our set we got our usual back slaps and great job's, a guy came up to me and said, " Man, any other night my old lady would have had a can of Aqua Net on her head, good thing we were in a hurry tonight. I felt the heat on my fuckin' face. It was cool though." I apologized and later he smoked a doob with us.
Anyway, that was pretty scary. What do you peeps got? Any good tales?
Back in the late 70's and early 80's, when I played in the band Lickety Split, I had a set of 4 flashpots I would use at strategic moments throughout the night for an explosive sound and flaming effect. I always set the 4 flashpots across the front of the stage and would only use them in rooms that had high ceilings and adequate ventilation so to not cause any accidents. The band members were all aware on which songs and at what point I would set them off. Sometimes, it would be only 2 of them and sometimes all 4. The flashpots used a gun powder mixture and a strand of copper wire across two metal posts and were activated electrically with a foot switch control panel.
We were playing at a bar outside of Saltsburg, PA one night. Just as we were getting to the point in a song where I would set off the flashpots, a drunk guy stumbled up to the front of the stage to say something. He leaned over one of the flashpots just as I hit the switch and it went off with a 6 foot flame right in his face. We all watched as he was stuned and staggered backward. The crowd cheered at the stage show but we did not know if he was hurt or not. Fortunately and amazing, he was not hurt at all. However, I would not be surprised if he woke up the next morning with his eyebrows singed off.
After that incident, we took even more precautions when using the flashpots during shows.
Thin Ice almost blew up a club with flashpots. Two different lighting techs (read: no pyro training) each double-loaded each pot. When it went off, it nearly knocked mic-stands over (they were swaying to near the tipping point, set off a world-class round of feedback in the PA, and had the owners racing around checking windows to see if they had been blown out. Most of the crowd left in the next 1/2 hour, and Fiddlestyx in Milton NEVER called Thin Ice again, despite the capacity crowd.
The morals: Do not use photographic flash powder, it's expensive and dangerous, AND: skip the pyro. It's just not impressive enough to be worth the risk. Ten seconds after the earth-shattering kaboom, the audience has forgotten it. Unless it caves their foreheads in.--->JMS
that damn bert from bad daze/lightguy used to blow shit up all the time.hes like u dont wanna stand here or here.lol.good way to trim up ur hair.all funny till owner seen all the marks on the ceiling..
One of my first gigs was a backwoods 'shotgun' wedding back in the late 70's. Towards the end of the reception, the bride suspected the groom was fooling around with someone else and smashed a whiskey bottle to start stabbing him repeatedly. The guns started coming out then... yikes!!! There was this huge swath of blood where they dragged the guy out and threw him in the snow because they said he would bleed slower.
I think we were playing 'The Gambler' by Kenny Rogers.
One of the first (if not the first ) time Aaron used The Dragon (his flamethrower bass), were at the Osceola Hotel. He pointed this thing toward the ceiling and let it fly. I watched in horror as the flame danced very close to the ceiling fan.
It was a humorous moment, but after that he made a few revisions and we always ask permission at venues before we use it. All I could think of in my head was a whirling fan of fire, and a pre-civil war hotel going up in flames.
