The injuries forced Zappa to spend nearly a year in a wheelchair. However, that also ended disastrously when, during the encore, Zappa was pushed offstage by a fan into the concrete orchestra pit. The band was forced to use rented gear for its next gig at the Rainbow Theater in London six days later. But the casino was completely engulfed in flames, and all of the band's equipment was destroyed, except, oddly enough, a cowbell. According to Zappa, most injuries were minor cuts and burns, with only a few people going to the hospital. Fortunately – miraculously, even – no one was killed in the blaze. Shortly after everyone got to safety, the fire reached the building's heating system, causing an explosion. The building was on the second floor, or at least half a floor up, so it was quite a jump." "The glass smashed to the ground, and all the people in the front started to jump out. I owe my life to a Swiss fireman who came in with a huge axe and started to break the windows one by one, starting from the left towards the stage," Schneider added. "I stood behind the crowd who were trying to get out through the large glass windows which covered the whole of the front of the building from one side to the other. "There was a large door on the right hand side as you face the stage but I do not know if it was open or closed. "The fire spread so quickly that all the people in the front were trapped," he later recounted. "I was just lucky that many of were able to speak English, because I didn't know what to say to them in French." You can listen to the interview above, even though it's difficult to understand at times due to an off-screen translator.Īttendee Peter Schneider wrote a blog post in 2009 about what it was like inside the casino. "They were very organized," Zappa said in an interview shortly after the fire.
As depicted in the lyrics to "Smoke on the Water," Claude Nobs, the director of the Montreux Jazz Festival, ran in and out of the building to help fans escape. "Arthur Brown in person." But they soon realized the danger and Zappa had the composure to tell everybody to head calmly toward the exits. "Fire!" shouted background vocalist Howard Kaylan.
Originally, the band treated it with their customary irreverence.
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