smoke on the zappa
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Great story I heard recently:
The line in Smoke on the Water was from real life… “Frank Zappa and the Mothers had the best place in town. Til some stupid [fan] with a flare gun burned the place to the ground.” A dumdum fan fired a flare gun into the acoustic cloth ceiling of the Montreaux Theater, setting it on fire during a Mothers concert. The previous act was Led Zeppelin (how’s that for a segue?).
Peter Grant (Led Zeppelin’s legendary manager) saw hundreds of fans unable to get tickets, camped out on the lawn in front of the theater, trying to catch what they could from the p.a. He had a p.a. rigged outside so the fans could hear better. This was a 1971 show, resulting, no doubt, in a ton of bootlegs with different names.
Peter loomed large, not only in size, but in legend.