Excerpts from: Chapter 4 – Hotter Than Hell Tour

December 18, 1974
La Porte, Indiana
National Guard Armory
Opening Act: Scream
Capacity: 350
Promoter: Schzoid Productions

Road Manager JR Smalling: "I was standing on the stage during load-in when I looked up at the ceiling and realized that the entire thing was made of sheet metal.  It was a fairly low ceiling, so I took a coin and flipped it up in the air and it made this nice 'ping' sound, which confirmed my suspicions.

"At that time, we did not have a dedicated pyro man and each of us would take turns setting the effects up.  It was my turn to load the flamethrowers and I really juiced them up, figuring I had nothing to lose with the ceiling being metal.  So, it gets to the point in the show where the flamethrower cues are, I flipped the switch and up go these beautiful, enormous columns of flame.  They shoot upwards, hit the ceiling and then I watched in pure terror as they spread and spread and spread across the ceiling towards the walls, which were definitely not metal.  I looked out over the audience and the entire crowd was staring like zombies at these flames; the whole venue had turned bright orange.  What must have taken three seconds drew out to what felt like five minutes.  Fortunately, the flames stopped just short of the walls, otherwise none of us would have gotten out of there alive."

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