Photos and videos taken on February 18, 2023.
Entrance of the memorial park.
At this exact spot exactly 20 years ago, one of the worst disasters occurred in rock music history. I’m currently standing at the memorial site of the Station Nightclub Fire, located in West Warwick, Rhode Island. I drove here on February 18th, 2023 to pay respects to the victims in preparation for the 20 year anniversary of the disaster. I recorded lots of footage with my GoPro and Canon cameras for a little video compilation to show what the site currently looks like today.
As for me personally, I had no immediate connections to anyone involved in the tragedy: I was a high school senior in Pennsylvania at the time of the fire, and didn’t hear about the disaster until later. I have always been fascinated by the events which occurred that night, and wanted to visit the site myself.
A little backstory as a prelude to this tragic event: back in the late 1980s, the glam metal band Great White had some success with their songs Rock Me and Once Bitten, Twice Shy. But by the time the ‘90s rolled around, grunge and alternative took the center stage, and thus bands like Great White were seen as outdated. Great White and other bands of their style dwindled in fame as audiences were then switching to newer innovative bands like Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and White Zombie. With that said, Great White would disband shortly after the start of the new millennium, due to a variety of factors including the irrelevance of glam metal in conjunction with internal problems with the band – including lead vocalist Jack Russell’s own drug addiction.
After this, vocalist Jack Russell continued with a solo project which played old Great White songs, but then he soon recruited former guitarist Mark Kendall – and then billed themselves as “Jack Russell’s Great White”. But to be fair, it wasn’t officially a true Great White reunion, and more or less Jack Russell’s solo project with new members but featuring his old guitarist. In fact, aside from playing their old hits, the new band also performed Russell’s new solo material. Nonetheless, for sake of brevity we’ll just refer to this moving forward as the new Great White.
To kick off their reunion tour, Jack Russell, Mark Kendall and the new Great White performed their inaugural show at a small concert in a venue known as The Station in West Warwick, Rhode Island. Back at the height of their career, Great White could fill a stadium – but at this point, they were relegated to small music venues designed for limited crowds. In fact, the Station itself only had a capacity of 404 people.
On the night of February 20th, 2003, Jack Russell and the new Great White took to stage to begin their set. The band started with the song Desert Moon, but shortly after the start of the song, the band’s tour manager set off pyrotechnic fireworks on stage which made contact with the flammable noise-insulation foam, thus causing a fire on stage. Due to lack of adequate fire safety measures, the flames instantly spread among the walls and ceiling – giving off thick, toxic fumes. Initially, the stunned audience members weren’t sure if the fire and smoke were part of the act. This was because in the actual music video for Desert Moon, the band is depicted performing on a beach surrounded with large bonfires.
Any suspicions of the fire effects were confirmed as the band instantly stopped, with singer Jack Russell remarking, “Wow. This isn’t good” – immediately followed by the fire alarms going off. More confusion and chaos erupted in the crowd as audience members rushed to the exit. The poor design of the building provided inadequate fire exits. The mismanagement of the Station nightclub’s owners didn’t install fire sprinklers for the ceiling. The acoustic foam was made of toxic polyurethane; hence when it was ignited, it formed a deadly toxic cloud which the unfortunate victims inhaled. On top of this, the venue was overbooked way past maximum capacity. All of these factors combined effectively turned this building into a death trap for the unfortunate attendees.
Some desperate people initially rushed the stage and attempted to exit through the back door, but were stopped by a bouncer who failed to understand the severity of the situation. Within mere minutes, the nightclub was engulfed in flames and many of the patrons were trapped in the blaze – some of which were crushed in a stampede as they formed bottlenecks by the only exits. The sound-proof foam in the ceiling provided ample fuel for the flames to spread rapidly throughout the interior. The band managed to escape unscathed, but one of their newer guitarists Ty Longly ran back inside through the backdoor to retrieve his guitar, but sadly was killed. Vocalist Jack Russell didn’t even understand how bad the fire was inside, since he immediately escaped; he even spoke to his wife on his cell phone and foolishly explained to her that the show was merely delayed due to a small stage fire.
A total of 100 people died. 230 were injured, and 132 miraculously escaped uninjured. Some of the deaths were directly caused by the fire and toxic smoke, but many others were caused by the fatal crush at the exit bottleneck. This was one of the darkest and most tragic events in rock music history, joining the ranks with the Woodstock ‘99 riot and arson, the deadly stampede at The Who concert in 1979, and the 1959 plane crash which killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper. The Station nightclub fire disaster was another tragic event which lives on in infamy among music fans.
After the fire, the band and their managers – as well as the nightclub owners were caught in a legal battle resulting in the tour manager being sentenced to prison. The nightclub’s owners pleaded no contest and were sentenced to prison as well. You see, the building was thought to have been exempt from fire sprinkler requirements due to the age and small size of the venue, however in the recent years prior to the disaster, The Station underwent renovations which removed the exemptions. This technical error from fire inspectors would ultimately serve as a prelude to the horrific events which occurred on February 20th – as it determined that a fire sprinkler system would have conclusively contained the fire long though and allowed the patrons to exit safely. The Station was required by law to have these safety measures.
The band itself then split into two factions: one led by Russell, one led by Kendall. The band would never relive its glory days of the late ‘80s, and their image would be permanently marred by the catastrophe. It’s even said that Jack Russell refused to apologize or acknowledge the fate of the victims, as he felt he was not to blame.
Now on this spot in West Warwick, Rhode Island lies a memorial park dedicated to the victims of The Great White Station Nightclub Fire of 2003.
This memorial was officially unveiled to the public in May 2017, and can be visited by the general public. Arriving here is very straightforward as it’s within close proximity to Interstate 95 which runs along New England. This site serves as a tragic reminder of the lives on that day 20 years ago, and I encourage others to visit this site and reflect on the tragedy.
If there’s a rock ‘n’ roll heaven, well you know they’ve got a hell of a band.