Frank Zappa
Lightning Strikes Twice
December 1971 should have been the end of Frank Zappa's European tour. Instead, it became one of the most astonishing stretches of bad luck in rock history.
On December 4, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention were performing at the Montreux Casino in Switzerland when an audience member fired a flare gun toward the ceiling. The building caught fire, forcing everyone to flee. Miraculously, no one was killed, but the casino burned to the ground, taking nearly all of the band's equipment with it.
Most groups would have gone home. Zappa didn't.
The band rented replacement gear, canceled a few shows, and carried on with the tour. Just six days later they arrived at London's Rainbow Theatre for what was supposed to be the first of two concerts. Considering what had happened in Switzerland, it seemed impossible that lightning could strike twice.
It did.
The show was nearly over. For the encore, the band launched into a playful version of the Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand." Then, without warning, a man sprinted onto the stage.
Witnesses agreed on what happened next. The man shoved Zappa off the front of the stage. He plunged roughly a dozen feet into the concrete orchestra pit below.
For several terrifying moments, the audience had no idea whether he was alive. Members of the band later said they thought he had been killed.
He survived, but barely. Zappa suffered multiple fractures, severe injuries to his head, neck, back, and leg, along with a crushed larynx that permanently lowered the pitch of his speaking voice. Recovery took months, and he spent much of that time in a wheelchair.
The attacker, Trevor Charles Howell, later pleaded guilty. One explanation given was that he was jealous because his girlfriend admired Zappa. Other accounts suggested he felt cheated by the performance. Whatever the motive, the attack permanently changed Zappa's life.
In a cruel twist of fate, the Rainbow Theatre disaster almost overshadowed the Montreux fire that had happened less than a week earlier. Most musicians would consider either event the worst night of their career.
Frank Zappa experienced both. Six days apart. For everyone else on that tour, the story was about surviving a burning casino.
For Frank Zappa, that was only the beginning.
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