No More Smoke!

It was the fall of 2008 or 2009 & we were in Clemson, SC across Lake Hartwell from their football stadium for a sorority party. They set up a tent for 500 people & told us to bring the party. It was ALL the way live!


At this time in lighting technology, LED fixtures weren’t around yet. Most dance floor lights were those theater stage can lights that get extremely hot & only show up well with “fog or haze” effects added.


Not only are those lights great for dance floors, they also provide light for other dark areas in a venue. In 2021, wireless battery operated fixtures have taken the place of can lights.


Back to the party. We were using a fog machine to enhance our show lighting that night, as we did with most every other event at this time.


I had thought to myself a couple times that with each cycle of the fog machine, the fog seemed to grow instead of dissipate. We checked the settings on the fog machine & everything was correct. So, operation continued as normal.


It was just after the headlining DJ Chill Will took the stage that an older woman came to the booth shouting, “Don’t blow no more smoke!” Little did we know, this was the “Mom” of the sorority...and little did she know that our fog machine was on a timer...


Before we could shut it down, the Chauvet Hurricane erupted with it’s signature haze & she lost her mind!!! Rarely, if ever, can a human voice be heard over an amplified sound system...it was that night in Clemson, SC!


Later that night while loading out, we found out from our security team that the guests were smoking weed every time our fog machine cycled...so that’s why it took so long to dissipate...