Warning: This article contains themes you may find upsetting
Gina Russo was watching a gig with her husband-to-be, Fred Crisostomi, when she realised something wasn't right.
Great White, an 80s hair-rock band, had opened their set with a thrash of guitar chords, as four large pyrotechnic flares shot out from the stage. The flares instantly set fire to the surrounding acoustic foam panels, installed to deaden the sound.
"It was immediate," Gina tells BBC News. "It got bad very fast. The backflash just happened that quick."
Then came "a black rain of smoke", Gina adds, the heat melting, then shattering, glass lights above people's heads. Gina and her fiance made for the nearest exit, a door to the right of the club's small stage. A bouncer blocked their way, but Gina has no idea why.
