Four Become One

As the final notes faded, Matt looked around on stage at Brian, Zacky, and Johnny. He shrugged in Zacky’s direction and he just ushered Matt to continue on.

In the pit of his stomach, there was this feeling that Matt had. It was like he didn’t belong on stage right now and that he was supposed to be somewhere else. He shook his head back at Zacky and walked off the stage, leaving his friends behind and the crowd confused.

“How about you and Mike do a guitar/drum battle?” Zacky suggested and walked off stage before Brian could answer. Zacky knew his friend would cover things for a bit until he could bring Matt back.

He took off his guitar and handed it to one of the stage hands, taking off and looking for Matt. He only had to go around the corner where he found his best friend crouching on the ground with his head in his hands.

“Matt ……”

“I can’t do it,” He cried. “I just can’t fucking do it out there. I thought I would be strong enough to do this, but, but I’m not.”

Zacky bent down next to his friend and rubbed soothing circles on his back. “You can do this,” He encouraged. “You know you are more than capable of making all those kids out there really happy.”

“It’s not the same Zack,” Matt muttered, cursing under his breath.

“If none of us thought we could do this, we wouldn’t be here,” Zacky reminded him.

“I know,” He mumbled, wiping away his fallen tears.

“Come on,” Zacky urged, “I know Brian can handle a solo, but I don’t think he’s got enough ideas to fill ten minutes.”

He sniffed, running his hands through his hair and back down his face. “Brian can handle it. I just need a minute.”

Zacky nodded his head understandingly, “Okay.”

He bowed his head back to the ground and didn’t say anything. When he was finished, he stood back up and looked his best friend in the eye. There was that element of sadness covered by a glimpse of comfort that gave him the strength to go on and finish what he started.

“Let’s try this again,” He said with a weak smile.

As Matt walked ahead by a few paces, Zacky fell behind and ultimately stopped in the darkness behind the stage.

He closed his eyes. “Jimmy, I know you’re there. I can feel you here. Help us through this, please?”

Zacky headed back over to his guitar tech and took the guitar back from him, making his entrance back on to the stage where Matt had already returned.

“Sorry about that,” Matt apologized with the sound of his breakdown still in his voice. “It’s been rough these past few months. I never actually thought we’d be back on this stage again.” He turned around and met faces with everyone else on stage, “We all thought we wouldn’t ever be here again.”

“Ya’ll are the best fans we could actually ever ask for. I’m sure we’ve put you through hell and back by now and most of you are still all here, so thank you.”

Johnny walked over and stood next to Matt, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. He turned his head to the side and looked at Johnny, his face fallen and looking like he was about to cry.

“This is tough for all of us,” Matt said, returning his lips to the microphone. “It hasn’t been an easy ride, that’s for sure.”

He looked over at Brian who was fiddling with one of the buttons on his guitar. He knew that it was in tune and ready to go, but he needed something to keep him distracted from the crowd.

Then there was Mike, who had told the band that he would push his own band back just so they could record and tour. Mike also happened to be one of Jimmy’s greatest influences and luckily, he and the band were close.

Matt looked back out at the crowd and saw the faces of the hundreds of fans that showed up to support them through this journey. Some were there from the very first record; some were just recently a fan after the first single came out.

Either way, they were there for them.
And he knew that.

Brian had also picked his head up from messing around with his guitar and looked out in to the crowd. In the very back of it all, was a group of kids that had t-shirts with the word foREVer painted on with craft store paint.

He cleared his throat, “Shadows.”

Matt turned his attention towards him.

“I think I know what song we can play,” He said, letting the idea hang around in the air amongst the quintet. “If you’re up for it.”

He nodded, signaling for him to go on. Brian motioned for Zacky to come over to him and he did just that. The two of them called Johnny over, and then sent him to tell Mike what they were going to play.

Once Zacky was back by his mic and Johnny was somewhere on the stage, they were ready. Matt was still standing in the middle looking anywhere but at the ground.

Brian took in a deep breath and let it out, beginning to play a few notes. The crowd’s ears perked up and a few of them got it right away.

He kept repeating the same notes over and over, glancing over in Zacky’s direction where he added the rhythm part to the song. Johnny jumped in next forming the guitar-bass trio. The three of them continuing to play the same part over and over until Mike jumped in.

The drums clearly gave it away.

With that being said, well, more like being heard, the crowd jumped in and started to gain their pep back. Some were already even going ape shit.

When the band reached the part where the vocals came in, a group of kids down in front began screaming rather loudly back up at the band on stage.

“I feel insane every single time I'm asked to compromise ‘cause I'm afraid and stuck in my ways and that's the way it stays.”

Matt picked up the mic and brought it to his lips. When he sang this time, it didn’t sound forced or sad like the last song.

“So how long did I expect love to outweigh ignorance? By that look on your face I may have forced the scale to tip. I'm not insane, I'm not insane. I'm not insane, I'm not - not insane.”

Zacky and Brian moved to their mics. “Mother”

“Come back to me, it's almost easy.”
“Said it all.”
“Come back again, it's almost easy.”

The crowd sang along with Matt, giving the band the confidence they needed to finish this set. They played four more songs including, Afterlife, Seize The Day, Nightmare.

“We have one more song for you,” Matt said as the rest of his band members grabbed a bottle of water for a little break. “And I want you guys to know that you all are the best fucking fans we could ever ask for.”

Everyone screamed.

“The beginning of this set, I thought I’d never make it through this, but you all helped out on that. So thank you.” He took a sip of his water. “We all worked our asses off on this last record, so I don’t care if you download it or buy it, just get it out there.”

He hesitated before speaking again. “There was this one night that The Rev came up to me and said that this was going to change the world.” He blinked and smiled at his fans down below him. “I only wish he was here to see how it did.”

The sound of Zacky and Brian plucking at the guitar strings signaled that the band was ready again and Matt hurried to finish up what he was saying.

“This is just the first baby step for us in the long road we have ahead of us. It’s just the four of us now. We’ve all got to take care of each other.”

“But don’t think we’re going away anytime soon.”

The crowd screamed.

He looked over to his left at Brian to make sure every thing was a go. He nodded and waited patiently for Matt to get done.

“This next song is going to be our last one.” The crowd seemed displeased with this news.

“And it’s probably going to make you want to cry your eyes out like a little emo kid, but go ahead. It’s alright. We’re one big Avenged family here and we’ve went through hell and back. We’re stronger than before and we’re going to keep on getting stronger.”

“Jimmy came to me three days before he passed with this song. He told me that after this song, the album was complete. He didn’t feel a need to write anymore to it.”

It was as if the crowd already knew what the name of the song was, because instantly the mood changed.

“This one’s called Fiction.”