Second Chance

At first I hadn't understood why I had been supplied with a pair of ear plugs when given my All Access pass - wasn't the point of going to a concert to listen to music? As far as I was concerned, sticking in ear plugs would defeat the purpose of being at the show. I shoved them in my pocket and decided to leave them there.

I was singing a different tune by the time the first band were through with their set.

Behind Crimson Eyes - a band from Melbourne, I had been told - had been the first to play. Perhaps it was because I was standing on the side of the stage. Maybe it was because the venue was so small. Or it could have been a combination of the two. Whatever the case, it was loud. The second band, Atreyu, took the volume up a little more. Much louder than I had anticipated. And definitely much louder than anything people should be subjected to.

When I voiced this concern to Zacky, he simply laughed.

"You think this is loud? You ain't seen nothin' yet, kid!"

I found that hard to believe, but I was forced to do so when Bullet For My Valentine took to the stage. The floor trembled beneath me as the band played away, leaving me in a state of awe. It wasn't like anything I had ever experienced before - the closest I'd been was probably a good performance by our school band at our school's talent show - and I was quite thoroughly enjoying it. I knew I was going to have a pounding headache later, but I couldn't bring myself to care.

"Wait here," Zacky instructed me once the band was done with their set. "I've gotta get ready, but I'll be back soon."

"Just go do your thing," I replied, giving him a small shove in the direction I knew he needed to go. "Don't let me get in the way."

He slipped away, and I took a seat with my back against the wall. I had fast picked up on the fact that there was a short wait before one band went on after the other. To build the excitement, I supposed. The first wait hadn't been so bad, but now that it was happening for the third time that night I was starting to get tired of it. I just wanted the guys to take the stage so I could listen to their music.

A group of workers took to the stage and expertly began to switch things over - the instruments, the backdrop; next came the sound check, which seemed to excite people even though it was nothing more than a little bit of noise. It made Matt chuckle as he came to stand beside me, looking more than just a little tired, but excited all the same. For the first time, I wondered if he'd actually slept the night before. I knew that Zacky hadn't.

"You guys have been doing this for a while, huh?"

"Almost ten years," Matt confirmed, squatting down beside me so that I could better hear him. "We really started back in 1999. Been on the road a lot since then."

"Do you ever get tired of it?" I asked curiously.

"Nope." Matt grinned. Seeing the dimples that this created, I couldn't help but smile back. "Being on stage is one of the greatest feelings in the world. The only thing better is being home with my fiancée."

And when they finally took to the stage, I could believe it.

According to the setlist that I had seen earlier, their opening song was called 'Critical Acclaim'. I was stunned into silence when I was met with the sound of not a wailing guitar, but a keyboard. A weird sounding keyboard, like something you hear in an old-time horror movie. But before I had time to adjust to the strangeness of this, Brian had started playing his guitar.

I looked out at them all as the song progressed; Zacky also played the guitar it seemed, though his faced the opposite side to Brian's. Bizarre, but it worked well for their image. Johnny played the bass guitar, and Jimmy played the drums. Like a complete maniac. And Matt?

He screamed.

At first it made me jump, but then before I knew it he was singing normally. Well, as normal as he could with such a unique sounding voice. It wasn't like anything that I'd sat and listened to before, but it wasn't...bad. As the song went on, I found myself getting into it more and more. It was catchy and it was different, and I was stunned when I realised that Jimmy was also singing. While drumming like the maniac that he was. The drummer from Atreyu had been doing the same thing, but Jimmy was somebody that I had been lucky enough to spend some time with. And from spending time with him I had learned of his inability to focus on any one thing for too long. So seeing him now, multi-tasking in a way that I knew I could never have dreamed of accomplishing, was simply stunning.

The song was over a whole lot sooner than I would have liked it to be, but my heart was kept from breaking when they started up their next song. As if the instrumental intro wasn't already catchy enough, I was drawn in by the first line when I heard Matt sing it.

"Like walkin' into a dream..."

If I had known the words, I would had been singing along just as the rest of the crowd were. I made a mental note to look up the band's music as soon as I got the chance. If they had gained anything from allowing me to sit in on this concert, it was a new fan. Because after hearing only one and a half of their songs, I was one hundred percent hooked.

The night went on and the songs kept coming; at one point they even pulled somebody up on the stage with them to sing a verse from a song that was apparently not one of their own, but it was another that I had never heard before. I was transfixed, unwilling to turn away from the show. So when they said goodnight to the room at large and headed off stage, I was right there with the rest of the fans in complaining.

"What? That's...that's it?" I asked in disbelief as they came to stand close by me. "It's over already?"

"Not quite," Zacky assured me with a wink. "Keep watching."

The crowd out there had started up a steady chant of, "Encore! Encore!" just as I had been told always happened. I looked to the guys curiously, wondering whether or not they were going to answer the call or simply stand here with those annoying smirks on their faces.

It took them several minutes, but at long last they took to the stage again.

If I had thought their set-list had been unique and varied thus far, it was nothing compared to what I was hearing now. Piano and a pre-recorded orchestrated track met my ears throughout much of it, and the story that it told was like something that I wouldn't have been surprised to see in a Tim Burton movie. Story-telling was one of the things that I loved most about music, and so I fell in love with this one at once. Granted, it was a little more morbid than most of the lyrical stories I listened to, but it was still amazing.

I was sorry when it was over, but even I couldn't deny that it was quite a fitting end to their show.

"So," Zacky began, leading me away from the side of the stage, "what'd you think?"

"That," I breathed, "was the coolest thing ever!"

"You're damn right it was," Johnny replied, a grin crossing his face as he fell into step on my other side. Brian and Jimmy were ahead of us; Matt was bringing up the rear. "I love this place. We need to come back here sometime."

"Next album," Matt assured him. "We have to finish touring with this one first."

I followed them back to their little make-shift dressing room and watched while they dried themselves off with the hand towels that the crew had conveniently provided. Brian had to work hard to wipe the smudged eyeliner from his face, and even after several minutes of trying he hadn't been able to remove it all. It was almost enough to make me laugh, but I didn't want to give him any more reason to hate me.

"So who's for food?" Jimmy spoke up. "There's gotta be a decent place around here somewhere."

None of the guys had any complaints about this, so it was agreed that they would go in search of a decent diner to eat at once they were given the all-clear to leave by security. I kept close to Zacky - or rather, just stayed away from Brian and Jimmy - when they were finally allowed to make their way out of the venue at long last, heading back in the direction that we had come in.

As I had expected, there were still a few fans waiting for them eagerly outside. I hung back a little further this time when the guys approached them to take photos and sign autographs, taking to watching the crowd this time rather than the band. There were boys and girls alike, their ages ranging from the mid-teens up into what looked like the fourties. Which was pretty cool, as far as I was concerned. I didn't know of many bands that had a fanbase as varied as this, so I was fairly impressed. And as if this alone hadn't been enough, any doubts that I could have had left about them were washed away as I observed the expressions on these people's faces - they really did love this band.

And here I was, getting to spend a little time with them. I didn't know how truly lucky I was.

I had lost track of the time when they finally returned and we continued on our way out. The other bands had not remained behind to wait for them ("Getting a head start to their day off," Johnny had told me knowingly) so we were able to climb into the waiting cars without interruption. Matt simply gave our driver instructions to follow Brian and Jimmy's car and we were off again.

So this was life for them.

"Did you enjoy the show?" Matt asked me conversationally. He hadn't asked in front of Brian and Jimmy, probably to avoid starting a fight or something similar, but he was open about it now. "We always like to hear feedback."

"I loved it," I told him truthfully. "You guys were awesome. And I really didn't expect you to sound like that. It was like...I'd never heard anything like it before. It was really cool."

I was starting to sound like one of their gushing fan girls, so I quickly shut my mouth. He chuckled.

"Did we just gain a fan?"

"Yes. Yes, you did."

They looked very pleased with themselves.