Radiant Eclipse

After they ate, and bullied the Berry brothers into doing the dishes, the members of the Radiant Eclipse camp, went to get ready for the day. Ash stood in her closet, as she scrutinized a pink one piece and a zebra print bikini, when she felt a pair of hands start to try and remove the shirt she wore.

“Johnny I need to get dressed. What do you think? Pink or zebra?”
“Zebra for sure. Am I ever getting my shirt back?”
“Maybe. Now if you can excuse me, I’m going to change.”

Ash nibbled his ear, and then wiggled out of his grip and headed for the bathroom. It seems like Jess had the same idea as her, as she too was headed for the bathroom with a bathing suit in hand. After a near collision, they just laughed it off and went into the bathroom together. They had known each other for years, and no longer thought twice about changing I each other’s presence. Wanting to see what was taking so long, Matt, Brian and Jimmy soon showed up at the Radiant Eclipse household, to find Zacky and Johnny transfixed with the bathroom door.

“You two okay?”
“Jess and Ash are both in there. Together. Possibly naked.”
“And why are you two fuckers out here?”
“They locked us out.”

It seems like all members of RE had the same idea, as they were soon, all running around the house in bikinis, or in Jess’ case, a monokini. As was the usual case, Ash was the first to be ready and out to the van. She made sure the necessities were in her small roller bag, and zipped it up, before she grabbed what she called the essentials to any outfit. A pair of badass sunglasses, and an equally as badass watch; which in this case, meant Ray-Ban wayfarers and a Nixon watch. She slipped into the Velcro vans she bought the week before, grabbed her bag, and headed out. She was soon joined by the rest of the RE crew, and all of Avenged.

“You gonna be able to handle the van and the trailer Ash?”
“Are you serious Matthew? I’ve been driving this trailer for the last five years!”

Ash retorted as she scoffed, yet stuck her tongue out at him. Everyone loaded into their respective cars, and in RE’s case, their van and they all headed towards the Molson Amphitheatre. Once they arrived at the venue, they could see the line to get into Uproar as it spilled out from the official entrance to the venue. The entrance was located just inside the main gates to Ontario Place where the Amphitheatre was, and the line spilled out of the gates and onto the sidewalk, which the van had to cross to get into the venue. Representatives of the Uproar Festival, as well as Avenged’s manager, Larry Jacobson, met them at the entrance gates. Once they had parked the van, next to Avenged’s bus, the girls got out and just stared at everything in awe, as the other bands on the tour such as Stone Sour, and Disturbed came and introduced themselves. With the help of Dan the Body and the Berry brothers, they managed to get their gear and their little merch table set up. They were scheduled to be the first to go on the second stage, so once they set up, they ran through a quick sound check. They played a bit of Paradise City, which even got the security to bob their heads a bit.

They spent some time at the merch booth, before Dan came to tell them their turn was up. As they gathered in their customary pre show huddle, Jess could spy all members of Avenged, Corey Taylor from Stone Sour, and David Draiman from Disturbed as they stood stage side. They broke away from their huddle, to see Dan and the Berry’s as they stood waiting with their instruments. Dan handed Ash her bass, as Anne Marie took her drum sticks from Matt Berry, and JB Diz handed Jess and Mateja their guitars. They had only planned to sing one Avenged cover, and cut out Paradise City and To Be Loved, until the Uproar reps told them, they were to play a 45 minute set instead of a half hour.

“I say, we play Subconscious and drag Shads out on stage with us, although we don’t tell him until we do it.”

Ash whispered to her fellow band mates, as they walked up the stage steps. They all nodded in agreement, bumped fists one last time and they finally took the stage.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS UP TORONTO? For those of you who don’t know, we’re Radiant Eclipse and this is ‘Woke Up Screaming’.”

Corinne yelled into the mike, as the girls tore into one of their first hits. They played another one of their own, before they decided to play one of the first of their planned covers for the day.

“How you guys doing so far?”

Corinne yelled. They all smiled to each other, and the crowd yelled and cheered in response. Ash took the mic this time.

“For those of you who don’t know us, let me give you the Cliff’s notes version of our history. We, legit, started out as an Avenged Sevenfold cover band.”

As if on cue, the Avenged boys started to whoop and holler from their spot on the side.

“Nerds. You guys are nerds. Like I said, we started out as an Avenged cover band, hence the name Radiant Eclipse. And we’d like to quickly take this time to thank those five nerds over there for existing, thus bringing us five girls together. We’d also like to dedicate this next song to them. It’s called Radiant Eclipse.”

The second Ash stopped talking, they blazed through the Avenged classic, and a few more of their own songs, before they decided it was time to blindside Matt into singing with them. This time Corinne did the talking.

“Ok, initially we decided to play only one Avenged cover, but when Uproar said we could have extra playing time, we decided to throw in one more. But for this one, we’re going to require some help.”

All girls turned towards the Avenged members and smiled.

“MATTHEW CHARLES SANDERS! YOUR PHYSICAL BEING IS REQUIRED FRONT AND CENTRE PRONTO!”

They all laughed, as Brian and Jimmy pushed Matt forward, and he stumbled his way to the front of the stage.

“Just so you know, we’re going to sing a little song called ‘Art of Subconscious Illusion’ and you’re gonna sing with us ok?”

Matt took a swig of his water, threw the bottle into the crowd and took the mic Mateja handed to him. And once the part where Val used to scream was approaching, Ash decided to take initiative and drag Johnny on stage with them as well. She gave him her bass to play, and took to the mic to scream. They played the rest of the song like that, much the to audience’s delight. Once the song was over, the girls went to tie their hair up before continuing on. The temperature had slowly risen during the way, and the heat was beating down on them. They tossed out almost a whole case of bottled water, and begged the crowd to take care of each other, once they watched security carry out two people that had passed out from the heat.

The set carried on as usual, with more and more people taking themselves out of the pit to sit in the shade. Normally this would worry the band, but considering they were almost ready to pass out themselves, the girls completely understood why. They doused themselves in water, and Ash took her tank top off and cheekily, threw it at Johnny.

“Alright you guys, we have two songs left, and this next one, should be one EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU KNOW. And if you don’t, well then you should not even be here. It’s by a band called Guns N Roses and it’s called ‘Paradise City’.”

This was definitely one of their favourite songs to play live, as even the security guards bobbed their heads and sang along. And halfway during the song, they were joined by the Avenged boys, Corey and David on back up vocals. Once they blazed through Papa Roach, the girls threw out whatever water they had left, and took a group bow. They walked off the stage, and right into a group hug from Avenged, and the rest of Stone Sour and Disturbed who showed up just as they played Paradise City.

They helped pack up their gear, before heading over to a quick stop at Ontario Place’s small water park. They lost count of how many times they were stopped by the members of the other bands on Uproar, their roadies, or Uproar representatives, congratulating them on a set well played. Larry Jacobson, even expressed interest in adding the band to his management list. As they walked out the gate into Ontario Place, the girls let out the excited screams they had been holding in ever since they pulled into the parking lot.

“I think entering this contest was the best decision we’ve ever made.”