Shattered Secrets

Amanda and I laughed the whole time we tried to find some place to park, eventually we gave up and followed the guys who were waving us towards the back of the parking lot. Amanda and I both pocket our cell phones, tickets and whatever else we wanted to take with us before we locked the car and followed the crowds towards the huge building where our idols sat inside awaiting their show time.

It didn't take as long to get into the building as the two of us initially thought seeing as we just jumped in line in front of a few guys who said nothing as we stood there, wishing that the line would move. Eventually we made it to the front where a man in a shirt with the word 'security' written on the front, asked us to empty our pockets as he patted us each down for weapons.

"Go on," he said with a slight smile and a nod towards the stage that was in the center of the building.

"Thanks," I said as I pulled Mandi towards the shirt stands. I fetched my wallet from my back pocket as I ogled the shirts in front of me, but only one caught and kept my attention. On the front of the black shirt was the 'Nightmare' album cover with 'foREVer' written on the tombstone exactly like the real thing, but on the back written in white was "It's your fucking" and underneath that was written in signature Avenged Sevenfold font was the word "Nightmare" with a deathbat under it. I nodded to myself and pulled three ten dollar bills from the black wallet that had a fender guitar on the front.

"Number 8, please," I said to the young guy that came walking over to us, asking what he could help us with. Mandi asked for Number 6. It was a black shirt that had a deathbat on the front that looked like it was held up by puppet strings and on the back of that one in huge capital letters was written, "GOD HATES US."

The man brought us our shirts in our sizes and we paid. We both slipped them on so that we wouldn't have to carry them around with us all night. I smiled in satisfaction at the shirt as it was on my body and Mandi and I decided that we'd go to the floor for the first couple of bands to see what they were like.

New Medicine was a band that was made up of four guys from Minneapolis who sang about being poor and having fun. The lead singer was rowdy, reminding me somewhat of an American Danny Worsnop.

The next band, Hail The Villain, was the band that we listened to in the car. Four guys from Canada who were out to get themselves recognized. The lead signed was not only cute but had enough energy to outrun the energizer bunny a few times. He marched, saluted, fist pumped, and jumped around like it was the most fun thing he could ever do. His energy made me even more excited for this show that I had been since we arrived, well, since we'd seen Avenged Sevenfold outside.

Hell Yeah played after them and kept the energy alive as they sang about getting drunk, laid, and living life the right way. Mandi and I threw up our beers and cheered with the crowd as the singer made a toast about having fun.

After those three bands Amanda and I decided to go sit down for Halestorm, seeing as neither of us had been particularly interested in seeing the chick singer jump around and bang on things with her twin brother. But they were good from where we watched from the balcony.

Stone Sour played after them and by that point I was far too excited to care about what was going on around me. They played songs from their new album and some old ones that even I had heard about before. Mandi and I sat on the barrier and took some pictures of them with her camera for her cousin Aj who couldn't make it due to his wife having a baby just days before.

In between Stone Sour and the band that was to come on next, Avenged, Mandi and I rushed up three sets of stairs so that we could pee without having to wait in a line. We both peed quickly, to overjoyed and excited to hold it and we ran down the stairs getting weird looks from those around us.

I pushed and shoved but eventually I made my way to the front and was crammed against the barrier that separated crazy, obsessive fans from the jumping on stage and mauling one of the members of the bands. I pulled Amanda, by her hand, up next to me and we waited there, singing along with the music they played between sets. 10 minutes later the music cut off abruptly, the room went dark and everyone began screaming so loudly that I couldn't even hear my own breathing any longer.

"Hello, L.A!" I voice called from behind the curtain as the intro to 'Nightmare' began.

Everyone screamed.
Everyone jumped.

The curtain was drawn and standing there in front of three pillars that were all connected by gates with "A" on one, "7" on another and "X" on the last one, were the four remaining boys of Avenged Sevenfold and Mike Portnoy from Dream Theatre behind the drums with a grin on his face.

Everyone screamed.
Everyone jumped.

The guitars jumped in, Zacky and Synyster smirked. Then the drums, and the bass. The crowd roared, M. Shadows sang.

"Nightmare!"
Now your nightmare comes to life!"

His voice was loud, confident, beautiful, and raspy all at the same time. He got the crowd pumped and hyper, even more than before. He sang to us and pointed around, running, jumping, screaming, laughing. So much energy was emitted from these five men.

"Ohhh! You should've known! It's your fucking Nightmare..."

Welcome to the Family came next,
then Beast and the Harlot.

Then he sang so Far Away, but first he talked a little about Jimmy.
"I know that he's watching over us." He said, "Or else this tour wouldn't have been this fucking amazing. So all you fans out there, raise your lighters, drinks, and cell phones to the sky so that The Rev knows that this is all for him..."

"Never fear for anything,
Never shamed but never free...
A life that healed a broken heart with all that it could,
Lived a life so endlessly, saw beyond what others see..."

That song was sang with so much love and we all quieted down throughout it out of respect. Unfortunately they only sang two more songs before they left the stage with excited smiles and smirks. Manda and I shared a look of disappointment before I cocked my head in the direction of the stage. She nodded.

We shoved our way through the crowd and to the side stage where we had to show our passes that were hanging around our necks for a security guard rolled his eyes and opened the gate. "Just because you work here doesn't make you king of the world!" I called as Mandi and I walked off ignoring his scoff as we laughed.

There were only two other people standing near Avenged's green room, a couple by the looks of it. The man had short blond hair and excited blue eyes that shined almost as much as his lip ring under the stage lights. The girl who he had his arms wrapped around had short purple hair that was spiked up in the back. Her eyebrow was pierced and she nodded at us in greeting.

Amanda and I looked to each other as we heard movement on the other side of the door. "Here we go," she murmured, pure delight coating her words as the door open slowly.

"Here we fuckin' go," I confirmed, raising my eyebrows as if it were a challenge.