The lights dim… the crowd murmurs… and without warning, the theme to the A-Team heralds our champions to the stage! The perfect opening to a performance 16 years in the making.
The quartet march on-stage, suited up and brandishing their weapons of mass entertainment. They take a bow, wait for the silence, and then proceed to render it apart with an explosive riff. A blinding flash of strobe lightning illuminates the room. I look back at my husband; he is laughing and rocking out, one arm around me, the other in the air.
Their first set was a string of their “Greatest Hits” – our enthusastic companions in front of us headbang and sing along to every track in obvious appreciation; the short intermission hosted a show-and-tell slideshow of the band members over the past 20 years, while Brian signs autographs at the merch stand; and the second set – the long-awaited performance of the entire Blue Album!
Basking in the fuzzy, grungey guitar of our formative years, we relish in the knowledge that the 90s are back. The band belts out Buddy Holly, much to the delight of the already ecstatic crowd. We are whipped into a frenzy, the entire standing audience jumping in chorus to the hit song.
As the spotlight passes over us, we close our eyes and sway to the slinky, teasing baseline of Only in Dreams; awash with endorphins we hang onto every strum, knowing, dreading that it has to end soon… And it’s obvious our bassist Scott is coming down as well. He draws out the grand finale into a crescendo that only reaches climax as Rivers walks to him and places his hand on his shoulder, as if to say, “It’s ok, we’ll be back soon, this isn’t the end”.
We roar and stamp for an encore as they salute and walk off-stage… of course we had our way. They couldn’t not play it:
(Excuse the shaky. I was busy getting my boogie on. 🙂
