All went according to their plans, until halfway through the set. When Noah smashed the cymbals and Aidan joined him in one of Knight’s Edge first hits, the audience jumped up and down following Duke’s energetic performance. Tristan stalked to one end of the stage during his solo, the fans at the rails reaching out, some managed to touch his feet and legs. Although he loved the vibe he got from their audience, that was one example of a tricky situation that could go very wrong in an event as big as that. He glanced at Aidan, who was unfazed, but nowhere near the hands of thefans.
Tristan retraced his steps to the middle of the stage just to be on the side of caution. Then his stomach dropped when Duke pulled a fan up onstage.
Motherfucker never learns! What part of ‘don’t’ didn’t heget?
Rule number one for their stadium concerts had been that Mr. Ricardo Alcântara, aka Duke, would not under any circumstances try to pull off his old theatrics. They might have worked in small arenas with tight security, but they were too risky forstadiums.
While Duke slowed dance with the fan to the song Noah had wrote for his lady, the thousands of voices that filled the arena became one harmonic choir. The haunting beauty of the verses never failed to give Tristan goosebumps. Damn Baby Face knew how to melthearts.
He tipped his head to Noah, who saluted back with his stick, as Duke sang the last verses of the drummer’s song and led the fan back to the pit between the stage and the public. The security staff helped her to down, and Tristan let out a deep sigh. He would call an emergency meeting after the concert to put some sense into Duke’s blockhead.
A couple of songs later, Tristan shouted into his mic, “Obrigado, São Paulo. Thank you, São Paulo.Goodnight.”
They left the stage, but the lights remained dimmed. They had opted for a simple stage with straightforward lightening, and almost zero technology. Except for the giant screens streaming images captured by the cameras. The screens were a must in stadiums or most of the people in the audience wouldn’t see the band atall.
Their team quickly set the stage for the encore, and Tristan got cold feet. “Duke, I can’t do this, man. They’ve been listening to you for almost two hours. Your voice sounds as great out there as it does in thealbums.”
“Thanks, but what does it have to do withanything?”
“I suck,” Tristanexplained.
“You lost me,” Aidan toldTristan.
“He doesn’t want to sing the next song. Wuss.” Noah glared atTristan.
“Agree,” Izzie’s voice sounded behind Tristan. For the first time, it didn’t lull him. “You wrote it for us, I recorded it with you. We’ve sung it live before. It makes no sense for Duke to singit.”
Tristan eyeballed the people standing in front of him and shrugged. “You’re right. Even if miss my cue or sing out of key, it won’t beat Duke’s fiasco in our firstshow.”
“Oh, no. Nothing beats that,” Duke agreed,laughing.
Izzie pecked his lips. “Let’s dothis.”
The crowd stomped the ground, demanding more songs. The band members got ready to return to the stage, Noah at the head of the procession, Aidan and Duke followed him. Tristan waited until the three were set, Duke received a guitar from Tristan’s assistant and the audienceroared.
Tristan still got dumbstruck when stuff like that happened. He confessed to Izzie, “That blows my mind. They know what’s comingnext.”
She smiled, and his world made sense again. “They know, silly, because they’re yourfans.”
She pushed him, and he got on the stage, standing under the sole spotlight directed to hismic.
“This isYou’re My Favorite Lullaby,” he muttered, and the fanshollered.
That song had started as a poem he wrote for their wedding. Instead of traditional vows, they decided to read poetry. Later, his band mates nagged him until Tristan caved in and tweaked the poem a little. It went on to become one of their most enduringhits.
Tristan sang the first verses facing theaudience.
You stole my life in aheartbeat
You killed my love in a dirtysuite
The promises I made, youbroke
The love that I gave, youchoked
As Duke strummed the chords in a soulful solo, Izzie walked onstage. When the fans realized she was going to sing next, like the studio version of the song, the shriekingincreased.
Izzie held Tristan’s hand and they faced each other, as shesang.
