PTXperience(s)

Bang, Bang Part 3

The next night Avi was rested and make-up'd and ready for the second concert in a way he hadn't been the previous evening. Now that he knew what to expect he felt relaxed and excited to perform even without being able to interact with the audience. Even his injuries seemed to fade into the background as he put on the headset and tapped on the microphone to make sure everything was working. He was just starting to prepare himself for the first few bars of Natural Disaster when he heard his sister's voice in his ear.

"You there, little brother?"

"No, sorry, checked out twenty minutes ago. Going for a cheeseburger."

"Funny. You ready?"

"Yep. How are the other guys?"

"We're fine. Except Mitch has this massive zit..."

"Shut up, Scott, it's not that big."

"It's pretty big. I bet you can see it from there."

Avi smiled, but couldn't ignore the pang in his chest at the fact that he was missing the usual Red Bull-fueled camaraderie that preceded every show, not to mention the huddle and Kevin's brief prayer before they went on stage. It was a routine they had kept from their days in the Sing-Off and he suddenly felt a little unbalanced without it. After a few seconds, however, he deliberately shook off his funk and forced himself into the moment.

"How's everything looking?" he asked his sister.

"Great. We're almost ready. Just a few more minutes."

As he sat back to wait there was a light tap at the door he almost missed because of the headphones. He glanced up and smiled as Tabby stuck her head in. "You doing okay?"

"Fine. Just about to go on."

"Okay. I'll pop by afterward."

When he raised his eyes again, however, she was still hovering by the entrance to his room. His smile returned. "Did you want to stay, Tabby?"

"Really?"

"Sure. Just close the door behind you. Not sure I want to perform for two audiences again tonight."

"You got it."

She shut the door and pulled a chair closer to the bed.

A few minutes later Esther came back on to cue him. He listened to the audience cheer as his band members appeared on stage, waited while Scott explained why their bassist was absent and then introduced him through Skype. He waved again and apologized for not being there in person but promised them a great show anyway. Everyone cheered.

Then they began to sing. It felt good, natural; when he closed his eyes he could almost feel the presence of his friends beside him, their voices in his ears, and for a moment he was on stage with them, experiencing the energy of the crowd and letting his body roll with the beat...

And then everything stopped.

The jolt back to reality was almost painful. He opened his eyes and stared at the equipment, seeing a blank screen, hearing only static. What had happened?

The tech who had helped to set things up and then had sat back to wait to take it all down again jumped into action immediately. After an eternity of minutes he stood back and shook his head. "I don't know," he admitted. "Everything's hooked up, everything's working. It must be on their end."

Avi forced himself to take a breath. Esther was probably having an apoplexy backstage. He hoped it wouldn't take long to fix. At least this wasn't the first time they'd had a live equipment failure. And the fans always understood.