As Marcus waited for his turn to get up on stage and show what he’s got, he noticed one of the girls that performed before, the one with blue hair who did a rather cool rendition of Twenty One Pilots’ Heathens, standing on her own, pulling her phone out. While he still had a few minutes, he decided to go over and say hi.
“Um, hey. I’m Marcus.” He introduced himself softly.
“Uh, your song was great. I’m not a huge fan of the original but your version was great.” He offered the girl a smile, before turning around and noticing that the current performer, the taller girl who was standing with the one who caught him staring, was finishing her song.
“Alright, well my turn now. If you’re still around later, uh, I’d love to buy you a drink or somethin’.” He smiled again softly before rushing over to the stage.
Marcus was very glad this was a metal bar. Not just anywhere would he find a house band with guitars tuned to play the song Marcus had in mind, let alone who know the song. As his turn approached, he gave a smile to the blonde, who had sung one of Queen’s hits. Ambitious choice.
“That was really good Freddie Mercury is definitely not easy to sing.” He said with an encouraging nod.
As he took the first steps onto the stage, and looked out over the packed club, the nerves started to kick in. He hadn’t been on stage in a long time, let alone just singing. In fact, he’d never been on stage without a guitar before. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself so he didn’t turn around and bolt back off stage. He picked up the mic, giving the band a nod. As the
opening synth started to swell, Marcus closed his eyes and smiled. The crushingly heavy down tuned riff started, and he opened his eyes again, looking out at the crowd and raised the mic to his mouth.
“The weight of the world is resting on thin ice! When the surface breaks will I find paradise?” The sounds that came out of the thin, emo looking young man, probably caught a few people by surprise. He screamed the opening lines with pure ferocity, emulating Sam Carter’s signature vocal style fairly well. By the end of the first verse, he’d gotten into the swing of things, grinning from ear to ear, not that it could be seen very well from behind his mop his hair.
“I’d take a leap of faith, but I’d lose my nerve! In the end, I’ll get the hell that I deserve!”As the song, moved into the slightly stripped back chorus, Marcus, sweeped his hair away from his face, grinning out at the crowd.
“If you know the words, sing along with me!” Now really got to show off his range, hitting the stratospheric, screamed notes of the chorus with such passion and power. It was obvious that he really connected to the song, and the lyrics.
“I’m always gone with the wind! Crawling in and out of my mind! God knows, I lost all my faith!” Marcus slammed his fist into his chest as he belted out the words, already putting everything into his performance.
“A sickness with no remedy, except the ones inside of me! You ever wonder how deep you can sink into nothing at all? Disintegrate!!! Annihilate me!!!”
Marcus grinned even wider, as the adrenaline of performing fueled him, standing up straight, right at the edge of the stage as the song started building up to the breakdown.
“Let’s get rowdy!!” He called out, and took a deep breath before the next line.
“Do you remember when you said to me, my friend, HOPE IS A PRISON.” He started headbanging furiously, before repeating the line, and letting out a guttural
“BLEGH!” Now thoroughly into the groove of the song, he moved more as he screamed the next verse. Jumping around the stage, giving a real show like any good frontman of a metal band. As the song mellowed out again, Marcus stilled, hooking the Mic back into the mic-stand, holding it with both hands. He already showed he could scream, and he showed he could sing too, softly delivering the more mellow chorus with beautiful clarity, but still had that passion and emotion, that showed how much he loved the song and related to the words.
He seamlessly transitioned back into the heavier screams when the music picked up again, grinning as he saw that a small moshpit had started up in front of the stage. He did that. He incited that, and knowing that filled him with such a joy that he had not felt in so long. As the song moved into the outro breakdown, he belted the closing line with all the furiosity he had left, before putting the mic back in the mic stand again.
“Thanks guys.” He said with the smile of someone who was buzzing with adrenaline, and practically bounced off the stage.
He was greeted by a tight bear hug from Chris, who was also grinning from ear to ear.
“Dude! That was fantastic! I knew you had it in you!” Marcus hugged the taller man back tightly, shaking from the adrenaline.
“That… Was so much fucking fun. Thanks for pushing me to do that.”“See, that’s what happens when you actually take my advice!” The pair laughed, still hugging for a few moments, before walking back over to the bar.
“Many more drinks for you!”
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