{"id":462,"date":"2023-08-29T01:00:27","date_gmt":"2023-08-29T06:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/?p=462"},"modified":"2024-02-10T10:23:02","modified_gmt":"2024-02-10T16:23:02","slug":"opening-act-closing-dignity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/opening-act-closing-dignity\/","title":{"rendered":"Opening Act, Closing Dignity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The venue in San Diego was legendary. Brick walls, floor-to-ceiling rigged lighting, and a crowd capacity of nearly 2,000. Sold out.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feral Eclipse<\/strong> was topping the bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And in the opening slot?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vandal Saints.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the Saints arrived for load-in and soundcheck, the air in the venue shifted. They were tense. Bitter. Hungover on ego. The lead singer \u2014 the same one who had tried to heckle Gabriel at Rocklahoma \u2014 strutted in with a chip on his shoulder and a tattered flyer from Rolling Rock Magazine<\/em> in his hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He slapped it against the green room wall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWolves Eclipsed Us All<\/em>, huh?\u201d he muttered, loud enough for everyone to hear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabriel was lounging across a riser case with his legs kicked up. \u201cWell, I mean\u2026 they aren\u2019t<\/em> wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cassie cracked open a bottle of water. \u201cYou guys are still playing first, right? Just making sure we don\u2019t run long over your bedtime.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Saints didn\u2019t answer. But their glares said everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thane watched it all from the corner of the room, calm, calculating. He leaned slightly toward Gabriel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019re gonna be a problem tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNah,\u201d Gabriel said with a grin. \u201cThey\u2019ll be gone before our first bridge.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Soundcheck was its own mess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vandal Saints insisted on a full-volume test, pushed the opening slot\u2019s time limit, and tried to monopolize the monitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Mark asked politely for five minutes to program a lighting cue, the Saints\u2019 drummer scoffed, \u201cWho the hell still uses manual lighting?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark simply stared at him and said, \u201cPeople who still earn<\/em> their audience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It got quiet<\/em> after that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

When the doors opened, the room buzzed with anticipation. The merch booth already had a line<\/em>, and it wasn\u2019t for the opening act. By the time Vandal Saints were announced onstage, the crowd inside numbered maybe\u2026 forty? Fifty at best?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They played their first song to scattered claps, empty railings, and the distant hum of fans still out in the parking lot tailgating in Feral Eclipse<\/em> shirts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By their third track, people were just<\/em> starting to filter in \u2014 but only because they wanted good spots for the real<\/em> show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Saints kept playing, bitter and stiff. You could see the fury bubbling on their faces every time someone entered mid-song, didn\u2019t cheer, and immediately made their way toward center stage\u2026 wearing clawed makeup or wolf-themed jackets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final straw was near the end of their set \u2014 a fan near the front yelled \u201cTWO SONGS TIL ECLIPSE!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even Gabriel, backstage and watching the monitors, nearly fell out of his chair laughing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time Vandal Saints finished, the room had tripled<\/em> in size \u2014 but no one clapped louder than polite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They left the stage in silence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Backstage, they stormed past the pack in the hallway \u2014 hot with sweat and shame. Their frontman growled under his breath, \u201cEnjoy it while it lasts. You\u2019re just a trend.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabriel looked him up and down and smiled like a wolf with a secret.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFunny,\u201d he said, \u201cpeople said the same thing about fire.<\/em> And we all still use that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rival singer didn\u2019t respond. Couldn\u2019t. Just kept walking, shoulders hunched, tail tucked metaphorically between his legs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thane shook his head slowly. \u201cYou\u2019d think they\u2019d learn by now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark sipped from his soda can. \u201cThey don\u2019t. That\u2019s why we headline.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The venue in San Diego was legendary. Brick walls, floor-to-ceiling rigged lighting, and a crowd capacity of nearly 2,000. Sold out. Feral Eclipse was topping the bill. And in the opening slot? Vandal Saints. When the Saints arrived for load-in and soundcheck, the air in the venue shifted. They were tense. Bitter. Hungover on ego. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tour-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3208,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462\/revisions\/3208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}