{"id":523,"date":"2023-10-21T01:00:18","date_gmt":"2023-10-21T07:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/?p=523"},"modified":"2024-02-10T10:23:02","modified_gmt":"2024-02-10T16:23:02","slug":"desert-howl-meltdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/desert-howl-meltdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Desert Howl Meltdown"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The sun blazed like a vengeful god over the dusty grounds of the Desert Howl Festival<\/em> \u2014 an outdoor rock-and-metal bacchanal held in a sprawling patch of scrubland east of Palm Springs. Massive scaffolds towered over the dunes, strung with LED panels and flame cannons. Tents stretched for miles. Fans wore everything from band merch to full-body wolf fursuits, already dancing, moshing, and shouting as the first afternoon acts wrapped up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Backstage, chaos brewed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Saints had arrived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Vandal Saints\u2019 tour van rolled into the staff lot three hours late, sun-bleached, dusty, and aggressively idling with a crooked bumper and two different wheels on the driver\u2019s side. The bass player was passed out with a Slurpee stuck to his forehead. Their lead singer, Bret, stomped out first \u2014 already shirtless, already scowling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He looked around at the flurry of crew members setting up the headlining act\u2019s rig.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feral Eclipse.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And there it was \u2014 their name in ten-foot letters<\/em> across the top of the main stage\u2019s lighting truss. Below it, an enormous LED wall played looping highlights of previous shows: fire, fans, rooftop tributes, and Gabriel mid-air, bass slung low, howling into a sea of screaming people.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bret\u2019s jaw locked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve got pyro<\/em>?\u201d he snapped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve got drone coverage<\/em>,\u201d their manager replied grimly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd a damn howl pit cam<\/em>!\u201d added their drummer, pointing to a rigged GoPro being lowered over the crowd zone like it was setting up for a championship match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bret turned and spat on the dirt. \u201cUnbelievable. We should\u2019ve never agreed to open for a bunch of furry freaks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crew tech nearby \u2014 wearing a \u201cTeam Thane\u201d T-shirt \u2014 didn\u2019t even blink. \u201cYou guys are on the side stage. First slot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bret spun. \u201cWHAT?!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeah,\u201d the guy said flatly. \u201cFeral Eclipse requested extra rig time and crowd flow control, so your set got moved. It\u2019s, like\u2026 a 3 p.m. slot now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the sun?\u201d Bret shrieked. \u201cNo lighting?! No visuals?!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo crowd,\u201d the tech muttered under his breath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

And he was right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time the Saints hit their first note, they were playing to a sunburned row of lawn chairs and three fans \u2014 two of whom were clearly just using the shade behind the speaker stacks to nap. Every scream from the far-off main stage only made their own vocals sound flatter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Feral Eclipse was just arriving<\/em> \u2014 greeted like rock royalty by a sea of fans at the security barricade, phones raised, chants echoing:
\u201cFERAL! FERAL! FERAL!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Backstage, Thane stood under the tailgate of the tour van, arms crossed, watching the dust swirl behind the Saints\u2019 side stage. He heard the mic feedback from across the grounds \u2014 a painful screech followed by someone yelling \u201cAw, come on!<\/em>\u201d into a dead channel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabriel wandered over, sipping an iced coffee and smirking. \u201cThink they\u2019ll make it to the end of their set?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDoesn\u2019t matter,\u201d Thane said. \u201cNobody\u2019s watching.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark wandered up holding his tablet and snorted. \u201cCorrection. Two thousand<\/em> people are watching\u2026 through the livestream titled \u2018Vandal Saints Get Cooked Alive in the Desert.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabriel cackled. \u201cDamn. That sun\u2019s not the only thing scorching them today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thane just chuckled. \u201cPlay stupid games\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabriel grinned back. \u201cWin Feral Eclipse.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The sun blazed like a vengeful god over the dusty grounds of the Desert Howl Festival \u2014 an outdoor rock-and-metal bacchanal held in a sprawling patch of scrubland east of Palm Springs. Massive scaffolds towered over the dunes, strung with LED panels and flame cannons. Tents stretched for miles. Fans wore everything from band merch […]<\/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-523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tour-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523","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=523"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3181,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523\/revisions\/3181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/tourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}