I am an idol to thousands across the globe, you would think nothing would get to me but I am still nervous. Four familiar men surround me, of course they are familiar most of us have been playing music together for 10 years. Thomas, or better known as “the master” (his stage name), is sitting on a couch at the back of the pre show tent. “Five minutes until show time” I hear someone call from a distance. James is beside Thomas tuning his bass, Alex is getting his glass of water from the tap, guitar slung over his back, if anyone should be nervous it is him. Alex plays with me in one of my smaller side project bands he is playing with us until Harry who is our regular guitar player, wrist heals and he gets the doctor’s permission to let him play again. There are 240 000 screaming fans out there… 240 000! All waiting in anticipation for the lights to come on and for that initial kick of the drum to announce the show has started. All waiting for me to step on the stage. I am pacing back and forth in the tent, nervousness overcomes me. As I slow my pace down to a stop, I look over to my left where my guitars line the side of the tent. Soon there will be roadies coming to bring them closer to the stage and make sure they are in tune and ready for use. To my right is the practice kit for our drummer, Amos, I can hear the crash of the cymbal over and over again, I recognize the familiar crashes, it is a beat used in one of our songs.

All of a sudden, a man wearing a headset pokes his head through the entrance of the tent directly in front of me and yells “three minutes until show time”. At that same moment a couple of roadies rush in and grab my guitars, I follow them out of the tent and face the back of the stage. A short time after I step out of the tent an uneasy feeling in my stomach stops me; my breathing is accelerating and more audible than before. It is already dark outside, the few lamp posts that leave a dimly lit path between the stage and our tent is all that I notice. I suddenly feel even more nervous and that uneasy feeling becomes increasingly worse with each passing second. I have never played in front of such a large crowd and I don’t want to mess it up. As I begin to gain speed toward the stage I can hear Thomas behind me, practicing his scales, his vocals seem spot on tonight and that just puts more pressure on me. I need this to be perfect and I am playing main lead instead of harmonizing lead because Harry sprained his wrist three days ago and Alex isn’t an advanced enough guitar player to learn those parts.

As I get closer to the stage I start breathing faster, heavier, harder and I start sweating. Everything is so quiet I can hear the splash of every drop of sweat that hits the ground. The sounds of splashes are much more numerous then I’d expect, are my band mates nervous too? As I arrive backstage a man I don’t recognize hands me a bottle of water and tells me to drink some. I can see his lips moving which is the only reason I know what he said because I can’t hear him. All I can hear is the sound of my own breath; it is so loud in my own mind that I feel like Darth Vader and the now very loud sound of droplets beating against the floor. What I was hearing was not my band mates sweat hitting the floor, but rain. Since I am backstage underneath the tarps that are meant to protect all of the electrical equipment, which is beeping away almost violently, irritating me and the other band members, the rain doesn’t reach me. “One minute” someone calls out and I am drawn back to my senses. I grab a guitar and feel the cold nickel strings; I just know that they are brand new Ernie Ball super slinky strings. I quickly strum a few notes to make sure it’s in tune. Then the house lights shut off and the whole place is dark for a second until the stage lights come on in an abundance of different directions and colors.
The uproar of the crowd all cheering and chanting our name is overwhelming, I take a step back blown away by the sheer volume of their cheering and we haven’t even walked on stage yet! After a short moment of shock I come to my senses and I take a drink from my bottle. The cold water runs down the back of my throat, but to my surprise has a delicious strawberry flavor to it. “Ahhh” I say feeling somewhat refreshed but still nervous, “just the way I like it”. The man with a headset comes and taps me on the back and says; “you’re up.”

With that he gives me a light shove forward and I slowly start toward the stage. The rain now down pouring harder than before drenches my hair as soon as I step onto the stage. I look out over the endless swarm of people, are they not bothered by the rain? They must be too excited to notice it because their cheers grow in volume when the spot light shines on me. Their arms waving in the air as if each one of them is trying to get my attention. I put on a smile and run to my position on the stage waving to the crowd that stretches beyond my vision. I see huge flat screens about 200 meters into the crowd and another set 150 to 200 meters beyond the first set, they are for those who are further back and can’t see us as well. I immediately smell the unsettling scent of weed and cigarette smoke. I ignore the familiar scent because it is almost part of a rock concert, you can’t have one without half the crowd being high. The stage is a semi-circle with three levels. The front level is the lowest and it is where I will be when it comes time for a guitar solo, but right now, I am on the second level and the drum kit is behind me on the third level. My band mates, one by one, follow me out onto the stage and got into their positions, the crowd getting more and more excited as each one arrives. My stomach is turning and I feel like I am going to be sick, but I suppress those nervous feelings when I hear the drum sticks clicking together meaning the song is about to start. One, two, three, four, I count and then I forget any nervous feeling that may have bothered me and start the show.