“We did it, we’re in!” Lil’ D cried out jubilantly back at the apartment. “Time to party!”

“Whoa, settle down there Lil’ D,” I said. “We’ve still got a ways to go here.”

“The celebration will have to wait for now, we need to get ready for the finals,” added Siren. “We should practice.”

“No,” Billy started. “Let’s just relax tonight. Getting too wound up in practice at this point could do more harm than good.”

“He’s got a point,” I agreed. “Let’s just take it easy, one more night of practice isn’t going to make a difference at this point. Best to enter the finals tomorrow refreshed and ready to play.”

“I suppose you guys are right,” said Siren. “You have more experience with this sort of thing. She was kind of right. Billy and I have been in bands much longer then the girls. Though, and I can’t speak totally for Billy, I’ve never been in a situation like this before.

“Also you have to remember that nice little rule about not having to play the same song twice,” added Lil’ D, snapping me back into the moment.

“Yeah, that’s right too,” I said. “With both Battery and Souls of Black out of our pool of songs tomorrow we have a better chance of getting songs we can play well.”

“Good point,” said Siren. “Never thought of it like that, but that actually puts us at a bit of an advantage I suppose.”

“So what we going to do for now then?” asked Billy. Billy’s words were soon followed by a period of silence. After a minute or so of nothing the void was broken by the sound of a low rumbling.

“Thunder?” asked Siren.

“No, sky was nice all day, and was supposed to be clear tonight,” said Billy. “Good night for the, ... … …”

“Fireworks!” exclaimed Lil’ D as the source of the rumbling became blatantly apparent as the scene outside the window became full of dazzling light. “Come on, let’s go watch!” said Lil’ D as she motioned towards the door. So we did. We made our way to the top of our building. By no means the tallest of the buildings around us, but tall enough to give us a decent view of the Charles River where the fireworks were being set off. As the show continued more of the building’s tenets caught on to Lil’ D’s idea and had also made their way to the roof to see the show.

It was a nice change of pace. Among the anonymity of the crowd at least for a while we weren’t a band with the most important gig we’ve ever had looming over our heads. We were just a group a friends enjoying the Fourth of July.

The day had come, the fifth of July, not as historically meaningful as the previous day, but as far as our personal histories were concerned today was as significant as Christmas, Halloween and Guy Fawkes Day all wrapped up into one. We made our way to the Establishment a little before four. A lot of set up needed to be done before the doors opened at six and the rocking started at seven. We met up with the owners of the Establishment and representatives from the various sponsors of the event. Jimmy was there as well. They explained the rules of the finals one last time.

“Each band will play a set of four songs chosen at random from the remaining songs in that band’s pool of songs,” explained a woman, her name was Kathy Simmons. I would later find out that she’s the owner of the Establishment. “Remember that all songs you played in the preliminaries will be removed from your pool so you won’t have to play the same song twice. During your set you may choose to veto one song you are assigned, that song will then be removed from your pool and another one will be chosen.

“Each band also has their own dressing room here back stage, so you can properly prepare for your set and also to have a little private space to relax when you’re not on stage. Are there any questions so far?” she asked the sixteen of us.

“Yeah, will a judge for the contest be announcing the songs during the show or will we each get our set list before the show starts?” asked one of the guys from another band.

“Just like the preliminaries an associate from the contest will announce the name of the song you’re about to perform. In this case we’ll be having an emcee for the event. Good question.” she replied.

That was a good question. I don’t know whether or not the guy asked it just out of his own curiosity or is he read as deeply into the situation as I did. Back in the preliminaries we were being judged directly against our opponent on the same song, so announcing the song to everyone, especially the crowd had nothing to do with the outcome of the contest. In the finals however there wasn’t a panel of judges, the winner was going to be chosen by the crowd, and if this crowd hears a song they love announced only to see the band say they don’t want to play that song, well that just might be enough to influence their vote, but hey maybe I’m reading a bit too much into this. Anyway there was another question.

“What order will we be playing in?” asked the only girl in the finals not in our band.

“The order in which each band performs has already been chosen at random,” began Kathy. “When each band has played their set there will be a small break then each band will then play their song of choice for an encore. The order in which each band plays their encores has also been chosen already at random. When all the encores are done we will then collect the votes from the audience. And don’t worry about the authenticity of the voting, we’re doing it electronically, that way we’ll know the results right away. No hanging chads in this vote.” A hanging chad joke, it’s been nine years. Can you still make those?

“Are there any more questions?” asked Kathy, there where none. “Alright then Nucular Power you’re up first. Break a leg out there.”

Six o’clock came and went and soon the place began to fill to the rafters with fans of the rock. It was one of the biggest crowds I’d have ever played in front off, but hey I was a seasoned veteran at this point, over two years of doing this. There wasn’t a trace of last minute jitters, not a flap of a single belly butterfly, still I was glad we we’re going up there first. Nucular Power finished their set, followed by Omega. Bleve 186 was up next.

As we make our way to the stage to set up our instruments I couldn’t help just feel a little tingle run down my spine. Ok I lied, I was a little nervous, like you wouldn’t be. When we had finished setting ourselves up the houselights dimmed and the stage lights brightened as the emcee ran out onto the stage an announced to the crowd, “All right, our third band of the evening, Boston’s own Bleve 186! Let’s hear some noise!” The crowd was much obliged and let the emcee hear the noise he so kindly demanded from them. I liked how he said “Boston’s own” when he introduced us. Not all of the bands in the finals were local, perhaps that will help in the voting? No what am I thinking? Can’t get all wrapped up on the voting bullshit, need to clear my mind, need to focus. I am a laser guided missile of rock.

“All right Bleve 186,” said the emcee. “Your first song is, Go Your Own Way, by Fleetwood Mac, will you play this song, or are you going to use your veto?” Use our veto? Not a chance. That song rocks. I love that song. More importantly we knew that song. “We’ll play,” I said to the emcee.

“Ok then!” said the emcee who then turned to the crowd, let’s hear it for Bleve 186!” The crowd then gave out a moderate cheer and as it calmed down we began to play.

I was glad to get a song like this first. Easy song to play has a great beat to it, few memorable riffs. Its also what I like to call an audience participation song, buy which I mean it’s a song lots of people know the chorus to, and if they don’t they’ll pick it up after the first few times and they always end up singing along at the end, and as the entire crowd sang along at the end, “You can go your own way, go your own way, you can call it another lonely day!” What a great song to start with.

One song down and three to go, it was going awesomely. The most important thing for any successful gig is to have the crowd on your side, especially for a gig like this, and I think it was safe to say the crowd was loving us so far. Now to see what our next song is.

“Bleve 186,” began the emcee. “For your second song you get Pinball Wizard, by The Who. Will you play?”

Pinball Wizard, the future theme song to CSI: Greater Incorporated Tri-Country Area. Again I love that song, ever since I was a young boy, to be exact, but still, we’re a democracy. Needed to be sure the rest of the band was on board. I knew Billy would be, and Lil’ D and Siren both nodded in agreement. “We’ll play,” said Siren.

We all assumed the rock position. Billy started us off with the song’s unmistakable open riff, followed by a tag team of Siren’s voice and my bass’ funky freshness. Finally Lil’ D joined on her drums and our quartet of rock began to explode some minds. Pinball Wizard wasn’t really as good an audience participation song like Go Your Own Way was, unfortunately it lacks a real chorus, just the shared line, “That deaf, dumb and blind boy sure plays a mean pinball!” Still that didn’t stop nearly the entire room from singing along. Even if was for only a single line. In the end it was a song I enjoyed playing, and I’m pretty sure the crowd enjoyed it to.

Half way there, two songs to go, we eagerly awaited our next song.

“Ok folks two songs down, two songs to go,” called out the emcee. “For your third song you’ve drawn, Let there be Rock, by AC/DC. Will you play?”

Will we play? I wasn’t sure. Let there be Rock was on the shortlist of songs we were on the fence with, but it wasn’t on the list of songs we absolutely could not play, still Siren waved her hands at us, beckoning us to huddle up so we could make a decision.

“So what do you all think?” asked Siren. “Should we play or pass?”

“I’ll be honest, the guitar’s a tricky, but I think I can pull it off,” said Billy.

“Yeah, and the bass part’s not exactly hard, but it’s fast as hell, still I can play it. No ones really going to notice if I miss a note every once in a while,” I added.

“It is one of the harder drum songs we have left,” said Lil’ D. “I don’t know.”

“You’ll be fine Lil’ D, I know you can play it,” reassured Billy. That was all the persuasion she needed as she then added,” Let’s do this.”

“I see I’m out numbered here,” replied Siren. “Not saying I don’t want to sing this song, but it is one of the one’s I wasn’t so familiar with when we started practicing.” I could see it was now my turn to bolster some spirits.

“And, you’ve practiced more than any of us these past weeks,” I started. “Practicing with us like always, and then listening to the songs over and over again on your ipod. There was a few times when we found you asleep in the mornings earphones still plugged in when you feel asleep the night before, trust me those songs are in there,” I said pointing at Siren’s forehead.”

“You’re right,” Siren said with newfound vigor. “Plus it’s a song the crowd is sure to respond to.”

“Now you’re thinking!” added Lil’ D.

“We don’t need to be perfect,” started Billy, I then finished his thought by adding, “We just need to rock.”

“Need a decision Bleve 186,” said the emcee.

“We’ll play,” we all said together.

Again the rock positions were assumed, but there’d be no slow start this time around, Billy, Lil’ D and I all began playing at breakneck pace and formed a three pronged wave of molten liquid magma rock.

Let there be Rock, it’s a little over six and half minutes long, but it seemed like an eternity up on stage. We weren’t perfect, but there was rock, all we could hope for is that it would be enough in the end. For now we put the past behind us and awaited our final song.

“For their last song Bleve 186 has drawn,” said the emcee with a pause to make it seem more dramatic. “We Got the Beat, by the Go-Go’s.”

After hearing the name of the song I quickly made the timeout sign with my hands and waved the rest of the band over.

“What’s up Ryle?” asked Billy.

“Yeah, you agree to play a harder song, but now that we got a wicked easy song you want us to pass?” puzzled Lil’ D.

“Exactly!” I said adamantly. “This song is too easy, furthermore its crappy sugary eighties pop, and I don’t think that’s what the crowd came to hear.”

“He has a point,” Billy said. “Plus I do hate that song with a passion.”

“When you put it that way I’d have to agree,” said Siren.

“I’d rather pass on this song and take our chances with whatever’s left in our pool,” I added cementing my point. We then all went back to our respective spots on stage and Siren took the microphone and said to the emcee, “We pass.”

“You pass?” asked the emcee.

“We pass,” repeated Siren.

“I just need to be sure,” the emcee added for even more dramatic effect. It was quite annoying. He’d make a good reality show host.

“We’re absolutely sure, we pass. “ reiterated Siren.

“Very well then,” said the emcee. “Then you last song will be.” Yet another pause. “Aqualung, by Jethro Tull.”

I couldn’t believe it, of all the songs to get after that we get Aqualung, the first song we ever played together. Now I’m not a real believer in fate and all that happy horseshit, but I could help but see this as a sign.

Needless to say we rocked at Aqualung, so needless in fact that I’m not going to go into any farther detail on the matter. With our four songs done we returned backstage and waited for the final band to finish their set. We heard them playing, but weren’t really paying attention. It was just background noise as we plotted our next move.

“So, encore, what are we going to play?” asked Lil’ D.

“So many great songs, hard to choose just one,” replied Siren.

“Well Everlong was on the list, and that never came up for us,” I suggested. “Want to play that?”

“Great song,” added Billy. “I’m all for that one.”

“I don’t know,” said Lil’ D. “That song is wicked, wicked hard on drums.”

“Yeah you have a point,” I said. “Even Kelsi had problems playing that song.”

“Well that song’s out then,” said Billy.

“I don’t think we should play that song anyway,” said Siren. “Think about it, this last song is our choice, so we should pick the best song we know that isn’t on the list, that way we’ll be sure to play something fresh and new for our last impression on the audience.”

“I see you’ve put some thought into this,” said Billy. “So the question is what’s our best song?”

That was the question. We all put a lot of thought into it. I tried to remember every song I’d ever played. Carry on Wayward Son? No, that was on the list. Don’t Fear the Reaper? No that was with Valefor. That’s What You Get is probably the song we’re the best at, but not only was that on the list, but we played it in the first round. Aqualung was the first song we ever played together, but of course we just played that. Then I thought even further back, the first song I played after leaving Valefor.

“Feeling This,” I said out of nowhere, breaking everyone else’s train of thought. “I know we weren’t all together then, but Feeling This, was the first song Siren and I played together, and we rocked at it. You guys know it too, right?”

“Yeah I can play that,” answered Billy.

“We are called Bleve 186 aren’t we?” responded Lil’ D.

“Alright then, we’ll play Feeling This,” I announced. “And we will rock.”

Before we had a chance to rock we’d need to know in what order we’d be rocking. Again as before, Kathy briefed us before the encore round would begin.

“Okay folks, rockers and folk rockers,” she began. “We have randomly selected the order in which you’ll be performing your encores. Now remember this order is completely random and in no way reflects your standing in the contest. Now without any farther ado, the order.” She then took a folded piece of paper from her pocket and began to read. “Omega, ironically enough you will be starting this round off, followed by Misfit Biscuit, then Nucular Power and finally Bleve 186. You will each play a single song of choice after which the voting will take place,” she said looking around the room, gathering our silent reactions to her announcement. “I take it there are no further questions?” There were none. “All right then, Rock on Omega.”

Fucking awesome! We’re playing last. We truly are the encore, but most importantly being the last band to perform we’d make the most recent impression on the audience, and we aimed to make it a good one. I peered off onto the stage from the side and saw Omega finish setting up. I then walked farther backstage and waited with the others for our turn.

Yes in three short songs we’d be rocking the house the down with the smooth sounds of one of our namesakes.

Then Omega’s drummer began the play, he played a rather familiar opening.

Less than three songs now, I thought to myself.

Omega’s guitarist then joined the drummer, again playing a hauntingly familiar riff. Started to feel a bit uneasy.

Finally Omega’s singer took up the mike and worked the audience by saying, Get ready for action!”

“Son of a bitch!” I couldn’t help it, it just came out. Thankfully I was far enough backstage that it didn’t effect what the crowd heard, but at this point I really could care less.

“That’s our song!” blurted Lil’ D, getting straight to the point as always. “Now what do we do?”

“Well we can’t play this song now,” said Siren, stating the obvious. “We have to think of something.”

“Yeah and we’d better come up with plan b quick,” urged Billy, opening the door to our dressing room and frantically waved us inside.

Fuck! That was the single word running through my mind. Then more words came. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. Fuck, still not a song. Then more actually different words came up. Shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, tits, fart, turd and twat! That's technically another Blink 182 song, but probably not the best one to play. Think Ryle, think. What song can we play that we all know well and will appeal to the entire crowd? Our brainstorming time was running short. Omega had already left the stage and I could hear Misfit Biscuit began playing the instantly recognized opening of Stairway to Heaven. Awesome, eight more minutes to think, think damn it think. You’ve played encores before, and they rocked, then again none of those times was I following another song stealing band, nor were they during possibly career changing events. Think, think, think. Wait a minute, there was that one encore, and it certainly was a career altering event. I think I just came up with plan b.

“I got it!” I proclaimed to the others. “Have I ever told you about this theory of mine?”