The second act of the Rockstar Energy Drink Taste of Chaos tour was thrown for a loop in Charlotte on Tuesday night when the lead singer, Anthony Green's flight out of Baltimore was cancelled. The band wasn't sure what they were going to do an hour before the show when they got the news, but didn't want to cheat their fans out of their part of the show. The solution they came up with what was nothing short of a once-in-a-lifetime show. They knew that it would probably be awkward and weird, but figured they would do it anyways.
The first couple songs, "Racing Towards Red Light" and "Translating the Name," were done as instrumentals with the band singing the background vocals. The audience cheered, but more in a "this is kind of really awkward but we totally respect their 'show must go on' mentality."
Anthony did make an appearance via a FaceTime call. He joked that he quit the band like he did back in 2003, but said that he was very sorry that he wasn't able to be at the show.
After the Skype call, José, the drummer from The Early November, stepped in to help the band out. The crowd was unaware that José had such a great voice, but were amazed at his ability to carry the band the way he did, especially with no practice. He preformed "Third Measurement in C" with Saosin and later came back out to help with their best-known song, "7 Years." We never expected José to take the stage, but when he did, he was amazing. He worked the crowd with tricks with the microphone that could rival Anthony's.
The coolest moment of the night, however, was when they decided to pull someone from the crowd who knew their songs to help sing it. They had joked about it and toyed with the idea throughout their set, but towards the end, they decided that it should actually happen. What started as a nightmare for the band turned into an amazing experience for one of their fans. As Ethan Lindley, who has his own band at Wake Forest, worked the crowd, pacing the stage and singing his heart out, the crowd responded in kind. He sang every word to “They Perched on Their Stilts Pointing and Daring Me to Break Custom.” The crowd cheered as the young man finished the song and probably one of the greatest adrenaline rushes of his life. Bassist Chris Sorensen thanked the fan, telling him he must have some of the biggest balls of anyone he had ever met to be able to get on the stage in front of tons of people and achieve one of the best rounds of karaoke of his life, without the words even!
