The music was LOUD! The audience was even LOUDER. Jack’s band did their opening song. It was one that Sarah knew well. She found herself singing along to the lyrics with tens of thousands of people around her. “Repeat after me, Miami!” Jack yelled into the microphone on his headset. “When I told you I loved you –” Jack sang.”YOU LOOKED TO THE SKY!” the audience screamed. “When I told you I need you –” Jack sang.”YOU DIDN’T REPLY!” the audience screamed. Sarah felt tears in her eyes. She’d never been to a live concert before. And she’d never expected to be in the VIP section to boot. It was surreal to watch the band sing songs she’d only ever heard through the speakers of a radio or computer. Not to mention the many different cover bands that tried to sing Jack’s famous songs. No one could ever sing the song the way it was originally meant to be sung. Only the original writer and musician could do that. And here she was, getting the FULL BLAST of all of Jack’s famous songs. The feeling was beyond anything she could have ever imagined. “Don’t walk away from my heart when it wants you near –” Jack sang. He flung out his arms to signal the crowd to continue the song.”LISTEN TO ITS BEAT AND HAVE NO FEAR!” the audience screamed. “You’re all that matters to me, pretty girl –” Jack sang. “YOU’RE ALL THAT MATTERS IN THE ENTIRE WORLD!” the audience shouted. Half a dozen professional dancers appeared on the stage and began to do a fantastic routine in perfect coordination. As the drummer pounded out the last set of beats on his drum set, at the same time, the two electric guitar players strummed out the final line of the song. “You’ll be mine–” Jack sang. He held the tune for an extended duration.”FOR AAAALLLL TIIIIME!” the crowd yelled back. The stage went dark. And the deafening roar of applause immediately followed. “Come on!” Erin yelled grabbing Sarah’s arm again. “But I want to stay here!” Sarah called back in surprise. She could barely see Erin without the lights on. Not to mention how unbelievably LOUD it still was with all the people, mainly other teenagers, screaming their heads off all around them. “Trevor said it won’t take long!” Erin hollered back. Sarah reluctantly followed her friends along the narrow walkway and under the flap.She found that the Underworld was a whole lot brighter now. The rocket ship from the opening act was now pushed to the side of the room, out of the way. “Hey, guys! How’d we do?” Jack asked. He and his band had already changed out of their black glittery outfits and now wore bright red jumpsuits. “YOU WERE WONDERFUL! AMAZING!” Sarah yelled doing a slight twirl.The entire staff in the room burst out laughing at her twirl, momentarily catching her off-guard.”You’re acting star struck!” Erin whispered, though she was smiling.Sarah blushed. She was acting like a happy little kid. But she couldn’t help it. The concert was so exciting. She noticed Bent had disappeared. Again. The group watched as Jack strummed his guitar, testing the chords. “One minute!” one of the staff called through the walkie talkies. The drummer pretended to shiver. “I’m so nervous!” He started to crack up. Chad and Dan laughed too. “You guys playing Licorice now?” Trevor asked. Jack nodded. “Guess the red jumpsuits gave that away, huh?” Trevor grinned. “Nah, I just know this gig by heart.” The electric guitarist named Rick poked Trevor in the side. “I better hear you in the crowd, boy!” “You’ll hear me all right,” Trevor said. He gave Rick a high five. The band headed up the staircase back towards the stage. Erin started towards the flap again that led back out into the theater. “I can’t get over how truly incredible this all is. I mean, we can go back and forth from backstage to the theater anytime we want. I am actually DYING right now. Can’t you tell?” She pretended to faint. “I know! I don’t want to leave. EVER!” Sarah giggled. The girls hurried after the boys who were already out in the theater. Jack’s band performed for two hours. Many of the costume changes and special effects happened right on stage. Actual fire burned in huge funnels during different songs. There were more fireworks. And there were incredibly loud explosions that shook the entire room.Every so often, Jack and other members of his band would walk along a long platform that stretched out into the center of the huge room. The band would slap hands with random people in the crowd who’d reach their hands up towards the platform to touch the rock stars. Sarah and Erin danced the entire show. At one point, the girls had to stand barefoot to relieve their aching feet from their high heels. When the final song ended, the group headed back along the narrow passage, and into the Underworld. Jack and his band were very tired and very sweaty. “We’re gonna go clean up. Meet up with us at the bus in about a half hour?” Jack told Trevor. “Sounds good, man!” Trevor yelled. He had the head of his werewolf costume pulled down. It had gotten very hot in the theater, especially for Trevor in all that fake fur. Dan and Chad’s make up had actually stayed on. The boys looked exhausted from all of the dancing and shouting they’d done for the past couple of hours. “Let’s get you kids some food while you wait for Jack,” Patty said. Her walkie talkies continued to crackle loudly on her waist. She led them back down the concrete corridor and pushed open a door labeled ‘Catering.’ There was food everywhere in this room.At least four different long tables had everything you could possibly ask for. There were bags of candy. Vegetables and dipping sauces. There were sandwich platters. Pizza boxes. And a table of different types of desserts from cakes to puddings to ice cream cones. The group grabbed handfuls of food and dropped into chairs to polish off the meal. Sarah realized she didn’t have much of an appetite. She was busily flexing her toes that had cramped in her high heels. “Eat something, Sarah!” Erin said. “You’ll need your strength for the AFTER PARTY!”