World Tour

Houston: concert

Thank God, the luthier, who turned out to be a very pleasant middle aged guy, had taken one look at the broken bow and had known what to do. Brett had thanked him about twenty times, and had looked like he wanted to hug the guy, making Eddy grin.
And now they were on their way back with one fixed and rehaired bow, and one incredibly relieved Brett. 

He would have to get as much practice as possible in now, because he'd have to get used to the new hair and know exactly how it handled, before the concert.
So the rest of the afternoon was spent with Brett playing, and Eddy doing all the arranging with the venue and the crew.  

This also left him to deal with the horrible woman of the venue now, who still wasn't budging on the meet and greet stance, and he was getting as fed up with her as Brett had been. He knew it was going to be a disaster tonight. 

But concert time approached anyway and the familiar nerves were floating around in his belly. 
They were in their dressing room, Brett still playing scales and checking his sautillée and ricochet. 
As Eddy waited and paced, violin in hand, he wondered idly if he'd ever stop getting nervous before a concert. He suddenly remembered a vlog they'd made before the tour started, where he'd said that people always asked them how they handled the anxiety, and he had joked that they didn't: they just suffered. 
The thought made him grin. Some things never change, apparently. 

¨It sounds great¨, he said to Brett, pulling himself out of his reverie. ¨The luthier did an awesome job.¨
¨Yeah, I'm pretty happy with it!¨ Brett replied. 
He walked over to Brett, and enveloped him in the biggest hug. 
¨I love you¨, he whispered. ¨Can't wait to play our first concert as your fiancé.¨
Brett looked up at him, smiling, and kissed him sweetly. 
¨Come on, let's head to the wings, my love¨, he said.

As they ran onto the stage the crowd seemed massive. There wasn't a single empty seat anywhere. 
Brett looked sideways at Eddy, beaming, as he put his newly rehaired bow to his violin and played his first notes. 
It all went very smoothly, Eddy was having the time of his life and the audience were clearly loving it.  

Towards the end of the concert they were playing the Navarra, which had turned into one of their favourite duets, and Eddy was in the zone. He looked at Brett, turning slightly to the left, and found him smiling back at him. They were rocking this! 

Suddenly he felt something go ¨snap¨ under his chin, and he could only watch in horror as his chin rest fell off and toppled to the ground. 
What the fuck? What was it with their violin parafernalia today? 
He stopped breathing, but somehow managed to keep playing. Thank fuck the concert was almost over! 

¨Whoa!¨ he exclaimed  to the audience, after the last chord,  ¨I guess I played with such passion I almost broke my  violin!¨
The audience roared with laughter.
He picked up his chin rest with an exaggeratedly grand gesture and put it on the piano, to more laughter and cheering. Phew, moment saved. 
He'd just have to play the last bits squeezing his chin onto the violin itself, baroque style. 


As the applause died away and they walked off the stage Brett looked at him, astounded. 
¨What the fuck happened there! It just fell off for no reason!¨
¨I know, right? It was ridiculous!¨ Eddy answered. 
¨You handled it like a pro, though.¨ Brett said. ¨I wonder if the audience even knew it wasn't part of the show. You saved it nicely.¨
¨Well thanks. I thought I was going to have a heart attack!¨


They walked into their dressing room briefly, to put away their violins, and Eddy sighed deeply. The meet and greet, in the way too small a space, was about to go ahead. 
He looked at Brett. 
¨We'll be okay.¨
¨Yeah.¨ Brett said, clearly not convinced at all. 
After another sigh, they walked out of their dressing room and made their way through the stark halls of the theatre to the front of house.

He really wished they would have exaggerated, that they would have been wrong, but no, they hadn't been, and they saw it as soon as they walked up. 
It was chaos. People were everywhere, standing in the halls, on the stairs, pushing others, and Eddy could quite easily have crowd surfed if he had had any inclination to.
Oh my God... 
Eddy was not a fan of big crowds, so he took a deep breath, and then they pushed through the throngs of people to get to their table, where they could sign and take photos with fans.
When they finally got there the woman of the venue turned out to be standing next to the table, trying to keep things under control and looking absolutely panicked, and for a moment Eddy lost it and laughed out loud. Yup, we told you so...
He could hear Brett sniggering softly beside him.
But then they got themselves together and turned their expectant and friendly twoset faces to the first fans. 

Of course, like it always goes, they got through it. They signed, they selfied, they chatted, and they wrapped it up. They even made it back out of the crowd unharmed, and as they went to get their stuff from the dressing room the woman was nowhere to be seen. 

¨Do you reckon she's hiding?¨ Brett grinned. Eddy started laughing. What a day they'd had. 
By the time they walked out of the venue and back to their hotel, they were both in stitches. 
¨Her face!¨, Brett said, through fits of laughter. ¨Did you see her face!¨
¨Instant karma¨, Eddy replied, snorting. ¨Look, I know everything worked out okay in the end, but I'm not about to forget that concert in a hurry!¨