A couple of songs later, the stage lights dimmed as Todd, Paul and Grey slipped off stage. Shunning the stool that had been brought out for him, Jake plugged his radio pack into his acoustic guitar and sat down on the edge of the stage to play. One of the crew came scurrying out to move his microphone down into place beside him.
“Time to mellow things out a bit for a few minutes,” said Jake as he tweaked the tuning of his guitar. “You ready to help me out with a few acoustic numbers?”
The acoustic interlude was always one of Jake’s favourite parts of the show. He fed off the more intimate connection with the fans, drawing comfort and reassurance from their emotions. Keeping his own emotions under control in the circumstances was proving to be a challenge. As he began to sing Lady Butterfly, he caught sight of Lori standing in the wings with Jesse in her arms and Melody by her side. A single tear escaped unbidden down his cheeks as he fought to keep his voice strong and steady. In front of him, the dedicated Silver Lakers had also been overcome by the grief and the emotion surrounding the show. By the time he was singing Bonded Souls, several of them were openly weeping.
“Baltimore, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for helping me through that,” said Jake sincerely. “You are incredible.”
Getting to his feet and changing guitar in favour of his custom Mz Hyde, Jake asked, “Are you ready to welcome some friends out here to play their own tributes to Rich?”
As the rest of Silver Lake returned to the stage, Jake continued, “Folks, please welcome the incredibly beautiful and talented Miss Ellen Lloyd from After Life out on stage.”
Much to Jake’s surprise, Ellen had changed into her full witch-like stage costume but, instead of her trademark eye patch, had opted for her round purple John Lennon style glasses. Beside him, he heard Grey say, “Here she comes. Witchy Woo from the East.”
“Folks, this is Mysteries,” introduced Jake as he suppressed a wave of nervous laughter.
It had been over five years since Jake and Ellen had last duetted on the popular Silver Lake song. Despite their lack of rehearsal, it felt as if they had performed the song only days before. Their voices complemented each other to perfection and the fans hung on their every word.
“Folks, give it up for Ellen!” yelled Jake when the song ended.
Having taken an overly theatrical curtsey cum bow, Ellen swept gracefully off stage as Jake prepared to welcome out Silver Lake’s next guest.
“Our next friend has flown in from Southern California for this show,” began Jake. “Please give a huge cheer for the Queen of Scream herself, Tori!”
The song he’d chosen for Tori to guest on was What Happened Today, a sultry blues-based ballad. It had been one of Silver Lake’s singles from their last album, Elements, and was also one he’d duetted with Tori on once before for a TV music show.
In contrast to Ellen, Tori had chosen to dress down for the occasion. Looking relaxed in a black vest tee, ripped skinny jeans and Converse, she greeted each member of the band warmly, whispering to Jake as she hugged him, “Rich would have loved this show.”
“I hope so,” said Jake, hugging her back.
His duet with Molton’s leading lady was an entirely different affair to the duet with Ellen. What Happened Today was slower paced and, instead of showcasing Tori’s trademark screams, it gave the Silver Lake fans the chance to hear the other side to her, the blues queen side. The song had developed into one of the band’s favourites from the Elements tour but, as they reached the mid-song solo, Jake felt another stab of grief over the loss of his bandmate. As the solo began, he turned sharply aware that it wasn’t Todd playing. To his surprise, Garrett Court had slipped on stage to do the honours. Smiling over at him, Jake realised that it had been an inspired intervention.
The guests kept coming over the next three songs as the two guitarists from After Life joined the band to play Losing Control then Mikey from Weigh Station stepped out to play on Witchcraft. Still in her cloak, Ellen couldn’t resist sneaking back out to sing the final chorus with Jake totally unrehearsed. The bass-heavy anthem Dance With The Devil saw After Life’s bassist Luke Court join Grey much to the delight of the crowd. Having so many friends of the band playing helped the remaining members of Silver Lake sustain the celebratory feel to the show.
“Folks, I’m going to call Garrett back out here for a few minutes,” said Jake, still slightly out of breath after singing Dance With The Devil.
With a wave to the fans, Garrett loped across the stage to join Jake.
“Battle To The Death!” roared Jake as the two guitarists played side by side in complete synchronisation.
The highly technical guitar duet was one Silver Lake had only ever played on rare occasions due to its complexities but it was one that had always been a firm fan favourite. Playing it with Garrett by his side felt almost surreal and, again, Jake found himself wrestling with his emotions. Skilfully, Garrett had altered his own style of playing in an attempt to sound more akin to Rich. Closing his eyes as the solo drew to a close, Jake could almost believe it was Rich by his side. The image tore at his heart.
With only two songs left on the main set, Silver Lake invited all of their special guests back out to join them for Another Turn Of The Screw before finally rounding things off with a monumental rendition of Engine Room. The Ram’s Head stage was crowded
