Dancing Away With It

by ALC Punk!

She whirled away from the keys taking the microphone with her. "I-I remember, once, in my peach," her knees ached with the force of her collapse onto the stage, "party dress, no one dared. No one cared to tell me--where those pretty girls are... Those Demigods!" She surged to her feet with the beat, "With their nine-inch nails and little fascist panties tucked inside the heart of every nice girl!!" her fingers flew on the keyboard again, pulling sound out in a fury.

The rest of the band followed her through the frantic motion, playing as if it would never end.

The abrupt stop left them all standing, steaming, energised. ~I wonder, if...~ Kat paused, as the audience clapped and cheered, she looked around at them all again. A wicked grin split her face. ~This could be fun!~

"Cannonball!" she yelled. She felt their surprise as she called for a song *not* on the set list.

Kat felt incredible pride as they ripped into a jazzy, energetic version of the Breeders' song. She grabbed the mic, forcing the song out in raucous joy, "Spitting in a wishing well.. Blown to hell..crash, I'm the last splash!"

She sang at the audience, cavorting around the stage and flirting with them. Begging them to dance, to sing along, then allowing them to rest, but listen.

They came out of the end and spun into the Cure's 'Wrong Number'; she was back at the keyboard popping and pinging electric noise around them in a web of high tech energy. She handed the lyrical control off to Pete, and sang harmony and descant, alternating. ~Robert himself couldn't have done this better.~ she thought happily. ~And, everyone's catching fire, too! This straying from the set list thing is good!~

"I'm sorry, you've got a wrong number." she told him.

Pete gave her a taunting look and hopped into the opening chords for Men Without Hats' 'Safety Dance'

She laughed in delight and followed him in, the song caught her, she sang. "We can dance if we want to, we can leave your friends behind. 'Cause your friends don't dance and if they don't dance, well, they're no friends of mine!"

She giggled, as she and Pete traded off verses, and watched the audience dance.

"And we can dance.."

Kat danced out from behind the keyboard and around the stage, up to Pete. Around him, then with him as he followed her. She flung out a hand and Pete stopped playing to grab it and twirl her. The band halted playing and yelled out in unison: "S..A..F..E..T..Y..Safety Dance!!"

The audience drew breath and she whirled away, catching up the melody on the keys again. Illyana thundered in under her with the drums and Doug walked back into the bass line, twisting it almost out of recognition, segueing into the Cure's 'Why Can't I be You?'

With only a thought, they all jumped onto the bandwagon, Kat grabbing the vocals for herself, "You're so gorgeous, I'll do anything! I'll kiss you from your feet to where you're head begins!"

Sweat hit her eyes, and she wished she'd tied her hair back as it fell down into them again. She shoved it back with a hand and took up the lead for Loreena McKennitt's 'Marrakhesh Night Market' ~Time to slow down a little.~

"They're gathered in circles. The lamps light their faces. The crescent moon, rocks in the sky."

She felt the audience breathing in relief at the respite. Kat grinned. "Would you like my mask? Would you like my mirror?"

Pete noodled around, playing with the different sounds, bringing an odd eerie quality to the already luminous song. He created an odd sound, Kat followed it, feeling it bringing another song out, and waited.

Kurt and his electric fiddle began wailing out the intro. Kat waited.

Doug followed Kurt, supporting him. Kat waited.

Illyana added an odd fill, and Pete finally noticed where they were going with this. Kat grinned and pulled the words out of her memory, "My life goes on in endless song, above Earth's lamentations, I hear the real, though far-off hymn that hails a new creation.."

The audience listened quietly as she and the band played slowly through Enya's 'How Can I Keep From Singing?'

Illyana crashed down on her cymbals on the last note and yelled out "Twenty seconds and counting!"

Kurt began playing the tune, Pete leaned into his mic and echoed Illyana, "Twenty seconds and counting.."

Kat wondered wildly how they'd gone from singing about purity to sin, but shrugged and switched to a full orchestra sound, laying down the opening sounds. ~Oh, God, I love this!~ The audience appeared to as well, as it held its collective breath, waiting.

Pete readied his hand, "Five, four, three, two, one!" the opening chord crashed out, followed by the drums and bass. "When I look back upon my life, it's always with a sense of shame--I've always been the one to blame!"

Kat grinned, ~That describes Pete, perfectly!~ The audience began joyfully dancing again. ~Guess we're not going to slow down then.~

Pete even remembered the confession at the end as they degenerated into electronic pops and wails from Kurt's violin.

Kat swept them up into 'Blue Monday' as they paused for an instant. Pete sang again, "How does it feel? To treat me like you do? When you've laid your hands upon me, and told me who you are...."

"When your heart grows cold. When your heart grows cold..."

Pete's voice echoed in the silence for a minute. Then, "God.... Money?"

Kat blinked, ~Head Like a Hole? Oh, peachy!~ The distinctive opening began. She shook her head to get the hair moved again. It didn't work. She moved a hand off the keys again and shoved it back.

"God money, I'll do anything for you! God money, just tell me what you want me to. God money nail me up against the wall. God money don't want everything, he wants it all!" Pete sang with gusto and Illyana pounded out the beat happily.

Kurt kept playing his demon fiddle, putting an odd depth into the sound. Rahne and her guitar were raucously fuzzing.

Kat waited till almost the end, then yelled out over the final chorus, "And gold is the reason for the wars we wage!" ~Set list? What was that??~ She giggled.

"You know who you are!" Pete fell out of 'Head Like a Hole' into 'New Year's Day' without missing a beat.

Kat switched back to piano and danced the keys into the song. Rahne cleaned up the guitar and came in neatly after two bars. Illyana kept the drums there, but low-key.

Pete took the vocals again, "All is quiet on New Year's Day, a world in white gets underway."

The audience cheered and began dancing harder, singing along.

"Nothing changes on New Year's Day.."

They finished with a flourish, drenched with sweat, happy, energised, they bowed and left the stage.

From the green room, they could here the audience cheering, begging for an encore.

"Well?" Kat looked at them. Rahne leaned against a box, fiddling with her hair. Pete grabbed Kat and danced her round a bit. Kurt and Illyana merely looked at her. Doug shrugged. "List then?"

"Oh, are we going to have a set list this time?" Illyana asked, grinning. "And keep to it?"

"Well, I guess the concept of 'set lists' went out the window after 'Precious Things'. Which was partly my fault, but.." Kat laughed, "It sure as hell was fun!!"

"That it was," Kurt agreed. "I vote we do five songs, but keep to the list this time, though."

"Ok." Kat nodded, looked around as the rest nodded or shrugged in compliance, "Songs?"

They agreed finally on the Beatles' 'Revolution', Pet Shop Boys' 'I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind Of Thing', Tori's 'Bells For Her', KMFDM- 'Juke Joint Jezebel' and My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult's 'Dirty Little Secrets' to end with.

"Shall we?" and they went back out on the stage.

"Since you asked so nicely, we're back!" The crowd roared its approval, and waited as they grabbed up their instruments.

Pete fuzzed into 'Revolution' with Rahne and Doug. Five beats later Illyana joined them. Kat did the scream, and Pete sang. "So, ya say you want a revolution? Well, you know, we all want to change the world."

Kurt came in with the fiddle on the second verse. The audience had been startled at first, but quickly got into the song. A few of the more mature people sang along.

Kat was pleasantly surprised at the ease with which they went from guitar-fuzz into boppy techno. Then she giggled as Pete sang the lyrics at her. "Ask me once, I'll say it started when I met you! And ever since then, I knew that the past couldn't last!"

They all paused at the end, and Kat began quietly playing piano. The vocals were soft, pared down, unenhanced. "And through the life force and there goes her friend..."

The change from Tori's quiet sadness into raucous KMFDM was odd enough that it confused the audience. Which was fine, confused audiences were a good thing, in Kat's opinion, ~Always keep 'em guessing.~ She grinned and played electric keys under the guitars.

The audience quickly began dancing again as the band rocked to 'Juke Joint Jezebel'. Pete dropped his voice down to an odd gravelly sound, "I can't reject this empty hole. I cannot count the bloody cost..."

'Dirty Little Secrets' was Kat's, so she got ready, glancing up and catching Illyana and Kurt with her eyes. They nodded and waited for the cue.

Silence. Then, "So you wanna do something that's a little bit not too afro-centric-erotic-spage-groove-jazz-funk-acid-punk?"

She nodded at Illyana and Kurt. An odd electric-drum mumble began.

"Come on, what do you want? Come on, baby."

The rest crashed into it, taking the melody and twisting it up into a fast-paced, energetic riff of the Thrill Kill Kult song.

"Tell me, all your, dirty little secrets." She crooned. The audience laughed along with her as she sang the irony at them, "Tell me.. All your. Dirty little secrets.."

She felt the end coming and wondered if the audience could. She knew the band did. Illyana was pounding out the beat ferociously, Pete was bending over with the strain of pulling out the notes, and Kurt was fiddling hard. Rahne and her guitar were hopping up and down, Doug just stood there, fingers barely visible as he kept the bass line.

"Tell me, all your, dirty little secrets..." Her voice echoed in the silence.

The audience waited. When it became apparent they weren't playing anymore, it exploded with applause.

Kat stood up and pulled Pete into an exuberant embrace. Rahne danced, grabbing Doug, who was hopping up and down ecstatically. Illyana dove over her drums, Kurt caught her, swinging her around.

Then they all stood in a line facing the audience, and bowed.

Kat took up the mic, "We'd like to thank you all for coming out and listening! We've had a great, wonderful, orgasmic time!! Peace!"

The audience roared, wanting more. She shook her head, "I'm sorry, we really are tired this time. Good night, everybody!"

Pete grabbed the mic, "Remember, Don't Panic!"

Kat laughed at him, "Bye!!" she waved, leading her band off the stage.

------------------------

Hours later, Kat lay in Pete's arms, tired, happy, but tired. He sighed in his sleep. She tightened her hold on him and buried her head in his shoulder. ~It was a wonderful concert. Everyone. God, everyone was playing above their abilities. I hope it's always like this..~ She sighed, and drifted off to sleep.

-Finis-

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© 1998 ALC Punk!.