Next up was
"Keep on Swingin'" by Rival Sons. It was a more direct headbanger that did more to highlight his vocal abilities, but it didn't live up to the creative tweaking done to the first song.
But then came the opening to their original take on Hendrix's version of
All Along the Watchtower, done in the same "dirty rock with a pinch of jazz and a dash of bardcore" style but with a Middle Eastern influence instead of the European. The flourish was a little familiar to fans of a
certain spacefaring show about undercover robots, but at the same time wholly different. Or at least different enough that it wasn't plagiarism.
It wasn't Hendrix, but it was a fresh and new take on a classic that they had successfully made their own. And in epic fashion. He was more proud of the number than even his original song.
Speaking of which...
When any applause died down he said. "Alright folks. Now that you've heard what we can do as a cover band, it's time to hear something you've never heard before. I present to you a song inspired by both a near-death experience and by one of my stranger X-Men experiences where I thought I was a bloody medieval fantasy bard. Which, of course, explains the outfits.
So imagine, if you will, a smokey tavern straight out of Tolkien. And our hero, the bard, is about to sing his tale." he said, singing the last six words.
And it began as just that: a song about second chances and roads not taken, wrapped up in fantastical imagery. But after the first verse, it blossomed into something as fresh and interesting as it was full of laid-back classic rock energy. All of their talents were on full display and, even more than before, it just kind of... clicked.
When the last note played, he anxiously waited for possible applause.