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read between the lines
parousia rocked feel a bit better now and more awake so am gonna type a bit more.parousia's final gig at third place on 29 july was awesome. yeah, their final performance after 12 years. nevermind the fact that it was a small gathering (consisting mostly of family members and friends who knew them well) as compared to sonicfest's thousands of fans, which was going on at the same time, or the fact that i went alone. in the end it was all worth it. i remember initially kicking myself and asking myself, "why am i here?" as i squirmed uncomfortably in my seat and stared at all these strangers (mostly youths younger than me) who were sitting in their cliques aka. comfort zones. they had a good strategy for keeping us (the audience) staying. they had other third place bands doing their gigs before parousia themselves came out to play as the final band. but they did expose me to some pretty good bands....one of which was caracal, whose music i particularly liked. it was teen rock, hard-blasting style. their band members all looked like they were in secondary school boys but they sure played fantastically well. and as the music started to kick in, i felt less and less uncomfortable as i started to drown myself in the atmosphere. of course the killer comfort-starter was when parousia finally stepped up to the microphone and played a very familiar first song i knew, called yield. i felt right at home listening to them and the songs i blare out on my stereo, some of which have gotten me (and are still getting me) through some pretty rough moments in my life. and the ending to the whole shebang was one moment i will never forget, at least not for a very long time. they were finishing their second last song from their brand new exchange album, i'll let you lead when lloyd's (lead singer) voice broke on the last note and he wept. i think he must've been thinking how surreal it was that they were finally going to end. i think the rest were holding back tears too. then jeff (guitarist & main songwriter) talked us through the intro to their final song, flame. it couldn't get any better than that; it was such an appropriate goodbye song. keep the fire burning for god while we say goodbye. and it (the song) was jumpy enough not to end on a sad note. and it left us with a feeling of hope. hope for the future. our place of eternal abode. and after that everyone gave parousia a standing ovation. it was definitely a surreal experience, both for them and us (the audience). i definitely, definitely felt god in the house that night. then lloyd gave a touching and memorable speech when he said, in between tears, that if ever we were to forget who or what parousia is, we should at least remember one thing: that parousia was about god, has always been about god. i agree. it's true in all their songs, right down to the meaning of parousia itself, which means second coming (of christ). and then pastor alvin (resident pastor of third place) closed us all in praying for parousia. i mean, where else on this side of the region can you get pastors closing concerts in prayer? i felt like every stranger in the room was family after that. was pretty glad jeff still remembers me. was encouraged by his words. one of the little encouragements from people that i will remember in my walk of life as i try figure out what god wants me to do in the future. parousia. was glad to have known them, was glad to see them off. all the best guys, in what you do and where god leads you in the future. |
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