We were lined up to play
At 4.20
My legs seemed to be healing up
But still tender and sore
Post op
The rest of the group had to carry my gear
And I got off light
Hannah had a green room for us just up the street
I had one beer but couldn’t eat
When the stage was set
We just took off
And so intense
About five songs in I registered the heat
Black stage black clothes
Straight into the sun
By the time we got to Howl
I was becoming short of breath
And by Losing Colour
I was a ghostly shade of sunburn
For all that it went by in a flash
Just a flicker in time
I didn’t want to do the encore
Out of steam in the sun
But Your Body Stays
Is always done
I couldn’t physically sing the last part
Then I put down my guitar
I stumbled off
And found a place to be sick
I’d let everyone down
My body had quit on me
And mocked
The thing to me that matters most
It’s only a big deal to me I know
And no one probably even noticed
Or if they did
It would have meant very little
The band had played well
Delivered on the set we’d promised ourselves
We’d been working on it all year
The Spines, the songs and my guitar got us through
It had just been bad luck
That the surgery was timed that way
In sporting terms
I left it all on the field that day
The Ghost of Electricity – War Stories by Jon McLeary is a new initiative at Off The Tracks, a series of stories and reflections from painter, writer and musician Jon McLeary