[Blackout - near-silence] [Lead, unprocessed] Everybody good? [Staff replies from the room] Door is clear. Bar is clear. Stage is clear. North aisle needs a light. [Lead] Take your time. We are not performing yet. [Minute One - free time, upright piano] Three notes from the old piano, not quite tuned and still enough. Emergency green along the baseboard, someone laughs from dropping half a cup. No red halo, no blue numbers, no lens blinking overhead. We call each section, hear it answer, count the living, check the steps. [Refrain] Three minutes without power. No red, no blue, no screen. We had to ask each other what the room was going to mean. [Minute Two - heel begins] [One heel] Tap... tap-tap... tap. [Lead] Whose count? [Performer] Mine, if anybody wants it. [One palm joins] [Soft voices] Mm-ah. Mm-ah. [Verse] No speaker told our ribs to follow. No program raised the heat on cue. One heel offered four clean corners. One open palm said, `I hear you.` The bartender knocked the wooden counter. Door staff brought a lower sound. Nobody called the night recovered. We only built one honest round. [Refrain - body rhythm] Three minutes without power. No red, no blue, no screen. We asked and then we answered what this room was going to mean. [Minute Three - body-percussion house] [Performer] Heel. [Room] Palm. [Performer] Breath. [Room] Floor. [All - restrained pulse] Heel, palm. Breath, floor. Leave the path clear by the door. Heel, palm. Breath, floor. Only bring in what we ask for. [Wordless Rise] Mm-ah, mm-ah. Oh-eh, oh-eh. Ah, hold. Ah, turn. [3:17 - electricity returns] [Electrical hum, one emergency kick] [System, rebooting softly] Power restored. Automatic sequence-- [Lead] Wait. [One full beat] [Lead to Performer] Your count. [Performer] Bring the kick beside us. [Final Refrain - human rhythm remains louder than synth] Three minutes without power, then the grid came back in time. We did not hand it back the room. We brought it in on ours. Three minutes without power, and the dark did not decide. We checked the doors, we chose the rhythm, then let the current walk beside. [Outro] [Single kick continues] [Lead] Three seventeen. Doors stay open. Transit is still down.
