I Guarded The Fire Live

🎤 I Watch The Fire (Live Stadium Version) [live audience cheering, stadium echo, stomps on the floor] [guitar feedback rising, airy arpeggios on reverb – crowd whistles] [INTRO – singer alone, reverb guitar] On my lonely rock, where my life still clings, I recall the void, the weight of silent things. Years and years watching the HEAT of the Fire — (crowd repeats: “THE FIRE!”) I thought I was saving the world from its Pyres… But I was not alone — The storm was whispering in magic tones. [crowd cheering, clapping syncopated] [CHORUS – dry guitar, throbbing bass, call & response] By day, I guarded the Fire, (Crowd: “THE FIRE!”) By night, I guarded the Fire, (Crowd louder: “THE FIRE!”) So it would not set the world ablaze — (The way it already has!) [drums pounding, bass rumbling, audience stomps in sync] [VERSE 2 – martial rhythm, spoken/tense voice] As I swam, just to keep my breath, I thought of the cold, I thought of death. I met the gaze of my fallen kin — (Crowd chants: “STILL BURNING!”) And knew the Fire still burned within. But now I do it all alone — My shadow, my watch, my only throne. [guitar riff sharp, drums hammering toms, crowd clapping fast] [CHORUS – bigger, ghostly voices echoing singer] By day, I guard the Fire, (Crowd echoes: “THE FIRE!”) By night, I guard the Fire, (Crowd louder: “THE FIRE!”) So it will not set the world ablaze, (The way it already has!) [BRIDGE – airy guitar, delay, voice fevered, crowd hushed] On my lonely rock, where my life still clings, I recall the burns, the sleepless dreams. Fevered nights, desires undone — Weeks of nightmares, voices gone. But I am not alone: Panthers prowl inside my sleep, And jealous Ghosts my secrets keep. [crowd whistles, faint chants building: “FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!”] [BREAK – minimal drums, broken spoken voice] My head is breaking down, My body betrays me… No spell, no sacred word Will save us from the Fire. I wonder — (voice screamed raw) Who keeps the Fire now?! (Crowd screams back: “WHO KEEPS THE FIRE?!”) Does it already burn the world?! [FINAL – crescendo, hypnotic, screamed voice] And if by day, no one keeps the watch? (Crowd chants: “THE WATCH! THE WATCH!”) And if by night, mad hands feed its touch? (Crowd: “THE FIRE! THE FIRE!”) Perhaps it already burns the world… Perhaps it grows… in silence… in force… in intensity! [band surges in wall of noise, drums relentless, crowd chanting “FIRE! FIRE!”] [OUTRO – brutal cut] [screamed voice tearing] STILL THE FIRE!!! [band stops dead. crowd keeps chanting “THE FIRE! THE FIRE!” stadium echo rolling] [Spoken – voice alone, mic dropped, silence after roar] “Fuck.”