"Without further adieu, here is Crimson Dawn!" Randy shouts, running off stage as Jimmy hits a button on his mixer, starting a synth intro to a song Kyle doesn't recognize. It only plays for a second before Kenny and Butters are playing their strings in unison, Jimmy pounding along. Stan jogs onto the stage after a minute, immediately ripping the microphone from its stand and screaming into it. Kyle's eyebrows furrow as he can't understand the whole verse, but he can pick out something about Christ being a capitalist. Despite having no clue what Stan was saying, he felt the urge to believe it.
He feels goosebumps on his arms when they sing the chorus, Butters harmonizing softly into his own mic. Their voices compliment each other quite nicely, Kyle thinks, Stan actually having a decent, albeit raspy singing voice as well as the ability to scream.
At some point during the song, Kyle stops listening. He doesn't even realize he isn't absorbing any sound other than the vibrations his body feels from the sheer volume. All of his focus has fallen on Stan and Stan alone. Kyle can't help but notice that he doesn't smile once throughout the performance. He chalks it up to the song being heavy and serious, but Kenny, Jimmy, and Butters all smiled at least once before he stopped paying attention to them.
When the song ends, he still doesn't smile. In fact, his face doesn't relax at all, still morphed into the scowl he wore while he screamed his heart out.
"Uh," He grunts into the mic, eyes searching the room. They dart around until they stop at Kyle, both of their breath ceasing unknowingly.
"Actually, fuck you guys, this is Holy Roller," He says gruffly, shaking his head and tearing his gaze back, and moving to stand in front of Kenny.
Jimmy starts another synth beat, this one playing robotic words over the music. Kenny and Stan stare at each other, talking along to the intro.
"Holy roller sits in the garden we fled,
Blood into wine, take my body instead.
Holy roller sits in the garden we fled,
Blood into wine, take my body instead.
Holy roller-"
They start playing far more aggressively than before. Kyle laughs at Kenny and Stan though, who bang their heads at each other, weaving back and forth from left to right. This only lasts for a minute before Stan pulls back abruptly and starts screaming again. He seems more passionate about this song, propping his foot up on an amp at the front of the stage and leaning against his knee, making exaggerated sweeping gestures with his arm at the crowd.
The synth from before plays again as he pushes himself roughly from the amp, pacing back toward Kenny. He leans forward and whispers something, earning a nod and a laugh from Kenny. Stan just nods back before leaping away, screaming again.
Leading to the bridge, though, he jumps back up onto the amp, leaning forward over the crowd almost menacingly. Kyle can't help the way his jaw drops when Stan glares at everyone cheering for him as he screams out,
"And when I die, you won't pray for me.
That's when I learned to cut my ties."
He raises a hand to his own throat, making a slicing motion with the beat, which only drives the crowd more insane. Kyle frowns at how passionately the motion is made, though.
The synth plays after the bridge again before the final chorus. Stan jumps off the amp and stumbles to the middle of the stage, bending over the mic as he screams the last line.
"Alright, last one," He huffs, earning a resounding 'boo' from the crowd.
"Ey, fuck off, friends," Kenny yells into Butters' mic, smiling despite his words, "This is Artificial Suicide," He says, synth starting again.
Kyle perks up when he recognizes the song immediately. Kenny just played this on the drive here, though the volume was down low. He can tell Kenny likes this song because he bounces around like a madman while he plays.
