The Unveiling-Onstage

As the video and action continues uninterrupted from "Prologue," the camera moves forward towards the entrance of Crossroads, the sound of rushing wind is heard and all the doors of the club swing open by themselves. As the camera reaches the doors and enters the lobby of the club, the sound of the wind fades out and is replaced by the chant of "Joshua, Joshua" over and over again by the audience at Crossroads. They're repeatedly saying his name so Joshua's Tree will come back onstage and play another song for their encore. As the camera continues moving forward, it moves over the audience starting at the very back of the club moving towards the stage which is dark as shown below in Model 1. The chant of "Joshua, Joshua" gets progressively louder the closer we get to the stage. When the camera shot is showing the dark stage as shown below in Model 1, the camera stops moving and the chant is defeaning. Shortly thereafter, the fog lights up as shown below in Model 2, the audience quits saying "Joshua" and lets out a defeaning roar knowing that Joshua's Tree is about to come onstage for their encore. At this point, the intro to the song "Onstage" begins to play. Most of the audience in Crossroads is dressed up for Halloween as it's Halloween night. There is text and accompanying models below the lyrics of the song "Onstage" that describe the action that takes place as Joshua's Tree plays the song "Onstage" at Crossroads. You must copy the web address below that's in red, paste it into the status bar of your "Microsoft Edge" browser and hit "enter" to hear the song "Onstage" and view an avi. movie accompanying the song. The song "Onstage" used here is a rough demo cut and the actual recording of the song "Onstage" for the production is currently being recorded. It's important to note the images in the avi. movie are still images and will be video in the actual production. As a result, the avi. movie doesn't capture all the action accompanying the song so all the remaining text and models below must be read and viewed to get a complete and accurate picture of all the action that takes place. The action continues uninterrupted with Models 1-4 and the text below Model 4 as the intro of "Onstage" begins to play. In addition to being musical savant, Joshua is a multimedia genius and created all the animation playing on the video screen during the song "Onstage." He also designed and built the staging and props seen onstage during the performance of the song. "Onstage." The information about Joshua's multimedia skills is not included in the preview and we find out about this in later action.

Verse 1:
As I walk onstage, and I feel the lights, it's the crowd that brings me to life
Souls connected as we gather, we'll rock the night away

Bridge 1:
I don't need a Christ to set me free, I put my faith in music and me
Up here the people worship me, only one place I wanna be

Chorus 1:
I don't live for You, I live for the stage(repeat)
I feel power that You could not offer me(repeat)
I don't wanna live for You, I just live for the stage
I don't wanna live for You, power comes from the stage

Verse 2:
I can feel my guitar, I can feel the strings, they're tangible and real
Unlike the Word, and its fairy tales, the crowd, its pulse I feel

Bridge 2:
I don't need a Christ to set me free, I put my faith in music and me
Up here the people worship me, only one place I wanna be

Chorus 2:
I don't live for You, I just live for the stage(repeat)
I feel a power that You could not offer me(repeat)
I don't wanna live for You, I just live for the stage
I don't wanna live for You, Power comes from the stage

Verse 3:
I love the women, and the drugs, and the sweet smell of sin
Come on and join us onstage and let the decadence begin, let the decadence begin

As the intro ends with the "Gate of Hell" fully open and the song "Onstage" begins, the lead guitarist PRS and the bassist Christian appear onstage as they rise up from behind the ramps on hydraulic lifts until they are standing atop the amplifiers and DW and his drums light up as shown above in Model 5. The desired effect for this sequence of action is for it to appear as if PRS and Christian actually walk from hell through the "Gate to Hell" and on to the amplifiers. If PRS and Christian were animated characters, they would actually walk from hell through the gate, down the steps in the artwork and across the amps tp their respective locations seen in the artwork. Although not seen in the models above, there is an orange glow behind the opened gate in all the models which is hell. Shortly thereafter, Joshua rises up from underneath the live stage through the fog playing guitar until he's standing onstage as shown above in Models 6 and 7. The desired effect is for it to appear as if Joshua is rising up from hell on to the stage. After Bridge 1 ends, the Joshua's Tree artwork moves forward increasing in size as shown above in Model 8 so that it appears as if the viewer is walking up the steps to the entrance of the "Gate to Hell." Immediately thereafter, Joshua sings the first line of Chorus 1 and the caricature of Satan above the "Gate to Hell" repeats and sings the first line in a deep and heavily processed wicked voice. After this, Joshua sings the second line of Chorus 1 and the caricature of Satan repeats the second line singing it in the same deep and heavily processed wicked voice as before. After Satan finishes repeating the second line of Chorus 1, the video of the Joshua's Tree artwork on the screen moves forward once again towards the orange glow behind the "Gate to Hell" and we enter hell. The Joshua's Tree artwork on the video screen is replaced by live video of Joshua and DW onstage as shown above in Model 9. This makes it look like there are two stages with one on top of the other and as if the entire band is performing together on the upper stage. At the same time, the stage lights up in orange, orange smoke fills the stage, flames shoot up into air and there is darkness as shown above in Models 9-13. The desired effect is for it to appear as if the audience has literally entered hell through the "Gate to Hell" and is watching Joshua's Tree perform "Onstage" live in hell. After Chorus 1 is completed, the video on the screen onstage changes back to the Joshua's Tree artwork as shown below in Model 14. The action continues uninterrupted with Models 14-30 and the text below Model 30 as the song "Onstage" continues to be performed live.

Model 14-Video of Joshua's Tree artwork returns to screen in Verse 2.

Model 15-Joshua's Tree artwork moves forward once again after Bridge 2.

Model 16-Joshua's Tree playing the second half of Chorus 2 in hell.

Model 17-Flames shoot up into air during Chorus 2.

Model 18-Flames go out in Chorus 2.

Model 19-Video of the Lake of Fire and burning world appears on screen.

Model 20-Joshua moves downward into the fog as the lead break begins.

Model 21-Joshua disappears into fog as the lead break is performed.

Model 22-Joshua begins to rise up from beneath the Lake of Fire.

Model 23-Joshua back onstage after appearing to rise from the Lake of Fire.

Model 24-Video of Joshua in Satan's hands appears from out of the world.

Model 25-Image of Joshua on screen and flames shoot into the air in Verse 3.

Model 26-Flames go out during Verse 3.

Model 27-Flames shoot up into the air during Verse 3 once again.

Model 28-Flames go out during Verse 3 once again.

Model 29-Flames shoot up into the air during Verse 3 once again.

Model 30-Flames go out during Verse 3 once again.

Verse 2:
I can feel my guitar, I can feel the strings, they're tangible and real
Unlike the Word, and its fairy tales, the crowd, its pulse I feel

Bridge 2:
I don't need a Christ to set me free, I put my faith in music and me
Up here the people worship me, only one place I wanna be

Lead Break

Verse 3 (X2):
I love the women, and the drugs, and the sweet smell of sin
Come on and join us onstage and let the decadence begin

As the song "Onstage" continues to be performed live, the video on the screen onstage is the Joshua's Tree artwork as shown above in Model 14 and Verse 2 is performed live. After Bridge 2 ends, the Joshua's Tree artwork moves forward once again as shown above in Model 15. Following this, Joshua sings the first line of Chorus 2 and the caricature of Satan above the "Gate to Hell" repeats and sings the first line one again in a deep and heavily processed wicked voice. After this, Joshua sings the second line of Chorus 2 and the caricature of Satan repeats the second line singing it in the same deep and heavily processed wicked voice as before. After Satan finishes repeating the second line of Chorus 2, the video of the Joshua's Tree artwork on the video screen is replaced by live video of Joshua and DW onstage once again as shown above in Model 16. The audience is watching Joshua's Tree perform "Onstage" live in hell once again as shown above in Model 16. Shortly thereafter, fire from the stage shoots up into the air once again during Chorus 2 as shown above in Model 17. When Joshua sings the word "stage" at the end of Chorus 2, new video starts to play on the screen onstage as shown above in Model 19. The new video shows the Lake of Fire which has flames shooting up from its surface consuming the world with the "JT" initials in front of the world as shown above in Model 19. It's critical to note that this will be video in the actual production and not just a still image as is the case here. In the video of this image, the waters of the Lake of Fire are moving as ripples flow across its surface, the flames rising from the surface of the lake are moving upward and swaying back and forth, the burning world spins as its consumed by the flames and the "JT" initials in front of the burning world are actually on fire themselves but remain stationary as the world spins. When the lead break begins, Joshua begins lowering into the fog as shown above in Model 20 ultimately disappearing into the fog and from the stage as shown above in Model 21. PRS and Christian remain standing atop the amplifiers and DW continues to play atop the drum riser as the lead break is performed live as shown above in Model 21. Towards end of the lead break, Joshua appears back onstage. It appears as if he rises upward from beneath the waters of the Lake of Fire as shown above in Model 22 until ultimately he's standing above the drum riser atop the amps with PRS to his right and Christian to his left as shown above in Model 23. As the lead break comes to a close, an image in the burning world appears on the screen and moves forward increasing in size as shown above in Model 24. The video image is Joshua playing guitar and singing in Satan's hands with fire from the hands burning around him as shown above in Models 24. The video image of Joshua is playing "Onstage" on his guitar in sync with Joshua Tree's live performance of "Onstage." The video image of Joshus stops moving right before the end of the lead break and the video of the Lake of Fire and burning world fades out as shown above in Model 25. As soon as Verse 3 begins, flames shoot up into air with the image of Joshua in Satan's hands on the video screen as shown above in Model 25. The video image of Joshua plays guitar and sings Verse 3 in perfect sync with the band as the song is performed live. When Verse 3 begins, countless strob lights come on onstage and will remain on for the duration of the Verse 3. As the strob lights flash, the video image of Joshua in Satan's hands rapidly jerks his head back and forth and up and down in haphazard fashion so that it appears as if he's going insane. At the same time, the flames around the video image of Joshua rise and Joshua, PRS and Christian onstage start moving quickly and rock out to optimize the effects of the strob lights. Flames shoot up into the air several times during Verse 3 as shown above in Models 26-30. The action continues uninterrupted with Models 31-33 and the text below Model 33 as the performance of "Onstage" comes to a close.

Model 31-"Joshua's Tree" artwork returns to the video screen.

Model 32-Joshua, PRS and Christian leave stage lowered via hydraulic lifts.

Model 33-"Joshua's Tree" show comes to an end with lit up initials on screen.

When Verse 3 comes to a close, the video image of Joshua in Satan's hands on the video screen is replaced by the "Joshua's Tree" artwork and the members of Joshua's Tree are standing atop the amps as shown above in Model 31. Shortly thereafter as the song "Onstage" ends, Joshua, PRS and Christian leave the stage lowered by hydraulic lifts behind the amplifiers as shown above in Model 32 and the "Gate to Hell" closes(Note: this isn't showed in the models above). The desired effect for this sequence of action is for it to appear as if Joshua, PRS and Christian leave the stage walking from their respective locations atop the amps through the "Gate to Hell" into hell. If they were animated characters, they would actually walk from their respective locations atop the amps, up the steps leading to the "Gate to Hell" and through the gate into hell. Following this, the entire stage goes dark including the drum riser and orange "JT" initials appear on the video screen onstage as shown above in Model 33 ending Joshua Tree's performance at Crossroads. At this point, the preview of the act "Onstage" is over and and we move forward a couple hours in the story to a preview of the act Holy Soldier where Joshua is transformed into Holy Soldier. This occurs about two hours after the show at Crossroads. The angel Gabriel lures Joshua away from Crossroads to the top of the Griffith Observatory where he witnesses the Rapture and its aftermath take place. Joshua returns home and finds his parents are gone having been taken up in the Rapture. Click on the "next" button below to go to the preview of the act Holy Soldier and continue reading the preview of "The Unveiling."