I nod, and his lips turn up at the corners.

“This should be interesting.” Then he hooks his head for me to follow him.

He keeps a much more leisurely pace than the previous guy, seeming perfectly at home roaming the venue. If he’s private security, which I’m guessing he is with the Texan accent and plain black Henley, he’s likely strutted plenty of unfamiliar hallways.

When we hit a door at the end, he pulls it open for me and unleashes the full volume of the concert. The music pulses in my chest, a rush of cooler air hitting me as I step into the dimly lit area. With most of the light spilling off the side of the stage, my eyes fight to adjust. The rafters towering above us are barely visible, and the only other clear marker is a red Exit sign shining on the far side.

“Here,” the guard says, clicking on a flashlight.

He takes the lead again and crosses toward the sign. The stream of light hits us on our way past a metal set of stairs that lead onto the stage. I squint against the brightness until I make out the band. And all those nerves kick it up a notch at the sight of them, real and in front of me.

Of Men and Wolves weren’t complete unknowns when they left for the European leg of their tour, but over the past few months, they’ve gone from up-and-coming to arrived. They have four songs on the charts; their music is all over social media and a constant on the radio, and they’ve added six more stops on the last leg of the tour once they return to the States.

Now the documentary.

I stop by the bottom step, curious for a preview of them live. A friend had tickets to a show in NYC last year, but I was working a wedding that weekend in Jersey. I still heard their song “Echo” that night at the reception. Like a majority of the weddings I filmed that summer, the couple picked it for their first dance. It was an interesting trend, considering the song’s about a guy watching a girl he’s never met, imagining falling in love with her.

Semi-romantic if you only listen to half the words, I suppose.

The band’s playing the second verse of it now, and the lyrics that were burned into my brain pour through the arena, wrapping around the crowd of ten thousand.

I never asked to fall for a smile and those innocent eyes.

Had to find out the hard way the ghost of love never fades.

You left me chasing your echo while he holds you through the night.

You let him take away the pain, even though I wrote you a lullaby.