Track 6 of the album Platform Nine · 2012
Floodlights for an Empty Stand
“I will never be a football man, but I understand a stadium at night. This one swells louder than anything else I have done, and the orchestra gets to shout for once.”
cinematic pop · orchestral pop · anthemic · 4:45
Lyrics
The gates stand open and the turnstiles sleep Rows of empty seats in the dark rising steep I walk out alone on the cold green grass Hearing tomorrow's thunder in the quiet as I pass The scoreboard is blank, a black mirror of glass The painted white lines are the only things that speak I stand on the spot where the first whistle falls And I practise the silence before the crowd breaks Fifty thousand voices, not yet here But I can feel them in the air Floodlights for an empty stand Burning for the ones who'll come I will carry what I'm holding Like a drum, like a drum Let the dark seats fill with morning Let the roar roll down like rain Floodlights for an empty stand And I'm ready to begin again A groundsman is whistling, rolling the line His boots leave a trail in the silver of dew He lifts up a hand and I lift one too Two small figures under a sky turning blue Fifty thousand voices, not yet here But I can feel them in the air Floodlights for an empty stand Burning for the ones who'll come I will carry what I'm holding Like a drum, like a drum Let the dark seats fill with morning Let the roar roll down like rain Floodlights for an empty stand And I'm ready to begin again Every great noise starts as a breath Every anthem was once a hum Stand in the hush and trust what's coming The whole wide world is going to come Floodlights for an empty stand Burning for the ones who'll come I will carry what I'm holding Like a drum, like a drum Let the dark seats fill with morning Let the roar roll down like rain Floodlights for an empty stand Oh, I'm ready to begin again Ready to begin again Ready to begin