It is 1am EST in South Bend, Indiana, and a stool is wobbling under the weight of one gentleman, who is balancing on it like a tightrope walker. It has been a long day for him in the sunshine, and it tells in the straining of his voice as he sings. Allez Allez Allez, Roberto Firmino, Virgil van Dijk. A joyful, joyride of a jukebox.
It is 6pm EST outside Notre Dame Stadium the day after, two hours before kick off. Jamie Webster of BOSS Night fame is guitared and serenading a sizeable crowd in the scorching sunshine, a few minutes after The Anfield Wrap's Neil Atkinson and John Gibbons entertained. It is hot, it is close, the sort of weather whereby sweat envelops your body without you realising. Sweat becomes normal. These sweaty hundreds gather, sing about Madrid and Divock Origi.
It is 7.59pm EST and the crowd remains standing for the National Anthem. It sings You'll Never Walk Alone - not only the song of Liverpool, but Borussia Dortmund too - and does so in unison, 40,361 of them.
It is 8.03pm EST and realisation hits. Paco Alcacer has just put the Bundesliga side ahead after poor defending from Liverpool, the sort of defensive play which hasn't darkened Jurgen Klopp's door for a long while. This is pre-season, this is the part of the process where mistakes happen, where Liverpool can concede three in a 2-3 defeat. This is when Liverpool resemble the lone singer the night before, rather than the cohesive unit in the stands before them.
Nathaniel Clyne was the man who will wish he did better for Alcacer's goal, with the right back sleeping at the back post initially, before being dispossessed by the Spaniard. He lined up in front of Simon Mignolet, Liverpool's no.2 goalkeeper, and on the opposite side to teenager Yasser Larouci, who is vying to be third/fourth choice left back.
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This is what pre-season can sometimes be on the field. Early rounds of the League Cup or FA Cup aside, it is difficult to envision a situation which sees those three players on the pitch at the same time. Defence isn't just about individual quality, but also about synergy. Liverpool's back five last season was largely settled, with only the spot next to Van Dijk on quasi-rotation, although Joel Matip would claim it in the latter part of the campaign due to some excellent outings.
So back to those three stages of Friday, and of Liverpool's first pre-season friendly in the US this year. They are all fundamentally Liverpool, even if they do not look the same. As the day (or, rather, the night then day) progressed, more supporters descended upon Notre Dame. What had began as a lone guy showing his love for Liverpool grew, nurtured, and became the thing this exercise was always meant to be: something for US fans to remember and cherish.
This is how these summers usually go on the field too. The proverbial wobbling barstool as players familiarise themselves with each other. Then those players either strike up an on-pitch rapport, or they are replaced by players likelier to be first-team come the start of the season. Last summer, on July 22, Liverpool lost to Dortmund 3-1 in Charlotte, North Carolina, with a front three of Origi, Rafael Camacho and Lazar Markovic. Four days later, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané, both absent vs Dortmund, would come off the bench to score and beat Manchester City 2-1 in New Jersey. By the end of their three-game US trip, Liverpool were destroying Manchester United 4-1.
The hope - and expectation - from Klopp will be the same happens this year. It is yet another three-game tour, and the lack of cohesion shown at times will gradually disappear over the course of the next 180 minutes against Sevilla and Sporting CP. The second Dortmund goal, scored by Marius Wolf, came from a set piece; that in itself should tell the story of how organisation can be compromised in these sort of games. Not long after the third - again, scored because of a mistake, this time from Larouci - Klopp made his pre-determined substitutions.
That's not to say the entire performance followed the pattern of the opening few minutes. There were misplaced passes, poor decisions. Disjointment. But there were also nice passages of play, with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain the chief instigator. He is the perfect representation of what pre-season can be about; rusty in game one, growing in game two, and motoring away from quality opposition by game three.
Though Clyne did struggle at times, and Mignolet's ball work detrimental to Liverpool's style, Larouci impressed until his inexperience led to Dortmund's third. Up against Jadon Sancho, one of England's brightest hopes, he was a solid match for him over the course of the BVB winger's 45 minutes. The Algerian-born defender decided to dribble in his own box and was punished, but this is part of his leaning curve.
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Attacking with unfamiliar line-ups never has the same undesired impact as when it happens in defence, and Harry Wilson and Ryan Kent combined to allow the Welshman to score the equaliser. An exquisite ball from Fabinho (another good performer) was dummied by Kent, and converted by Wilson. Rhian Brewster, emphatic penalty and all, still feels ahead of them in the pecking order, albeit not out wide.
Positives also come in the return of Andy Robertson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Van Dijk, Gini Wijnaldum and Jordan Henderson - five players so instrumental in Liverpool becoming kings of Europe once more. A quintet who can stabilise a wobbly stool, no doubt.
A first defeat of the summer at the hands of Dortmund, just like last year. Boston, and Fenway Park, should see the next step, and a little bit more of the Liverpool of last year. Familiarity does not breed contempt in these circumstances; it simply grows confidence.