Complete the music journalist's concert review by matching the correct verbs to the blanks.

When the rock band finally took the stage at midnight, the exhausted fans had been cheering in the pouring rain for over three hours.

When the rock band finally took the stage at midnight...

The action of the band taking the stage is a completed event in the past, so we use the Simple Past (took).

...the exhausted fans had been cheering in the pouring rain for over three hours.

We use the Past Perfect Continuous (had been cheering) to emphasize the duration of an ongoing action (cheering) that happened before another past action (the band taking the stage).