Classical concerts have kept that rule for a reason, and it's not about being stiff or fake. The silence lets the last note hang in the air before people start clapping, which keeps the flow of the piece intact. Walking out over that seems like a lot, since the music is the point, not the crowd's reaction.

Blood Mountain October and you brought a furnace?

Had a buddy who did almost the exact same thing last winter, drove two hours to a dark spot and came home with 60 frames of nothing but little worms. He finally fixed it by doing his polar alignment while it was still light out, using a phone app to get Polaris close, then fine tuning with the tracker's scope before it got fully dark. The trick he swears by now is checking alignment every 20 minutes or so with a quick test shot, because the ground can shift a bit as it cools or if you bump the tripod. He also dropped down to 90 second subs when he's not sure, since shorter shots hide small drift way better. It stinks losing a whole night, but nailing the alignment routine before you start shooting saves you from doing it all over again.