It had been almost 10 years since Metallica last played in St. Louis and the crowd of 39,000 was pumped and ready to make up for lost time. Even though it rained the whole night, the fans did not let that stop them from having the time of their lives.

Metallica

Metallica – Busch Stadium

Setlist:

1. Hardwired
2. Atlas, Rise!
3. For Whom the Bell Tolls
4. Fuel
5. The Unforgiven
6. Now That We’re Dead
7. Moth Into Flame
8. Wherever I May Roam
9. Halo on Fire
10. Whiplash
11. Sad but True
12. One
13. Master of Puppets
14. Fade to Black
15. Seek & Destroy

Encore:

16. Battery
17. Nothing Else Matters
18. Enter Sandman

Volbeat

Volbeat – Busch Stadium

Setlist:

1. The Devil’s Bleeding Crown
2. Seal the Deal
3. Heaven nor Hell / A Warrior’s Call
4. Sad Man’s Tongue
5. Black Rose
6. Let It Burn
7. 16 Dollars
8. The Hangman’s Body Count
9. Pool of Booze, Booze, Booza
10. Lola Montez
11. Dead but Rising
12. Still Counting

Local H

Local H – Busch Stadium

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It is crazy to think how things have changed in these past 10 years. I have changed jobs twice, bought a house, got a dog (Lucy) and upgraded my camera gear a few times. I started out with a Canon Rebel XT with the kit lens and at that time, I was working at a photography studio, so I was able to borrow a Canon 20D with the Canon 70-200mm f2.8L lens.

Now, I am using the Canon 5D Mark III and Canon 5D Mark II bodies with Canon 16-35 f2.8L, Canon 24-70mm f2.8L Mark II and Canon 70-200mm f2.8L lenses.

My Start

I had been volunteering as the web designer for the Breaking Benjamin fan site, http://shallowbay.com, which eventually became the official website, that I designed and built.

Through that connection, the opportunity came up photography Breaking Benjamin at their show in St. Louis on August 9, 2006. I had no idea what I was doing, but I couldn’t say no. Just a few weeks ago, I photographed them for the sixth time.

In 2011, I began photographing concerts for http://www.playbackstl.com/ and have been shoot for them ever since.

10 Favorite Shots

It’s very tough for me to narrow down a list of photos to just 10, but here are just some of my favorite shots from the last 10 years of concert photography.

Skillet – Carnival of Madness 2013

twenty one pilots

Story Of The Year

Imagine Dragons – Smoke + Mirrors Tour

311

Soundgarden

Matchbox 20

Bush – HoHo Show #2 2012

AFI – Pointfest 2014

Lzzy Hale – Halestorm

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I was greatly looking forward to see Bring Me The Horizon and they did not disappoint. They were one of my favorites from Pointfest, along with Story Of The Year, Highly Suspect and Sick Puppies.

Deftones

Deftones

Chevelle

Chevelle

Bring Me The Horizon

Bring Me The Horizon

Coheed and Cambria

Coheed And Cambria

The Struts

The Struts

Flogging Molly

Flogging Molly

Story Of The Year

It is never a dull moment when Story Of The Year puts on a show.

Story Of The Year

Highly Suspect

Highly Suspect

Sick Puppies

Emma Anzai, from Sick Puppies is always a favorite of mine to photograph.

Sick Puppies

Holy White Hounds

Holy White Hounds

The Hush List

The Hust List

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The Pretty Reckless

The Pretty Reckless

The Pretty Reckless, who are coming off a very successful 2014 year, riding on the success of their second studio album, Going To Hell, brought their gritty hard rock styling to The Pageant featuring a heavy dose of dark red and green lighting. This lighting goes well with the style of music but makes for a very tough concert to shoot.

Setlist:

1. Follow Me Down
2. Since You’re Gone
3. Miss Nothing
4. Sweet Things
5. House on a Hill
6. Make Me Wanna Die
7. Heaven Knows
8. Going to Hell
9. Fucked Up World

Halestorm

Lzzy Hale – Halestorm

I was extremely excited to get the chance to photograph one of my favorite bands, Halestorm. I have been a fan for many years and first got a chance to photograph them at Pointfest 2013, which was also the first time I had seem them live and they did not disappoint, so when I heard they were coming back to town, I knew that I had to try and see them again. Their latest album, “Into The Wild Life” is one of my favorite albums to be released in a long time.

They played for a solid 1 and 1/2 hours featuring songs from all 3 of their albums and a drum solo.

Lzzy Hale has one of the best voices in music today and is not afraid to show her vocal range from the gritty “I Like It Heavy” to the more ballad like “Dear Daughter”, which featured Lzzy on keyboard. Lzzy had a great message to her fans about the later song, saying the reason they have been able to do what they have done as a band is because 18 years ago, when she was 13, her parents said yes. In front of me there was a mother and daughter hugging and crying during the entire song, it was very sweet to see.

Setlist:

1. Love Bites (So Do I)
2. Apocalyptic
3. Freak Like Me
4. Scream
5. I Am the Fire
6. Mz. Hyde
7. Amen
8. Sick Individual
9. Gonna Get Mine
10. Dear Daughter
11. New Modern Love
12. Rock Show
13. Drum Solo
14. Mayhem
15. It’s Not You
16. I Get Off
17. I Like It Heavy

Encore:

18. I Miss the Misery
19. Here’s to Us

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Keep reading to see my favorite photos.

Favorite Photos

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The show featured Bastille, Ok Go, Capital Cities, Royal Blood, Switchfoot, Bear Hands, J. Roddy Walston and The Business and Meg Myers.

My favorite acts of the night were: Meg Myers, Switchfoot and Royal Blood.

Despite having the flu, Meg Myers put on an amazing show. I had no idea she was sick during her performance, so I can’t wait to see her when she is healthy.

Switchfoot were full of energy and the lead singer, Jon Foreman, spent a couple songs out in the seats to be with the fans. They could have easily been the headliner and I would love to see them live with a longer set.

The main reason I wanted to go to this show was to see the band, Royal Blood. Everyone I talked to felt the same way and were really excited to see them live and they did not disappoint. Members of just about every other band came out for their set as well.

Photos

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Wailers

The Urge

Another one of their live show staples was played, “Open All Night”, during which the band threw out inflatable pickles. Which is a nod to the lyric, “go inside and get my pickle”, in that song.

For the song “Jump Right In”, Nick Hexum, lead singer for 311, came out and sang with Steve and the crowd went nuts. Everyone in the place was jumping up and down. Nick was featured on the original recording and can be seen in the music video.
The set concluded with another special guest, Tef Poe, who helped sing, “It’s Getting Hectic”, which is exactly what happened.

311

They started the night with “Beautiful Disaster” and then played what Nick referred to as their slam dance song “Do You Right”. Some of the other crowd favorites included were: “All Mixed Up”, “Come Original”, “Don’t Stay Home”, “Who’s Got The Herb?”, “Amber”, “Feels So Good” and “Down”, which Nick said was for the “old school fans”.

After “Don’t Stay Home” the lights went out and everyone left the stage except for bassist, P-NUT. All you could see were the green lights that were in the fret of his bass. P-NUT played three epic bass solos with the crowd chanting “P-NUT!”.
The house lights went out and the crowd began to chant encore and 311, 3, 311. 311 obliged the fans request and came back out to play “Tranquility” and “Creatures (For A While)”.

Nick concluded the night by thanking the fans and heading down to give high fives to the crowd.

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There are Mobile, Widescreen and Retina versions included. If you would like any other sizes, feel free to contact me.

Enjoy!

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The crowd wasted no time showing up for this one. Hundreds waited in line for the doors to open and by the time the first band, Candlelight Red, took the stage Pop’s was packed from the floor up to the balcony.

Candlelight Red

Candlelight Red

Candlelight Red got the night started. Although the four piece band from Pennsylvania had to work with a very limited amount of room to work with on stage that did not stop them from putting on an energetic show. Despite some technical difficulties, the lead singer, Ryan Hoke, gave a great performance. Ryan has a great vocal range that allows him to go from raw screams to more melodic vocals. He asked the crowd, “Have we made any new fans?” the fans responded with screams and hands in the air. They played a quick 30-minute set, so make sure to get there early and be sure to catch their set.

View the pics

Lacuna Coil

Lacuna Coil

Italian rock band, Lacuna Coil, continued the intensity with their set. Having been a band for over 17 years Lacuna Coil is no stranger to the metal/hard rock scene. The combination of Cristina Scabbia’s beautifully melodic voice and Andrea Ferro’s more traditional metal voice, Lacuna Coil provides a unique experience. Andrea’s facial expressions give a great amount of intensity to their performance. That combined with the powerful vocals and stage presence of Cristina made for a fantastic show.

View the pics

Coal Chamber

Coal Chamber

After an 8-year hiatus, Coal Chamber announced back in 2011 that they were reuniting with their original band members, except for Chela Rhea Harper, who took over on bass and is a great addition to the group. She flung her hair every which way imaginable all night long. Drummer, Mike Cox was the first band member out to the stage and after taking his place behind his drums he gave the crowd a smile and a wave. When the rest of the band arrived, they wasted no time jumping into their set, which started with “Loco.” To pick up his distinctive vocals, B. Dez Fafara was using an old square/announcer style microphone. The crowd immediately got pumped up and moving when they began to play. There was an almost constant mosh pit in the center of the floor with crowd surfers keeping security busy. They played other hits such as “Big Truck”, “Fiend”, “Not Living” and ended the night with “Sway (The Roof Is On Fire)”. Fafara told the crowd that they were crushing it and he knew this show would be fucking cool, which got the crowd even more excited.

View the pics

Sevendust

Sevendust

Touring in support of their new cd, “Black Out The Sun”, headliners, Sevendust, were up next and they did not disappoint. They played an amazing 12 song set featuring songs from their debut, self-titled album to their new latest album, “Black Out The Sun”. Their latest single, “Decay” was first up the crowd was ready with a constant stream of crowd surfers and moshing.

There is nothing like a Sevendust show Lajon Witherspoon, John Connolly, Clint Lowery, Vince Hornsby, Morgan Rose have been playing together since 1994 and it shows. The chemistry and energy that these guys have cannot be match.

Lajon has one of the most recognizable and unique voices in rock. He knows how to put on an amazing show and has a great time doing so. He is always smiling between songs and you can tell he sincerely enjoys what he does.

Morgan is an absolute mad man behind his drum kit. I have no idea how he can provide backing vocals, while still going crazy on the drums. I was almost out of breath just trying to watch him.

I had a blast watching bassist, Vince Hornsby perform. He constantly has a smile on his face and has great expressions on his face. I lost track of how many drum sticks he handed out, while never missing a beat on his bass.

Both guitarist, Clint Lowery and John Conolly provide the hard hitting riffs and raw vocals that Sevendust is known for. Guitarist/vocals, Clint Lowery, recently took time off from the band in order to be with his wife, who was pregnant with their second child. Since Clint currently resides in the St. Louis area, he was able to join his band mates for the St. Louis show. Lajon Witherspoon congratulated Clint and his wife, Tara, on their new baby girl and the crowd gave a big cheer to Clint as well. While Clint is away, Troy McLawhorn is filling in. Troy did make an appearance and played guitar on “Black”. Lajon mentioned that he loves being in beautiful St. Louis and still wanted to get to local restaurant, Sweetie Pies. He also gave a shout out to some of the local guys in Evans Blue, who were at the show, including their lead singer and native St. Louisian, Dan Chandler.

They ended the show with an encore by playing “Splinter” and “Face to Face”.

This will most likely be the final cd released by Sevendust and you never know if this will be the final time they play your city, so if you have the opportunity to see them, go!

View the pics

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Tear Out The Heart is signed to Victory Records and on March 19^th they released their debut album, Violence. The St. Louis, MO based band members are: Tyler Konersman – Vocals, Josh Spohr – Guitar, Matthieu Murphy – Guitar, Isaac Etter – Bass / Vocals and Matt Epstein – Drums.

With Tyler’s raw vocals and the hard hitting riffs, Tear Out The Heart wasted no time getting the crowd pumped up and moving. There was almost a constant mosh pit from the very beginning to the end. With no barricade to shoot from, this meant I was shooting from the crowd, which definitely made things tough.

Singers from two of the opening bands, Nick Manser from Fears vs Dreams and Dan Marsala from The Fuck Off And Dies (and Story of the Year) each made a special appearance and sang along with Tyler. The fans went insane when Dan came out and sang with Tyler, which was an awesome sight.

If you are into the metal scene, then you will not find a more energetic and raw experience, than Tear Out The Heart. Pick up their CD/MP3 on Amazon or iTunes.

View the pics!

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