Now I may have said this before, but Iced Earth is one of my favourite bands of all time. They were in Vienna playing at Stadthalle opening for Volbeat back in November (blog post here), released their new Album "Plagues of Babylon" just a few weeks ago and are now back on a Worldwide tour presenting it. As always, this is a date I simply cannot miss, so I got together with them for some pre-show hanging out, an interview which I did for GuitarMania and of course photos of the entire show. They were recording video for two songs prior to soundcheck and there was a video team present throughout the sold-out show, so things were a little hectic and cramped but still it was a great one! Shame the stage at ((szene)) is simply too small for this wonderful band though!

I did have time to do an interview with Jon Schaffer for GuitarMania before the show - you can find it here.

Iced Earth laid it down as they always do: a well-thought out and perfectly rehearsed setlist which combined some classics with the new stuff and allowed fans to sing along all the way. The crowd having been warmed up by Elm Street and Warbringer was ready when Iced Earth hit the stage and went straight into Plagues of Babylon, the title track of their newest album. It was quickly followed by Democide and Dark Saga before going into a brilliant rendition of V during which I could barely concentrate on taking pictures (but did get this one:)

The rest of the show is a blur - it passed by too quickly and every song was just genius. It was quite loud for ((szene)) but the sound was clear and good. Stu Block singing If I Could See You is really unbelievable - his voice is so versatile and perfectly suited to hit a ballad between the heavier songs. He also brings across an incredible amount of emotion - this is not just some guy rattling off the words but rather someone who clearly has personal ties to these songs.

Cthulhu saw the first load of smoke blasts go up (the rest came at the end) and A Question of Heaven closed up the main set. The encore was a strong three songs: Dystopia, Watching Over Me (wow!) and of course the classic ending to every one of their gigs: Iced Earth. The capacity crowd loved every minute of it and so did I!

Below are a couple of shots, a few more here in the archive - I took a lot more but they are with the band now for future release.

It needs to be done, so let's get this over with. My "best of" for this year - music photography only. The gigs have been chosen and put in order purely to reflect how much I enjoyed them for whatever reasons I may have which I may or may not explain below. Whatever. In any case it is NOT a roundup of the best pictures I have taken this year.

A bunch of good bands and quite a few mediocre ones (in my opinion that is, of course), as well as split accreditation for some bands who decided they would not allow all the photographers in. The festival made it to the top ten only because of some local bands I shot on the Red Bull stage: Loxodrome, Kitty in a Casket, Leon's Massacre and Devastating Enemy, as well as some bands I really enjoyed: The Sword and the wonderful Testament.

I joined Baroness' fanbase relatively recently and am annoyed with myself that I hadn't done so before. Having listened to their newest effort Yellow & Green about 100 times in the weeks leading up to the gig, I was blown away by how good they were when playing live. Full set here.

Old school, 90's style for the win! A great evening with a really laid-back and friendly bunch of guys - started off with some promo, one shot of which has been widely used including for flyers and the header for the Dog Eat Dog website. A great time was had by all! Full set here.

Austria's premier thrash metal band, Black Inhale is a pleasure to watch and this time when they played as the main attraction at a band contest in the Gasometer was no different. I was part of the jury at the contest but was shooting Black Inhale as a favour and came up with some good shots, the one below being the pick of the bunch.

I was first introduced to Tracer by my friend Benon who is a great music photographer (check out his work at www.bjwok.com). Having travelled to Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Munich over the last 2 years just to see them, I was stoked that they would finally be playing in Vienna. Their show has developed so much since I first saw them and all of Tracer's albums are starters in the car collection as they have become a favourite of my son's as well. If you haven't heard their album El Pistolero yet, you have definitely missed something! Full set of their Vienna gig here.

Not knowing what to expect can be fun sometimes - I realized that the Rhiz was not going to be big, but I would have thought that there might be a stage at least. But then I was treated to what hardcore music should be. Raw, close-quartered power coming played right in front and in the midst of the audience. I needed to push around a bit to get everywhere, and it was fisheye and flash all the way, but it was great fun!

Loxodrome invited me to come over to their album release show in their hometown (or thereabouts, at least for some of them) of Pettenbach. I love Loxodrome's music and have seen them live a few times (for example, they played at the Nova Rock festival) so I really wanted to make sure I wouldn't miss them. I spent the day with them, shooting some promo in the afternoon and then the show in the evening.

One of my favourite bands, this was my second time shooting Anthrax (and I have seen them live a bunch of times over the 25 years or so that I have been a fan) and it all came about again due to Jon Dette touring with them again. Last time was in Brno in November of last year and I got some killer shots there but I knew the Kulturfabrik in Kufstein would not be as big a venue. Anthrax was playing festivals all summer so the club atmosphere was certainly something different for them. I went down by train with my friend Tom and had a good chat with him while traveling. The gig itself was great with a fantastic setlist but the venue heated up to about 45 degrees and it got to a point where some locals went and got a hose and sprayed the crowd with cold water - not sure if that was a great idea around all the amps, monitors, lights and other electric equipment... anyway - the lighting was nothing to write home about but I did get up close and personal... full set here.

Iced Earth is another one of my absolute favourite bands of all time. They're right down my alley: pure heavy metal the way it's supposed to be. I went to see (and shoot) them in December of last year and developed a bit of a relationship with them as a bunch of my pictures was used for their "Live in Ancient Kourion" boxed set. When I saw that they would be coming back in 2014 I was stoked but even more so when it was announced that they would be opening for Volbeat on their huge tour. When on top of everything I realized that Jon Dette would be on drums for them it was like the trifecta of concert photography! So, a couple of promo shots backstage and then pictures of the gig with all access, oh yeah!

What a gig this was. About 6 months before it I actually listened to BLB's "Cruel Melody" for the first time and was blown away. I really wanted to see them live but had no idea what to expect. We did some promo before the show (pics in the promo gallery)  and I discovered that they are a very nice bunch of guys and that Wes Borland is really articulate, interesting and amiable. The gig itself was just amazing: it started with Jayce Lewis performing as support - quite a find for me and definitely something I really liked. Black Light Burns themselves just come on stage and start playing - and then rip it up. It was nonstop energy and madness and I was allowed to take pics on stage, which led to some unique views and shots of what to me is still the best concert I have ever been to. Full set here.

I love Iced Earth. I really do. So I was quite a happy chappy when I saw they would be in Vienna again and supporting Volbeat on a huge tour which meant they would be getting to use the big stage they deserve. In addition, my friend Jon Dette is playing drums for them now, so I got to see him too! I met up with him a bit earlier as he is wearing a load of Archetype Apparel gear at the moment - so we got a few shots of him in one of his new shirts just before soundcheck.

Before the show I did a bit of promo with Iced Earth while the first band of the night was playing. It was done behind the stage and unfortunately it was completely dark down there so I had to use my phone to shine some light into Stu's face in order to get a focus point. I messed it up on the first couple of shots where I tried to focus one and then set to manual focus and keep shooting - that wasn't a good idea as it turned out since I must have moved a bit and the first shots were out of focus. The next set of pics worked though as I just kept my phone up with one hand and shot with the other - it also gave the band something to look at in the dark. Here's one that didn't make the final cut - the final pics will be used in press and marketing material.

Lighting info: one 600EX Speedlite as backlight, 1/2 power, two more camera left and right at 1/8 and 1/16 respectively. 35mm, f/4.0 at 1/125. Ambient light: zero.

The show itself was awesome. Iced Earth was really appreciated by the Vienna crowd and played a wonderful set which also included some new stuff from the upcoming album. Of course I didn't actually get to see too much of it because I was running around the venue! I have posted only 10 pictures as the rest may be used in material as preparation for their headlining tour in 2014.

Of course, Volbeat also produced a great show! They started off with a banjo player right at the front of the stage and I was just getting really close with a wide angle lens when the first set of explosives went off right in front of me. I had seen "fire" written on the setlist but I didn't realize where it was going to be! The other photographers in the pit, the security guys and the first five rows of the audience all had a "whoa" look on their face which must have mirrored mine! Full set of the gig here.

Michael from Volbeat is a huge Iced Earth fan (and personally asked Jon Schaffer to do this tour with them) and so it is particularly cool that he plays the song Iced Earth with them every night and then Jon comes on to do Pool of Booze during the Volbeat set. They have great chemistry on stage. All in all a fantastic evening which I thoroughly enjoyed!