Helmet is currently on tour for the 20th anniversary of their legendary album "Betty". As such, I had the chance to shoot them at ((szene)). There were no support bands and they started quite early, however the hall was quite full of die-hard Helmet fans and the gig really satisfied their needs!
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For their only show in Vienna in 2014, Chaos Beyond performed a long set with some of their own extra lighting which made it a unique event, not to be missed by fans! Openers for the night were Thesis, Legion of Bokor and The OverAlls:    A minute before Chaos Beyond went on stage, I met with them at the entrance in order to take a quick picture:  ...and then of course their gig - it was really a great show, unfortunately I was not able to stay until the end as I had been away from home all week and needed to sleep... getting old I guess... Cannonball Ride is currently presenting their new album around Austria (all the album photos are by your favourite intrepid photographer) and as such played a set at the Disasterpieces show at ((szene)). Disasterpieces are a Slipknot tribute band that have gone all the way and look and sound as close to the real thing as you're going to get. I will admit that I have never been a Slipknot fan so I guess I was able to listen and watch to Disasterpieces' gig from a neutral position and I have to say they were really impressive. The energy and movement on stage is massive and everyone plays their role perfectly. And the clown scares the crap out of me. ((szene)) Wien has a series of summer events called Chill and Grill which utilizes the garden and the outdoor stage. As part of that, Gini Ernst played a set with her band and once again showed why she is one of Austria's favourites at the moment! I went lightly equipped with just the EOS M, the 22mm 2.0 pancake lens and the squishy Lensbaby Spark. It's not always easy to focus quickly but with a bit of practice I think it works quite nicely! Ignite produced some really awesome music but hasn't really been actively writing for a long time. Seeing them live is an experience for itself and I was glad that I had the chance to meet them for a couple of promo shots before the gig. Unfortunately Zoli (vocals) wasn't really feeling up to it and so we made do with the wall of the parking lot opposite the venue: 
I went for a harsh lighting look - a bit like a mugshot - and cut off the top and bottom with cinemascope bars. 1 Speedlite camera right at 1/4, one camera lower left at 1/8. ISO 400, f/8, 1/200s
The show started off with the most excellent Morphine Pilgrims who I had not heard before. I went on stage before their set to sort out pictures and glanced at their setlist - it seemed really long (14 songs or so) and I asked them how long they would play for. When they replied that it would be about 30 minutes I already knew this was going to be cool - and they didn't disappoint! Excellent and fast hard punk... right up my alley! Download their music here - it's free! Bloodshed Remains and Tigerblood brought more hardcore music to the mix and certainly warmed up the crowd before Ignite hit the stage.    Ignite were just brilliant. Zoli really engaged with the crowd a lot during each song and they played some of my favourites such as Bleeding and Veteran, so there was definitely nothing to complain about except it ending! Loved every minute of it! Dog Eat Dog are currently on tour to commemorate the 20th anniversary of their album All Boro Kings and stopped off at ((szene)) - something I could not miss of course! Opening for them were Time for Pride, Cannonball Ride and No Silence For Sale. I met up with the guys from Cannonball Ride to do some promo before the show and I think we got a couple of good shots around the venue - we used the concert hall and a barricade, the local train station exit and the roof / wall of the backstage area:    They're a great bunch of guys and I really enjoyed working with them and hanging out. I hope to see more of them soon! They were as great live as they had been on the previous occasions I have seen them. Time for Pride also played a great set as always, looks like they are really getting into their new (heavier) direction.       Dog Eat Dog were awesome as always. They played an extra long set and the crowd (quite a lot of people surprisingly for the 1st of May on a beautiful warm evening) just loved it. I had a setlist because there were a couple of songs I was supposed to be ready on stage for specific shots but that all went out the window when John basically let it flow and played things in random order... In any case it was a wonderful evening once again and I can't wait to see them again next year! Devastating Enemy decided to call it quits and of course that meant a special farewell show which I did not want to miss! They were opened for by Eyes in the Void, Emily's Bleeding and Sensylis who all put on great sets. The final performance by Devastating Enemy was something else though. Really glad I got to see it! My favourite shot of the night is the first one, showing them lifting off to go back to their home planet... The All Austrian Metal Night was brought into existence by a few people highly committed to supporting Austrian music - the idea being to offer a platform for Austrian bands to perform in a party atmosphere. This was the 10th time it was being held and they had a special treat in terms of lineup and location in for us: ((szene)) hosted Fly Ash Return, Aeons of Ashes, Prometheus, Eneera and Black Inhale, which drew quite a crowd! I hadn't heard of the first two bands yet but was pleasantly surprised by their quality - both presented quite a good set and brought a bunch of people into the concert hall. Prometheus then blew me away once again - their live performance is perfect in every way and is singularly about the music. Eneera powered their way through their set once again and really gave us an aural beatdown before Black Inhale played a brilliant mix of favourites and new songs which they will be recording soon for a CD release later this year. All in all a great night and I got a couple of keepers... Running order: Rumpelstilz, No Silence For Sale, Time For Pride, Coffeeshock Company, Defrage An interesting lineup for this Boo-Kings event and my friends from Time For Pride made this an evening not to be missed. Saw some cool new stuff, especially from Time For Pride who have re-invented themselves and are going in a heavier direction (just the way I like it)! Coffeeshock Company is another act that really needs to be seen - multiple languages and styles combined on stage to a great show that delivers fun all the way! One of the more difficult shows to shoot at ((szene)) - apparently there was someone new on lighting... I cranked ISO up all the way but still had difficulty getting well lit shots since the frontlights were extremely dim. Will have to bring a bribe with me next time... 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. |
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