Revolver Golden Gods Tour 5/10/14
May oh May oh May, you have been good to me. With the shows that have come up like Killswitch Engage, Miss May I and tomorrow a nice long night with 12 Foot Ninja, this month continues to roll on with amazing events. Even though I did miss out on Trivium & Volbeat touring as well as Staind, my excitement was thoroughly held for this exact date. May 10th, 2014… the Revolver Golden Gods Tour. My goodness, this tour package is a night of firsts, not only for me, but for N.Y.C in general. If you let me explain, you’ll know soon enough.
Having spent a full 12 hours at the venue being a cameraman for interviews with Metal Mark of Skullsnbones.com with Jimmy Bower of EyeHateGod/Down and John Sankey of Devil You Know, the entire day was filled with the type of excitement as any SOLD OUT show would crave. Having met Zakk Wylde this year at the Apple store in SoHo, i had to be at this show to document the night.
Opening up the show were Century Media Records own Butcher Babies. The dynamic duo of screams Heidi and Carla came out guns blazing. With a 25 minute set duration, they let every card out on the table…and it worked. I got many great photos as I usually do with this band primarily because I know their stage movements and energy. Having shot them at Roseland Ballroom with Danzig and at Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival in 2013, you don’t forget the music or the characteristics that make up the personalities of these fine women of metal. Guitarist Henry Flury made it his business to be more interactive this time around as the bands energy was concurrent throughout. I have been a Butcher Babies fan since I first saw them last year. Let me tell you this much, in a genre riddled by males, these two women break ground and let the world know that they mean business by putting on continuous shows that hold such tenacity in a genre where women are needed as musicians. Photography wise, this show was dark. Lots of composition with shadows. Three songs allowed me to rock the hell out and shoot pictures of the entire band. More candid phoyos this time as well and that’s always a good thing. Not only was the show amazing, they held a special meet and greet outside the venue after Black Label Society’s set. Truly classy as Heidi, Carla and the rest of the band came out to take photos and sign autographs. I finally got to meet them, snap a photo and talk to the band as they finally realized that my photos from Roseland were the ones they praised as Henry told me he uses my photo on Facebook. Talk about late news. Never the less, this is a band worthy of praise and checking out so you should do just that. The set-list is as follows.
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I Smell a Massacre
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The Mirror Never Lies
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Goliath
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C8h18 (Gasoline)
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Jesus Needs More Babies for His War Machine
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Magnolia Blvd.
Howard Jones. That’s all I have to say. If you that name, you know the legacy he has created for himself to co-exist with his absence after the sudden departure from Killswitch Engage. Nuclear Blast Records picked up Devil You Know in 2013. Consisting of members from All Shall Perish, Bleeding Through, Hiss of Atrocities, and Devolved, their full length album released on April 24th, 2014 with song single “Seven Years Alone” released prior to, and a music video released back in late March. Devil You Know opened up their show with easily the worst lighting of the night. I was eager to see them live, but the mood and atmosphere just killed it for me. With less than 20 photos kept, this act should of gotten more positive attention, but my goodness were those lights terrible. The music was good, opening up with songs like “A New Beginning”, “My Own” and of course “Seven Years Alone” you can tell the album was being heavily pushed on this tour. For a new band and the return of Howard Jones, people were itching to see what they were up to in terms of music, now they know. My opinion, I like the material but I need to further divulge myself in the lyricism. Howard controlled me during the KSE days (2002-2012), I don’t think there will be a problem now that I can hear the album in its entirety. I didn’t want to spoil the set so I waited to see them live before hearing the actual album. I will be impressed and that will NOT be a surprise since it is Howard Jones. I wish the band much success and gave praise to Howard when I met him outside the venue after the show. He was optimistic and poised to make a clean slate with the new material. The set-list is as follows:
1. A New Beginning
2. My Own
3. Seven Years Alone
4. Embracing
5. The Killer
6. A Mind Insane
7. Shut It Down
Down… The New Orleans based rock group have been absent from New York City since their last show roughly a year and a half ago. With an eager crowd chanting Phil’s name across the auditorium, the time was upon us all. Down’s set was crushing. I never saw them live before and I am glad I waited all this time cause my jaw dropped in the blink of a freakin’ eye. As hard as it was to shoot (because I was so enthralled by what I was hearing), I had a blast photographing Down. Phil’s humor and ability to be so nonchalant on stage was a perfect mixture for his stage presence. He gave high five’s to crowd surfers and even gave me one during the third song. I was very starstruck being a Pantera fan and all. Now, I can say I am a fully converted Down fan with a huge discography to peak my interests. The band itself was amazingly photogenic and was accompanied by atmospheric lighting to set a proper tone to the music that was purely heavy. Finally some proper lighting for a change. Fighting off crowd-surfers and security keeping us safe, Down’s ability to NOT MOVE MUCH, but make every stance photogenic and unique to their own was a personal touch to my photography. The band is awesome and deserves much more praise than they get. I felt so pumped for the set and what I was witnessing as I have not seen Phil perform since Metal Masters 2012. Nostalgic memory included to add to my hype. Jimmy Bower was fun to interview and very humble as well as the entire band in general. Patrick Bruders came out of the venue and gave me a big hug after I complimented him on an amazing set. It was hysterical to see such bad-ass people be so down to Earth. Phil on the other hand, was unreachable. He literally waved to everyone and went to the tour bus and stayed there. I was very disappointed as I looked forward to meeting him in person. But alas, that was not fated for the night. No ill will towards him or the band because of this, as his reputation in music makes him a virtual ghost after shows. I will be seeing Down again and will attempt to meet Mr. Anselmo again for that autograph. Can’t stop persistence and with Down, you can’t stop the heaviest of music. The set-list is as follows:
1. Eyes of the South
2. We Knew Him Well
3. Witchtripper
4. Lifer
5. Pillars of Eternity
6. Hail the Leaf
7. Losing All
8. Stone the Crow
9. Bury Me in Smoke
Los Angeles and worldwide Doom Crew heavy metal headliners Black Label Society came on with a massive BLS banner to hide the appearance of the stage until the time was right. It was the first time in 4 and a half years that I see a giant flag come draped down to cover the stage of the Best Buy Theater. With a forceful pull of five security guards, Zakk began the show with My Dying Time. Thats when the crowd were berserk. The first three songs were hectic as any rightful headliner of that caliber should be. But this, was just ridiculous. Managing to escape the photo pit with my body intact, the unbelievably beautiful lighting hoisted composition and intensity that I have not seen this year. Yes, I have photographed headlining bands with amazing light systems, but their atmospheric composition was captured thanks to ALOT of shadows and subtle ambient light. For BLS, it was pure adrenaline with sufficient lighting. Spotlights captured Zakk’s solos. Both John DeServio and Dario Lorina had ample lighting on their respected sides. Wished the dueled during the photo time we had but they did not. Even drummer Jeff Fabb got amazing photos which I was finally pleased with as I usually hate my drummer photos. Since I do not have a 70-200mm lens, it is difficult to obtain perfect or close to perfect drummer photographs. I make with whats due and most of the time I want to bash my head on the wall out of frustration. It wasn’t till the piano was brought out that the whole venue went into another dimension of atmosphere. Angel of Mercy is easily one of my favorite songs of the new album Catacombs of the Black Vatican, and I sang my head off while he serenaded the crowd with that beautiful song. The blue lights mixing with fluorescent white lighting was pure magic. Cap the cherry on the cake as I watched Zakk sing In This River and then finished that song by dedicating it to fallen Pantera/Damageplan guitarist Dimebag Darrell. Fast forward the rest of the night because everyone knew what they wanted to see. Thats right, Phil Anselmo coming on stage to sing Pantera’s classic track off the Far Beyond Driven album I’m Broken. That’s when the theater went bonkers. Absolute pandemonium broke out for the very last song and it was well deserved. Check out the photos of Anselmo destroy with BLS and the set-list below.
1. My Dying Time
2. Godspeed Hell Bound
3. Destruction Overdrive
4. Heart of Darkness
5. Overlord
6. Damn the Flood
7. Guitar Solo
8. Parade of the Dead
9. Fields of Unforgiveness
10. Angel of Mercy
11. In This River
12. The Blessed Hellride
13. Suicide Messiah
14. Concrete Jungle
15. Stillborn
16. I’m Broken (Pantera cover) (with Phil Anselmo)
The worth of the wait and a 12 hour venue romp held many special appearances and autographs to boot. With Some of the best photos ever shot at Best Buy Theater and fond memories that won’t leave me for many times to come, this tour is clearly a top and making my life more difficult to etch out the best tours of 2014 at the end of the year. GO CHECK THIS TOUR OUT!!! AND GO BUY ALL THE ALBUMS FROM EACH RESPECTED BAND!!! Catch you rockers on the flip side.
–Derek Soto–
The Spoils of the night
For Flickr Photos Click HERE!
Butcher Babies Photo Gallery
Devil You Know Photo Gallery
Down Photo Gallery
Black Label Society Photo Gallery
