November 2, 2008 – Following performances by The Devil Wears Prada and Saosin that left the stage raw and bleeding, Underoath came out to deliver the final blow of metalcore mayhem.
Spencer Chamberlain led the attack on the death growl, commanding the attention of the audience with his constant display of passion and ferocity. Even alongside four of his trashing bandmates at the front of the stage, the frontman stood out for his enthralling physical performance.
On Chamberlain’s right, lead guitarist Tim McTague brought the six-string destruction, churning through crushing riffs and tag-teaming it with James Smith for band’s explosive double-axe attack.
Stage left, Chris Dudley threw himself into his keyboards and synths with every chord and melody, while opposite, Grant Brandell tirelessly slapped down pummeling bass lines.
While Chamberlain dominated the front of the stage, Aaron Gillespie was ever his foil at the back of the stage, delivering a savage beat on drums and clean vocals carried that band throughout the night.
Photographer’s Notes:
Where do I begin? Let’s just say that after the end of this show, the naked front element of my 14-24mm looked like a Jackson Pollack painting, what with all sweat and spit that was flying through the air.
Aside from photographing the Blood Brothers from the front of a mosh pit, this was probably one of the more intense shows I’ve photographed. In fact, though I photographed the full set, I spent about half the show just hanging out on the side stage while security pulled crowd surfers over the barricade as fast as they could.
Without a doubt, this was the heaviest set of the night, and the surfers were coming over in waves. I’m actually surprised I didn’t get a kick to the head considering all the raucous fans that poured over into the photo pit.
For this performance, I heavily favored the wide angles, drawing on the 14-24mm for much of the show. The Nikon 24-70mm also saw a little action, but again, this was mostly at the lens’s wider focal lengths.
As with the preceding bands, I used Nikon’s CLS system for this performance, utilizing three flashes on stage. The ability to use flash for this show was a huge boon, as the intense action on stage benefited heavily from the motion-stopping power of the added, on-demand light.
The stage lighting for this set was relatively lush, with heavy backlighting and smoke during many parts of the set. The smoke set off the speedlights to great effect and lent a rich feel to the normally spare stage space.
End Notes:
A huge thanks to Libby and her team for setting this one up – they’re consistently one of the most excellent groups with which to work. Also, a thanks once again to Brent and the band.
If you haven’t seen the portrait shoot we did with Underoath, check it out!
And, if you still can’t get enough of Underoath, you can see the boys’ set from Mayhem Fest here.
12 Comments Add your own
1. Jessie | November 11th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
the wide angles are spectacular…
this is beyond incredible.. wow.
2. Todd | November 11th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
Thank you, Jessie. This was really a challenging set due to all the movement – as well as the fact that Spencer is constantly doing hair flips!
3. Keith | November 12th, 2008 at 12:18 am
Spencer
is
crazy!
AWESOME!
4. Todd | November 12th, 2008 at 12:32 am
Double true. Spee is a wild man on stage. Thanks for the comment, Keith.
5. Chris | November 12th, 2008 at 2:49 am
Holyshitbitch. This is RIDICULOUS! So much wonderful, luscious white lighting on all of the band members with hints of nice colour washes in the back. Whether it’s the D3’s smooth processing power or the lights themselves, this set turned out really nicely — CLS comes to the aid again! Really, I think it should be a requirement by the labels you photograph for :)
I think what attracts me most is the high use of the 14-24 during this set. But man do I feel bad for it… I can’t even imagine you having to clean it. How’s it feel having to clean off Chamberlain spit?
My picks are 2, 3, 5, 10, 15, and 16. That wide angle is just so sick. It’s interesting to see the speedlites blaring their white light in many of the photos, instead of just accenting lights when focusing on an individual like in the first photo. They actually look like setup lights due to the smoke instead of just tiny lights being popped off from a small strobe… which I think would never work except in concert photography.
Wiiiicked.
6. Todd | November 12th, 2008 at 3:12 am
Hey Chris,
Thanks for the detailed comments, I appreciate it. The lush look is all the lights. The massive amount of smoke used for this set was epic and really smoothed everything out.
A little Formula MC took care of most of the grime that had made it’s way to my lens. I’ m not too worried about it.
I agree, the speedlight setup for this show made them look most like stage lights – again, thanks to the smoke. The haze really helped the atmosphere of Pop’s, as it’s usually much more spare.
7. Rod | November 12th, 2008 at 9:44 am
you know, i don’t like flash. but in this case, you have created some fucking bastard great pics ! very cool set ! (love the Ultra Wide Angle)
8. Todd | November 12th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Hey Rod, great to hear from you, thanks for stopping by. Glad to hear the flash for this set has won you over, if only for this time.
Now I have some motivation to improve my flash work for live shows, let me see if I can convert you. ;)
9. julia | November 12th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
out of curiosity did you get any person L pics? i almost went to that show and then didn’t cause of transportation problems. Kenny is way charismatic live.
that last one looking straight up is ridiculous btw. (in a good way)
10. Todd | November 12th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Hey Julia,
You know, I did not photograph PersonL - but I did photograph The Starting Line in one of their last performances, does that help?
The Starting Line
It was an arena show, no less!
Thanks for the comment!
11. John | November 14th, 2008 at 1:03 am
Holy freakin’ crap.
This is an amazing set - you have definitely captured a lot of emotion at this show. Totally wicked dude.
Well done (as usual). Cheers
12. Anna | November 22nd, 2008 at 4:57 pm
wow, these photos are amazing! and i went to that concert :D
speak up
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