Capping the metal Mayhem Fest, nu metal pioneers Korn stormed the main stage in what was one of the most challenging – and rewarding – sets of the day. Spastic lights, heavy thrashing, and a line of imposing monitors at the front of the stage meant press had to bring their A-game for this intense performance.

Photographer’s Notes:

I’ve seen some great live music images of Korn over the last several years, and I was excited to see what the band was about. A lot of the most memorable photos revolved around singer Jonathan Davis and the now signature mic stand that he uses. The polished metal stand features an H.R. Giger-esque female figure, and Davis uses the feature as a brace for his frequent headbanging.

Cameras Used:

• Nikon D3
• Nikon D700

Lenses Used:

• Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
• Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8

Due a line of monitors at the front of the stage, this wasn’t a very wide-angle show in my opinion. I stuck mostly to the longer end of the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 and used the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 for tighter framing. Overall, the new 70-200mm was great for this show, and really helped close the gap to Jonathan Davis and drummer Ray Luzier.

Overall, there was a ton of movement from Davis, so tracking and continuous AF were really important for this shoot.

In general, I’d say that Korn was probably second to Rob Zombie‘s performance in terms of technical challenges, but more rewarding in the fact that the light for Korn was much more dynamic. Lots of short-duration side and backlighting for this show, which made for great images – if you caught it. By comparison, shooting Five Finger Death Punch was a cakewalk.

End Notes:

Want more Mayhem? Check out the sets from Five Finger Death Punch and Lamb of God, and Rob Zombie.

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Love him or hate him, Rob Zombie is an undeniable showman, and his performance at Mayhem Fest 2010 was the perfect showcase for his twisted circus. With plenty of pyrotechnics, theatrics, and the one and only John 5  as his lead axeman, Zombie was guaranteed crowd-pleaser for Mayhem.

Photographer’s Notes:

This show was chaos. But, having photographed Rob Zombie in 2009, I had a good idea of how his set was going to go down. For the most part, many of the elements of the show were the same, with Rob Zombie and crew coming out with skull bandanas over their faces and spending a lot of the first couple songs playing “musical chairs” on the three large video screens/risers that were set up at the front of the stage.

Cameras Used:

• Nikon D3
• Nikon D700

Lenses Used:

• Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
• Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8

My shooting was pretty evenly split between the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 and the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8. The monitors with video screens that Zombie uses are pretty big obstacles, so the telephoto was great for when the performers were standing behind them (which is where their mic stands are located). However, when the guys are on top of these risers, that’s when the midrange zoom really came into play.

For me, my favorite part of this shoot was photographing guitarist John 5. No discredit to Rob Zombie, but J-5 is really a magnetic subject in his own right. That, and he has some great light on him during this performance.

End Notes:

Want more Mayhem? Check out the sets from Five Finger Death Punch and Lamb of God. Korn, Mayhem’s 2010 headliners, are coming up!

To compare and contrast the 2009 setup and the setup Zombie is using on Mayhem 2010, you can hit the old images here:

Comments & Feedback? Let ‘em rip.

Questions or comments? Leave a comment below, and let me know what you thought of this post.

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Like these images? Order prints by clicking through from the slideshow below. Share this slideshow by grabbing the embed code in the lower right of the player.

Just a preview shot of guitarist John 5, performing with Rob Zombie at Mayhem Fest 2010. As always, John 5 was a treat to photograph, and, I dare say, a better subject than Rob Zombie himself during their performance at the festival. Photographer’s Notes:

This shot was made at ISO 1600 at f/2.8 and 1/800 exposure with the Nikon D3 and the new Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II.

I could have easily used a lower ISO, but the performance of the D3 is so clean at ISO 1600 that I wanted all the stopping power I could get. Did I mention that John 5 was whipping his head back and forth? You can see the motion in the hair, but the 1/800 shutter speed worked great for freezing motion.

End Notes:

Stay tuned for the full sets from ROb Zombie, Korn, Lamb of God, and Five Finger Death Punch at Mayhem Fest, along with all the shooting notes.

In the meantime, check out some of my favorite sets from recent Mayhem Fests:

Slipknot:

Slayer

Marilyn Manson

DragonForce

In a triumphant performance played with uncontainable zeal, Canadian heavy metal band Anvil rocked a rabid and earnestly appreciative crowd at the Pageant on the Anvil Experience Tour. For this music photographer, it felt like an honor to photograph these rock legends, and I had a blast.

Photographer’s Notes:

I loved photographing Anvil at this concert. There’s something entirely refreshing about photographing a band with decades of history who are still so obviously relishing every single second on stage. And for anyone familiar with the Story of Anvil, it’s clear why: Lips, Robb, and Glenn are just living the dream.

While the 2,000-capacity Pageant was far from sold out, what the crowd lacked in quantity it more than made up for in quality. Fans threw up the metal fist and sang along with every word, thrashing along with every double-bass kick Robb launched at them.

There was a very narrow pit for this concert, and it was so close to the stage, in fact, that I was relieved to see that the mic stands for Lips and Glenn Five were set back about a meter from the front. Had the two musicians been set up right at the front of the stage, the acute shooting angle combined with the pair of monitors at each station would have made for a much tougher situation.

On the flipside, drummer Robb Reiner was relatively far back from the front of the stage, and, behind his kit, was the most difficult subject of the trio. In addition to the far position, Robb’s other obstacle for clean photography came with a relative lack of light at the back of the stage.

Overall, lighting for this show wasn’t terribly bright, but neither was it unmanageable by any means. Treatments largely consisted of hazy color backlighting and dimmer warm incandescent light from in front of the stage.

My exposure for much of the set hovered around 1/80 and ISO 3200 to 4000 at f/2.8.

I used all three of my f/2.8 zooms – the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8, 24-70mm f/2.8, and 70-200mm f/2.8.

With a crowd full of dedicated and enthusiastic fans, this show was ripe for catchflash in many respects. Here’s one example of Lips getting the benefit of flash from a P&S in the crowd.

While I could have used flash for this show, I preferred the look of the stage lighting. There was no shooting limit for this concert, so I snapped away quite happily with the stage lighting and enjoyed this rare luxury.

November 17, 2008 – Welcome to Crushville, population 15,000. Playing well into their third decade, Metalllica brought the pummel-fest as the World Magentic Tour came to the big house of the Scottrade Center in St. Louis.

James Hetfield and crew brought the sonic destruction to a legion of fans, from die-hards sporting shirts that dated back to the Reagan administration to youngsters who may well have been throwing up the devil horns for the very first time.

Photographer’s Notes:

I don’t know about you, but for big shows like this, I shoot a lot. I enter arena-mode and start cranking. Like 2-3 times as much as I might for a normal three-song shoot.

The band played in-the-round on the floor of the arena. When I saw the stage from the media-holding area at the edge of the floor, I was a little surprised that it wasn’t larger.

Overall, the size was relatively manageable, especially considering that the first-three songs seemed to stretch out for a good 15-20 minutes.

The first song started out in almost complete darkness, with singer James Hetfield lit by a constrasty uplighting and a background lattice of green lasers. This initial lighting scheme made picking on a subject an automatic decision, since Hetfield was the only action in town.

The second and third songs gave way to beautiful white light, with various tints thrown in during their duration, but nothing too bad. The second song of this set was essentially pure, abundant white light and the easiest to shoot. Overall, great lighting.

Needless to say, the choosing a subject was made much more difficult in the second and third songs, with one subject multiplying to four – and not just four in one place or side, but scattered all over the sprawling stage.

Microphones were set up at 10-12 stations around the perimeter of the stage, and Hetfield made the rounds for his vocal duties. The other members of the band also covered plenty of stage, though not to an unreasonable degree. Despite large monitors forming at the edge of the stage, there were generally large enough gaps that they weren’t terribly problematic.

Naturally, drummer Lars Ulrich was in the most stationary position, seated at his kit at the center of the stage, and acted as the one constant during the first three songs.

I shot this performance with the Nikon D3 and D700, using the 24-70mm f/2.8, 14-24mm f/2.8, and 70-200mm f/2.8. Of these three, the 24-70mm was the most utilitarian, though that didn’t stop me from trying to stick the 14-24mm on as much as possible.

The 70-200mm f/2.8 was the least used of the three, but did come in handy for tighter shots of James Hetfield and for picking up Lars Ulrich. With the exception of Ulrich, the band was relatively close most of the time, so shorter focal lengths excelled in this shoot.

As an aside, Metallica have one of the most massive photo passes I’ve ever seen. As a fellow photog suggested, “They might as well have given us t-shirts.” I think Metallica’s pass even beat’s that from The Police, which was previously the reigning champ in my stack.

Update:

Here’s a shot of the enormous photo pass from the show, alongside some other passes for reference:

The Morrissey pass (third from the left) is what most concert photographer’s would recognize as a regularly-sized pass. One size up, and there’s the pass for The Police’s 2007 reunion tour, which was previously the biggest pass I’d received.

The Metallica pass weighs in at about 2.5 times as large as the standard. It’s a little bigger than my Nikon D3. I’ve also included Interpol’s press pass for their 2007 tour as references to show the full spectrum.

End Notes:

This set was fun. And by fun, I mean awesome.