Photos: HIM

Photos: HIM performing at the Pageant

HIM – AKA His Infernal Majesty, AKA your favorite Love Metal band – performed to a rapturous crowd at the Pageant in support of the band's seventh studio album, Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice.

Photos: HIM performing at the Pageant

Photos: HIM performing at the Pageant

Photos: HIM performing at the Pageant

Photos: HIM performing at the Pageant

Photos: HIM performing at the Pageant

Photos: HIM performing at the Pageant

Photos: HIM performing at the Pageant

Photos: HIM performing at the Pageant

Photos: HIM performing at the Pageant

Photos: HIM performing at the Pageant

Photos: HIM performing at the Pageant

Photographer's Notes:

I have to admit: I came into this show expecting the big guns – bright lights blasting from every direction while Ville Valo chain smoked at the mic and the rest of the band rocked out.

Instead, what went down was a decidedly more low key treatment, with more moody sidelighting and backlighting, Ville without a mic stand, and not a cigarette in sight for the first three songs during which I photographed.

Still, HIM was a great shoot, even if all the concert photographers did have to work a little harder to make images. Lighting aside, I think Ville is a fascinating subject on stage, and this performance was no exception. Right behind Ville was guitarist Mikko Lindström, who, positioned very close to the LED arrays on the side of the stage, received some of the more interesting lighting of the night.