Now that is how you put together a hard rock show. Sevendust capped off an amazing, non-stop show with newly reunited Coal Chamber, Lacuna Coil and Candlelight Red at Pop’s in Sauget, IL.

The crowd wasted no time showing up for this one. Hundreds waited in line for the doors to open and by the time the first band, Candlelight Red, took the stage Pop’s was packed from the floor up to the balcony.

Candlelight Red

Candlelight Red got the night started. Although the four piece band from Pennsylvania had to work with a very limited amount of room to work with on stage that did not stop them from putting on an energetic show. Despite some technical difficulties, the lead singer, Ryan Hoke, gave a great performance. Ryan has a great vocal range that allows him to go from raw screams to more melodic vocals. He asked the crowd, “Have we make any new fans?” the fans responded with screams and hands in the air. They played a quick 30-minute set, so make sure to get there early and be sure to catch their set.

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Lacuna Coil

Italian rock band, Lacuna Coil, continued the intensity with their set. Having been a band for over 17 years Lacuna Coil is no stranger to the metal/hard rock scene. The combination of Cristina Scabbia’s beautifully melodic voice and Andrea Ferro’s more traditional metal voice, Lacuna Coil provides a unique experience. Andrea’s facial expressions give a great amount of intensity to their performance. That combined with the powerful vocals and stage presence of Cristina made for a fantastic show.

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Coal Chamber

After an 8-year hiatus, Coal Chamber announced back in 2011 that they were reuniting with their original band members, except for Chela Rhea Harper, who took over on bass and is a great addition to the group. She flung her hair every which way imaginable all night long. Drummer, Mike Cox was the first band member out to the stage and after taking his place behind his drums he gave the crowd a smile and a wave. When the rest of the band arrived, they wasted no time jumping into their set, which started with “Loco.” To pick up his distinctive vocals, B. Dez Fafara was using an old square/announcer style microphone. The crowd immediately got pumped up and moving when they began to play. There was an almost constant mosh pit in the center of the floor with crowd surfers keeping security busy. They played other hits such as “Big Truck”, “Fiend”, “Not Living” and ended the night with “Sway (The Roof Is On Fire)”. Fafara told the crowd that they were crushing it and he knew this show would be fucking cool, which got the crowd even more excited.

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Sevendust

Touring in support of their new cd, “Black Out The Sun”, headliners, Sevendust, were up next and they did not disappoint. They played an amazing 12 song set featuring songs from their debut, self-titled album to their new latest album, “Black Out The Sun”. Their latest single, “Decay” was first up the crowd was ready with a constant stream of crowd surfers and moshing.

There is nothing like a Sevendust show Lajon Witherspoon, John Connolly, Clint Lowery, Vince Hornsby, Morgan Rose have been playing together since 1994 and it shows. The chemistry and energy that these guys have cannot be match.

Lajon has one of the most recognizable and unique voices in rock. He knows how to put on an amazing show and has a great time doing so. He is always smiling between songs and you can tell he sincerely enjoys what he does.

Morgan is an absolute mad man behind his drum kit. I have no idea how he can provide backing vocals, while still going crazy on the drums. I was almost out of breath just trying to watch him.

I had a blast watching bassist, Vince Hornsby perform. He constantly has a smile on his face and has great expressions on his face. I lost track of how many drum sticks he handed out, while never missing a beat on his bass.

Both guitarist, Clint Lowery and John Conolly provide the hard hitting riffs and raw vocals that Sevendust is known for. Guitarist/vocals, Clint Lowery, recently took time off from the band in order to be with his wife, who was pregnant with their second child. Since Clint currently resides in the St. Louis area, he was able to join his band mates for the St. Louis show. Lajon Witherspoon congratulated Clint and his wife, Tara, on their new baby girl and the crowd gave a big cheer to Clint as well. While Clint is away, Troy McLawhorn is filling in. Troy did make an appearance and played guitar on “Black”. Lajon mentioned that he loves being in beautiful St. Louis and still wanted to get to local restaurant, Sweetie Pies. He also gave a shout out to some of the local guys in Evans Blue, who were at the show, including their lead singer and native St. Louisian, Dan Chandler.

They ended the show with an encore by playing “Splinter” and “Face to Face”.

This will most likely be the final cd released by Sevendust and you never know if this will be the final time they play your city, so if you have the opportunity to see them, go!

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Tear Out The Heart celebrated the release of their new album, Violence, at Pop’s in Sauget, IL. Also on the bill were: The Fuck Off And Dies, Inimical Drive, Fears vs Dreams and Battalion.

Tear Out The Heart is signed to Victory Records and on March 19^th they released their debut album, Violence. The St. Louis, MO based band members are: Tyler Konersman – Vocals, Josh Spohr – Guitar, Matthieu Murphy – Guitar, Isaac Etter – Bass / Vocals and Matt Epstein – Drums.

With Tyler’s raw vocals and the hard hitting riffs, Tear Out The Heart wasted no time getting the crowd pumped up and moving. There was almost a constant mosh pit from the very beginning to the end. With no barricade to shoot from, this meant I was shooting from the crowd, which definitely made things tough.

Singers from two of the opening bands, Nick Manser from Fears vs Dreams and Dan Marsala from The Fuck Off And Dies (and Story of the Year) each made a special appearance and sang along with Tyler. The fans went insane when Dan came out and sang with Tyler, which was an awesome sight.

If you are into the metal scene, then you will not find a more energetic and raw experience, than Tear Out The Heart. Pick up their CD/MP3 on Amazon or iTunes.

10 Years knows how to have a great time entertaining the fans. If you are unaware, 10 Years is a rock band from Knoxville, TN, and has toured with the likes of Sevendust, Breaking Benjamin, Deftones, KoRn, Chevelle, Disturbed, Shinedown and Linkin Park.

This stop at Pop’s in Sauget, IL was part of their Minus The Machine Tour. Opening for 10 Years was local band, Mesoterra, Kyng and Fair to Midland.

Right from the start of their 1 hour 15 minute set you could tell this was gonna be a great time. They came out of the chute with an amazing amount of energy and got the crowd into from the very beginning. Guitarist, Ryan “Tater” Johnson, didn’t spend much time on the stage before jumping down into the security pit to be with the die hard fans who arrived early to ensure a spot up front. Ryan continued to play almost all of “Fix Me” with the crowd while resting his head on a fan and signing to her.

There was never a dull moment through out their entire set and even featured many laughs. During “Beautiful” a bra was thrown onto the stage, singer, Jesse Hasek, picked it up and remarked “first bra of the tour and it’s still warm” which got a nice laugh from the crowd. Next up was “Minus The Machine” and during this break you would think he would just toss the bra back into the crowd or off stage, but you would be wrong. Jesse decided to put it on over his shirt. Since the bra was very small, he said “I hope this isn’t from a 9 year old, cause then this would be really inappropriate.” It took Jesse a few attempts during breaks between songs to snap the bra, but he eventually succeed and it would stay on for almost the entire set before throwing it back to the crowd. He asked if being drunk was a good excuse for wearing the bra, then said “neh, I’d do this sober,” which got another great laugh from the fans.

Jesse mentioned that they have been coming to Pop’s for 7-8 years and the first time they had never seen so many strip clubs in such a small area. Back in those years they were experiencing huge success with the song “Wasteland,” which reached #1 on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart. As a thank you to the fans they decided to play “Wasteland” acoustic, “I want to hear you all,” said Jesse.

The last song they played was “Shoot It Out”. During this song Jesse jumped off the stage and sang the song with the fans, which really got the fans going. It is always great to see a band who knows who is responsible for their success, the fans, and 10 Years has this nailed!

“You guys are fucking awesome!” said Jesse to end the night.

This tour is in support of their upcoming cd, “Minus the Machine”, which will be available August 7^th, 2012.

Setlist

• • Chasing The Rapture
  • Fix Me
  • Autumn Effect
  • Now Is The Time
  • Beautiful
  • Minus The Machine
  • Russian Roulette
  • 11 A.M.
  • Knives
  • Fade Into
  • Wasteland (Acoustic)
  • Backlash
  • Shoot It Out

Equipment

I used my Canon 5D Mark II with the Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L lens.

Pictures

Click one of the thumbnails below to view them on the Photos page.

Brookroyal are always a favorite of mine to photograph. They always put on a great show and are a bunch of great guys. Every time they hit the stage it is amazing experience. There is never a dull moment throughout the entire set.

They are planning on releases their new album in Spring 2012 and I can not wait. They have already released a 2 song EP entitled, “Jump”, which is also the title of their current single. The recorded version also features, Clint Lowery of Sevendust and Hello Demons, Meet Skeletons. The second song on the EP is “Drama Queen”, both of which were played before a sold out crowd at The Point’s final HoHo show of 2011 at Pop’s. In addition they played one new song which has yet to be released, “Move”.

Setlist

• • Crown The Youth
  • Hello
  • Friend
  • Drama Queen
  • Inspiration
  • Save Today
  • Move
  • Motive
  • Tear Me Down
  • There Was A Time
  • Jump

Equipment

I used 2 Canon 5D’s one with the Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L lens and the other with the Canon 16-35mm f2.8L lens.

Pictures

For me, one good indication of a great show is how quickly the 3 songs. The Urge show on November 18^th, 2011 at The Pageant seemed like it was over in the blink of an eye.

I love The Urge, so it was an absolute thrill to be able to photograph one of their concerts. This was the third of four shows at The Pageant in a span of 2 weeks. The lighting was absolutely stunning. It was one of the most/best lit shows I have ever covered.

The Urge were a hometown favorite before they disbanded back in 2001. They played a couple of farewell shows at The Pageant, one of which, I attended. It was an epic two and a half hour show. Also, back in 2004 they got together to play one show, Pointfest, which I also attended. They announced at the Pointfest 29 announcement party that they were getting back together and making new music.

Even after all this time, The Urge have not lost a step and continue to put on one of the best shows you will ever see. The fans were ecstatic to see them get back together and every single person there was absolutely going crazy with chants of: PTMFUS. I think it’s pretty safe to assume that any Urge fans knows what that stands for.

The set was roughly an hour and a half long and included: “Don’t Ask Why”, “All Washed Up”, “Tell Me”, “Too Much Stereo”, “Dirty Rat”, “Say Yeah”, “Open All Night”, “Take Away”, “I Go Home”, “Closer”, “Straight to Hell”, “Violent Opposition”, “Welcome to Gunville”, “Warning Warning”, “Where Do We Go”, “Jump Right In”, “Brainless”, “Four Letters and Two Words”, “One Love (Bob Marley Cover)” and “It’s Getting Hectic”.

There is one more show at The Pageant, November 25^th, and if you have decided not to go to one of these first 3 shows, then you must go to the last one. The first two shows sold out and if the third one didn’t there were very few tickets left.

Equipment

I used 2 Canon 5D’s one with the Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L lens and the other with the Canon 16-35mm f2.8L lens.

Pictures

For those that don’t know, Puscifer is a side project of Tool frontman, Maynard James Keenean. Carina Round (pics) provided vocals along side of Maynard and performed as the opening act. To say this show was interesting is an understatement. Can’t say that I expected to be trying to shoot around lawn furniture, so it is a good thing I had a long lens with me.

Maynard’s voice and the acoustics of the newly remodeled Peabody Opera House were an amazing combination. The vocals and instruments were crisp, clear and some of the best I have ever heard.

I photographed the show for PLAYBACK:stl and Bruce Matlock wrote an excellent review.

Equipment

I used 2 Canon 5D’s one with the Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L lens and the other with the Canon 70-200mm f2.8L lens.

Pictures

Carina Round was not only the opening act for Puscifer, but is also a member. On November 12^th, 2011, I had the opportunity to photograph her performing at the Peabody Opera House in St. Louis, MO. Being an old opera house, the conditions for photographing were less than ideal. All I can say is I am glad I brought a long lens.

The Peabody Opera House recently reopened after closing for about 20 years and it is absolutely beautiful. The acoustics are some of the best I have ever heard.

Equipment

I used 2 Canon 5D’s one with the Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L lens and the other with the Canon 70-200mm f2.8L lens.

Pictures

Blue October are currently on tour supporting their latest album, Any Man In America. The photos were taken at my favorite concert venue, The Pageant, on October 1^st, 2011. This was my first time getting a chance to photograph them and I must say that the lighting was pretty good. Also, the front of the stage was clear, which made things pretty easy to shoot. Another plus was there were no security guards or other photographers behind the barricade with me, so I had the place to myself. All in all this was a fun show to shoot.

Equipment

I used a Canon 5D with the Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L lens.

Pictures

There is nothing like a Greek Fire show, the energy is second to none. Every show is never the same as the last. I just love how the amount of fun these guys are having just radiates outward. This was a show with Evans Blue to raise money for the city of Joplin, MO, which is still recovering for the tornadoes that hit the town back in May. To donates, visit Rebuild Joplin.

This is a very exciting time for Greek Fire. Tomorrow, August 16^th, their debut album, Deus Ex Machina will be released. On Saturday they will be opening for Incubus.

There were no barricades to shoot from, so that meant I was right there shooting in the crowd. Although this does make things difficult, it is also a blast to be with all of the fans.

Equipment

I used a Canon 5D with the Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L lens.

Pictures

Evans Blue was one of four bands who played a show to help raise money for the victims of the tornadoes that hit Joplin, MO back on May 22^nd, 2011. Help is still needed if you can, please donate.

This was my first time photographing Evans Blue and they put on a great show. This was a challenging show to photograph because the barricades were taken out and I had to shoot from the crowd. Evans Blue put on a great show and they let everyone know that they are working on a new CD and hope to have it out by Christmas.

Equipment

I used a Canon 5D one with the Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L lens.

Pictures