Gojira at Place Bell -18-08-2023
“The Mega Monster Tour”, you could not have found a better name for this tour with the two amazing bands Mastodon and Gojira at Place Bell. I honestly am not a big fan of Mastodon and was there mostly for Gojira. But Mastodon gave us a nice psychedelic show that in the end, I liked. Gojira was amazing as always, so much energy on stage.
Mastodon
Gojira
Photographer’s Corner
Shooting Mastodon during The Mega Monster Tour
First: good luck. Mastodon, in this tour, has a really nice show on stage, with a big LED screen and a lot of psychedelic animations. But for photographers, it makes it really hard to have good photos as the lighting is pretty poor outside this big screen.
In term of movement, the band do not move a lot, your best client will be the frontman and Bill Kelliher, one of the guitar player. They interact a bit with the audience and they have some specific moves. But do not expect any jump or crazy things.
Shooting Gojira during The Mega Monster Tour
It is hard to shoot Gojira, because things are happening EVERYWHERE. All the band is a good client. Mario, the drummer is making incredible faces and does not just stand sitting behind his drums. The bassist is moving a lot, and you can expect him to do great jumps, I sadly miss it this time. The guitar player is also a pretty good client, especially his headbands,. And Joe, the frontman also does a lot of great faces and is really good on photos. So be prepared, you will have to be switching between the band members a lot.
On the lighting side, it was not my favorite for a Gojira show, but it was pretty good. This is really the kind of show a photographer likes to shoot, and if like me you like Gojira, this is a must to do.
We were allowed for songs 2-3-4 instead of the usual 1-2-3. During songs 2 and 4 you will have fire. During song 4, we also had some confetti shots. Other than that you will have plenty of Co2 machines, especially on the first song.
Gear used for Gojira at Place Bell:
I changed a bit my gear for this one as I was coming directly from the Lasso Festival, so I had my 100-500 instead of the 70-200, and I must say that it was too much. I ended up switching my R6 and R7 to have a bit less reach for Gojira. And it was the right choice.
Gear for Mastodon
- Canon R7 + RF 100-500mm
- Canon R6 II + RF 14-35mm F/4 L IS
Gear for Gojira
- Canon R6 II + RF 100-500mm
- Canon R7 + RF 14-35mm F/4 L IS
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Thank Vecteur Magazine, who allowed me to get to Place Bell to shoot the event.
Full gallery here.
Let me know what you think about the photos!
Have a good day.
