Hatebreed at Olympia – 04-09-2023

I am a big fan of Hatebreed, so when I saw that we had an American tour with Hatebreed at Olympia in Montreal for the 20th anniversary of “Rise of Brutality”, I was more than happy! This was an incredible night of hardcore metal, even if I would have loved to have better lighting. Hatebreed was supported by Jesus Piece, Vein.FM and Terror, are only great hardcore bands, I have heard of Terror and they were up to my expectations.

Hatebreed was great on stage, lot of energy and they play a lot of songs coming from almost all of their album, that was really nice! Hardcore fans, do not miss this tour.

Here are my photos!

Jesus Piece

Vein.FM

Terror

Hatebreed

Photographer’s Corner

Good luck. This will sum up everything. A hardcore (or punk) show is always a bit tricky to shoot. The best shots will be if you do not have a crash barrier. Because the crowd goes often crazy and goes on stage. But for a photographer, no crash barrier and a hardcore mosh pit, is a really hard place to shoot from.

Here, at Olympia, we had a crash barrier which was nice, but the issue was the light.

Except for Hatebreed, who had really nice lighting for the two first songs, the third one was a bit difficult, the other bands were almost playing in the dark.

Ok, it is not true, they had lights, but really crappy ones. Everything came from the back, only one color, and their face were dark. For some reason, we had like 30 seconds of Jesus Piece, where the light was very good before it went to dark again.

On top of that you can add that the bands were full of energy, which is really good, but very fast movements with no light, is like the worst nightmare for photographers.

So again, good luck to shoot this tour !

If you happen to have better lighting you may end up with a killer shot. For Jesus Piece, keep an eye on the frontman, he jumps a lot! For Vein.FM, the bass player is the one who will give you the most, but keep an eye on the guitar player, I have seen him go on the drums to jump, but was not able to capture it.

For Terror, the bass player and frontman are your best clients !

For Hatebreed, Jamey Jasta, the frontman is definitely your best client.

Reminder if you are not used to punk/hardcore music, the songs can be really quick. It is usually 2-3 min, rarely more, so you will need to be quick. Do not miss a second of shooting because the first three songs will not give you more than 10 minutes of shooting.

Gear used for Hatebreed at Olympia:

My gear forHatebreed at Olympia:

• Canon R6 + RF 70-200mm F/4 L IS
• Canon R6 II + RF 14-35mm F/4 L IS

Thanks, Thorium Mag, who allowed me to get to MTelus to shoot the event.

Let me know what you think about the photos!

You can find the rest of the gallery here.