It was a dream come true ! I was able to shoot Megadeth at Place Bell. It is the second band of the “big four” of trash metal that I had the chance to photograph, the first one was Anthrax. It is really unlikely, but Metallica is playing this summer in Montreal, I have like 0.01% chance to get access, and it could be the third on four! The last one would be Slayer, which will also be really hard to get access to.
Anyway, Megadeth gave a really nice show at Place Bell! Really nice lights. They were supported by one of my favorite band when I was a teenager: Bullet for my valentine.
I sadly can not post the images here, so if you want to see them, please visit Vecteur-magazine, you will also have a review of the show, in French, by my friend Damien Réveillon.
Photographer’s Corner
Shooting Bullet for my Valentine
Even if they were not the headliner for this tour, they had really nice lights. The only issue was that the lighting technician was a bit abusive with the “on/off” button. It was creating something like a stroboscopic effect, but not really like a stroboscope. It was a bit weird and pretty hard to get a solid shoot without spamming the shutter button.
In the end, I got some nice pictures, and I am happy with them, but I would have liked a bit more variation in the lighting.
I advise you to focus on the bass player, Jamie Mathias, and the lead guitar, Michael Padget. They are the two who will give you the most actions and interact more with the audience.
Shooting Megadeth
Megadeth has a pretty nice setup of lighting. You will not need to get high with the iso settings. But at the same time, their setup is pretty light compared to other bands. They have a really big led screen behind them, but that is pretty much it. I still like the setup which was clearly focused on the songs.
I must say that I loved how the drummer was expressing himself. He was making so many faces and was clearly into it. It is a really good client to have good shots. Dave Mustaine was mostly hiding his face in his hair, I would have loved to have a better shot of his face.
In the end, everyone is moving a bit and interacting a bit with the audience, but again, they are more focused on the music than the show. This is nice if you are a Megadeth fan !
Gear used for Megadeth at Place Bell:
My gear for Megadeth at Place Bell:
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Thank Vecteur Magazine, who allowed me to get to Place Bell to shoot the event.
You can find the report of my friend Damien, in French, here.
Let me know what you think about the photos!
Have a good day.