Capinaine Salaud was opening the evening. Its music is a large mix of punk, folk traditional quebec music, country… In the end it will make you want to move around and dance. I liked it.
Wolves at Midnight
Next was a really nice discovery, the band Wolves At Midnight. Their alternative rock music was more the kind of music I am listening to. My biggest critic would be the lack of lights, but this is not totally their fault, Turbohaus is not the best place to do concert photography.. I hope to see them again on a biggest stage to see their full potential.
Era9
Finally was Era9, the band was good on stage. For a young band they are moving well and not just stay static. I like their music even if it sometimes feel a bit the same. With one or two more albums I think they will be able to add some variety in their setlist. They even bring some light, that made me very happy.
Here are my photos:
Wolves at midnightWolves at midnightEra9Era9Era9Era9Era9
What a hell of a show ! I must say that I was more there to see Nothing More than Three Days Grace. And I was not disappointed as Nothing More delivered a crazy performance.
Fozzy
The night was opening with Fozzy. I never heard of them before and it was one of the best surprise from 2018 for me. This band is awesome, and certainly the best opening band I have seen in a while. They were just awesome on stage and their music is pretty good. If you like classic old school heavy metal, go check them and see them live! I hope I will be able to see them as an headliner in the future.
Nothing More
Nothing More was next. I was not really familiar with this band before, just knew their name. But they already stopped by Montreal during the year and I was just blown by the pictures I saw from the show. I had high expectations, and they totally met them. The front man is just a beast doing crazy stuff with the gear he has on stage. He is moving everywhere, it looks like no one can stop him.
Nothing More
On top of that they clearly worked on their light show. This is creating the perfect mood and energy for every songs. A real pleasure to photograph them. Be aware that it is not a really heavy band, it sometimes almost feel more pop than metal. But I love their songs anyway. For me it was one of the best show I saw in 2018.
Three Days Grace
Hard job to come after Nothing More. And as you imagine I would have prefer them to be the headliner. But is was Three Days Grace who will be closing the night.
Do not get me wrong, Three Days Grace gave us a pretty good show. Even if I am not a big fan of their music, they were good on stage. The musicians and the audience were having a blast. But yeah I do not think they were able to make me forget Nothing More who kind of steal the show for me.
Here are my photos:
FozzyFozzyNothing MoreNothing MoreThree Days GraceThree Days Grace
I was not supposed to be shooting, but I filled in for my friend Thomas as had an unforseen event. Tonight, two bands were opening for Pop Evil.
Era9
First one was Era9, a local Montreal band that surprised me in the good way. Their musician were really good moving on the stage, which is something rare was this kind of young bands. On top of that, the two singers were full of emotions while singing. Great to photograph despite the lack of lights.
Royal Tusk
Next was Royal Tusk, with better light but a bit less of energy. Except for their front-man. This guy was crazy and compensate for the other member of the band who were more static.
Pop Evil
Finally it was time for Pop Evil. It was a great discovery for me. Their music is good, the are energetic on stage and they have good light. What else do I need? I would love to see them again on a bigger stage as it sometimes felt a bit small for them.
Long time no see between me and the Foufs. This time I am shooting a local death metal band: Augury. I manage to make it for one of the opener Necronomicon, but was too late to see the one before them.
Necronomicon
Necronomicon is not a new band, they are playing for about 30 years. They gave us a really good show. Not enough lights, this is not really a surprise at Foufounes Electriques, which made my job kind of difficult. But at least I had a good time listening to their music.
Neceronomicon
Like most of “technical” bands, just sitting and watching the musicians of Augury playing is a pleasure. I even sometimes prefer to watch them than listening to them as Technical Detah Metal is not necessary my kind of music. Anyway the band deliver a great performance even for a newbie like me. Unfortunatly the scene dynamic is not their strength and neither are their lights. So it may not be the best band to photographs.
Augury
But if you like this kind of music go see them live, grab a stool, a beer and enjoy your time.
What a beautiful evening this was. The opening was done by Wolves In The Throne Room which I had already seen with Enslaved not so long ago. But this time the sound was really good. And this is kind of an important thing for a black ambient metal band. On top of that the scenic performance was really nice. It was a fat better performance compared to the last time I saw them. Congrats.
Wolves In The Throne Room
Next we had the old but awesome At The Gates, that I was seeing for the first time. I am a real fan of their music and am listening to them since a long time and I was happy to finally see them live. It was a solid performance with a mix of new and old material. Perfect to make me happy.
At The Gates
To end the night we had the polish band Behemoth. certainly not the first time I was seeing these guys live, but first time photographing them. As always I had a blast. At some point I discovered Behemoth and found it the most hardcore band that I knew. With time I learned to love their music and now I am a big fan of them. And I must say that seeing them live is pushing the experience further. Nergal is one of the best frontman I have seen in metal bands.
Behemoth
Here are the photos:
BehemothBehemothThe crowd went crazy durng this Behemoth show
Mike Shinoda was in town and I was so happy to be able to see him as a fan of Linkin Park when I was a teenager. I was hoping to photograph Linkin Park last year as they were supposed to come to Montreal. Unfortunately Chester committed suicide just couple of weeks before and the show was cancel.
It took time to Mike Shinoda to decide to get back on stage alone, he was used to it with his side project Fort Minor, under his own name. He delivered us a pretty nice show with songs from him, from Linkin Park and from Fort minor. As you would excpect the Linkin Park songs where only some medley with mostly his parts and not the full songs.
But even like that I still remember the chill on my skin when I heard the first songs of “in the end”. So much emotions. I loved the show, Mike is really a great artist and I hope he will continue to play on stage.
On the photography side of things, I must say that the lights were awesome and a pleasure to shoot. Special thanks to the LED front panel at the beginning of the stage that was producing light to his face. Because of it his face was in light and not in dark. A small detail that lot of bands should do to at least for the first three songs to allow us to have better pictures.
The opening band, Don Broco was pretty good one too with lots of energy.
The small club “Petit Campus” was having a pretty heavy night with the great black metal band Carach Angren. Three bands were openings for them, Valfreya, Wolf Heart and Mors Principium Est.
I must say that I was more excited to see Mors Principium Est, as I am waiting for them to stop in Montreal for years. Carach Angren and their AMAZING frontman is always a pleasure to see, but I already saw them this year.
It is a bit sad that this tour did not have the chance to play in a bigger venue, with better lights… But I did my best to bring back some good photos. For Valfreya I manage to be in front of the scene, it was great. Unfortunately, it did not last long. During Wolfheart, the pit was too dangerous for me and I was forced to extract myself from it. Because of that, the quality of the photo went a bit down. Anyway, I think I was able to get some great shot even without the perfect spot.
I hope you will enjoy them:
Full Gallery
Shoot For Thorium Magazine !
Review (in French): here.
Two wonderful days at Heavy Montreal 2018 ! People were great, bands awesome and even the weather was not that bad (except the rain during Manson show). I shot 24 groups during the weekend and here is a quick best of my photos of the festival.
Concerts
