The Halo of Blood Tour 3/28/14

March 31, 2014April 9, 2014 Derek Soto

Another day, another fantastic show at Irving Plaza. However, this night was one NOT worth remembering. The show itself was a fantastic time, but overwhelming odds with dealing with Irving Plaza security really spoiled this show for me. The event started promptly at 8pm with Tyr as the opener. I love shooting Tyr, they don’t move much and actually interact with photographers giving facial gestures and the music is always stellar. Standard lighting for openers, meaning it was all dense blues and green lights or the dreaded purple/yellow combination. Simple one, two, three, song outing for me. Not my favorite place shooting Tyr as I got better photos with them at Gramercy Theater a few years back. The lighting really was not that intriguing but what can you do? Their set was only thirty minutes but they played six songs and my personal favorite Shadow of the swastika. Which, was held dead last. Talk about going out with a bang. Check the photos below and the set-list is as follows.

Hold the Heathen Hammer High
Blood of Heroes
Another Fallen Brother
Mare of My Night
Lady of the Slain
Shadow of the Swastika

Death Angel was on next. The main reason why I went to this show was for them. The Bay Area thrash legends were primed for one hell of an event and boy did they deliver. Mark Osegueda has a prowess that is beyond commanding. His vocals, strong and ripped with emotional context are some of the best in business. Dynamic guitar duo Rob Covestany and Ted Aguilar not only shred but give me the best photos of any dual guitarist photos I have ever delivered. They breathe the notes and enjoy the songs when they do backup vocals for Mark. There will be instances where they scream or smile at each other for sheer humor, but my personal favorite is when they acknowledge you live and give you those breathtaking photos that you know for fact! can be timeless pieces. The show opened up with red and fluorescent white (go figure) and it stayed that way for a majority of their set. The balcony shots are literally all the same color with barely any change. I was really upset when the security kicked us out at the end of the second song, arguing that the rule of three was past its time even though they were playing the middle of the second song (not my fault their songs are five+ minutes each). Highly agitated for this mix-up, I failed AGAIN to get photos of drummer Will Carroll. I took the rest of the outing upstairs and enjoyed the show from there. My blood was already boiling so there was no way that would be alleviated. It only escalated from there on. There 14 song set-list is posted below and is almost a mimic from their secret show at Blackthorn 51 in Queens, NY. if you wish to read that article (with videos) then CLICK HERE! Check the photos below also as I am proud of these very much.

Left for Dead
Son of the Morning
Evil Priest
Claws in So Deep
Relentless Revolution
Fallen
The Ultra-Violence
intro/seemingly
The Dream Calls for Blood
Caster of Shame
Sonic Beatdown
Succubus
Execution – Don’t Save Me
Bored

Children of Bodom, my Finnish metallers hit the stage with a crazy ensemble. Bras on the keyboard, LED lights in the front of the stage on the side, and a ton of illuminations held its own as Alexi lead the squad with utter resilience. 16 songs for the entire one hour and 30 minute set, you knew this would be a grueling endurance of loyalty to all the fans out there. Getting a taste of their music from Rockstar energy Mayhem festival 2013 was an excellent start for me to see their full indoor show. However, my night was cut extremely short thanks to another security guard in the photo pit. Due to “numerous” crowd-surfers and fears for safety, they felt only two songs were necessary and then proceeded to kick us out. While we could not even grab out equipment, I found myself, along with another photographer, harassed and bullied out of the place we have worked in for four years now. It was a disrespectful move to remove us with force instead of verbally telling us to leave. On top of all of this, there weren’t that many crowd surfers to begin with. This whole night was spoiled for me as I couldn’t even enjoy the event itself. Check the photos below along with the set-list. I await their return to make up for this travesty of a night.

Sixpounder
Living Dead Beat
Bodom Beach Terror
Halo of Blood
Scream for Silence
Hate Crew Deathroll
Lake Bodom
Follow the Reaper
Dead Man’s Hand on You
Are You Dead Yet?
Blooddrunk
Angels Don’t Kill
Towards Dead End
Hate Me!
Downfall

Encore:

In Your Face

A night with so much promise led to disasters in the photo pit for Death Angel and Bodom. I managed to get all my photos from Tyr and Death Angel autographed along with one photo from Bodom’s bassist, which I was happy about. Their humbleness is infectious, this goes out for saying from all bands. I hope you get to see either or all of these bands in the future. That is how the cookie crumbles, see you on the flip side.

–Derek Soto–

Tyr Gallery

Death Angel Gallery

Children of Bodom Gallery

Full gallery on Flickr: CLICK HERE!