“Night of The Living Dreads” Tour 11/26/13

Thanksgiving 2012 proved to be a productive and fun week for me. I got to do press for Cattle Decapitation for the first time at Brooklyn’s own “St. Vitus” bar, little did I realize that it has become one of the most popular bars in Greenpoint, Brooklyn let alone the 5 boroughs. It was an awesome show to which I clearly remember saying “Nothing is going to be able to top this Thanksgiving” and once again, I was wrong. It was a whim to request a concert out of state 2 days before Thanksgiving, yet I wanted to see if fortune favored me by requesting a SOLD OUT Sands Casino event with Rob Zombie and Korn for their “Night of The Living Dreads” tour. Skepticism grew as the days went on when I requested this event because lets face it this is a really GOOD tour package. Throw in Joey Jordinson’s own “Scar The Martyr” and you just COULD NOT go wrong. It was the day before the show I managed to receive an approval and my excitement grew beyond belief. I have shot Rob Zombie this year for The Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival, but being able to get a second chance at shooting what my other photography colleagues call “a highlight nightmare” was only the icing on the cake. The entire cake itself, when I realized too, was that I would be able to shoot one of the bands I grew up with and one of the best rock front-men out there… Jonathan Davis of Korn. This was indeed topping 2012 in a big way. And I wasn’t even at the show yet. The show began at 7pm with a 6pm doors open time. My friend and fellow rock and roll painter Joe Janaro was there in attendance as he intended to show up early for the Rob Zombie meet and greet. A early departure time from Manhattan to a 2:30pm arrival at the Sands Bethlehem Event Center was ample enough. My timing was driving me crazy because there was literally nothing to do but gamble and shop, all of which I REFUSED to do because I was in total photographer mode. Just counting the time until the show started.

Scar The Martyr opened up the tour with fury. I missed their tour in NYC earlier this year when they played The Studio at Webster Hall, but I felt this band deserved to be on a grander stage. The venue was beyond beautiful and so much stage space. S.T.M was energized with a 5 song set-list that managed to move a majority of the fans who were already present for the show. Joey Jordinson continuously threw drumsticks into the audience as he kept playing on. Lead Singer Henry Derek was awesome. There was a delivery in his stage presence that gave me awesome full photos, but his movement was just too unpredictable. I couldn’t really lock onto a good photo of him alone unless it was all hair or bad lighting. However, I managed to get 2 to 4 good ones of him by himself. The show was a kick ass start for the night. I want to see them headline soon and capture the full effect, but for now I am satiated with the environment I got to shoot this band in. I can sit back and blast my debut album I thoroughly enjoy and wait for the second album to be released. Also, one HUGE GRIPE I have with this band is that I REALLY love their song “Trinity of Lies” and it was not released on the current album, only the E.P they gave out to Revolver (Yes I picked that up) That’s one of my favorite songs from them and I hope they play that song live as the days go on. I will be seeing this band again. Their set-list is as follows: “Dark Ages”, “My Retribution”, “Prayer For Prey”, “Never Forgive Never Forget” & “Blood Host”

Korn was up next and the excitement reached peak. The stage set-up was full of space. Enough for ample movements, maybe some jumping or running around. But I was wrong on that. I let me imagination go with that one because Korn was VERY PHOTOGENIC. All members gave their collective all as expected for a band of their caliber. Guitarists James “Munky” Shaffer and Brian “Head” Welch surfaced as the safety points for me. They played with such precision and did not move often which I was EXTREMELY happy about. The height of the stage and the depth that both guitarists and bassist were in were very proportionate to each other. It was moments when they would come close to the photo pit, at the front of the stage, that made depth of field unbalanced due to the body height and the lighting that was given in those points of time. Many of the lights were red and yellow. A sky blue was also present but was not completely harsh. It was a substantial amount that cleared out the shadows but did not wash out the skin color or tone of anyone on stage. All of my photos were crisp and the definition in the skin was my favorite part of it all. I was upset to not see Reginald “Fieldy” Arvisu absent at this show. They had a fill in for their set and it was Brian Welch’s bassist for his band “Love & Death” Michael Valentine. That was my gripe for the night. Catching Jonathan Davis throw his microphone stand into the photo pit area was awesome. His stand is so genuinely crafted that he has it locked on the base. The material that hoists it down allows him to push his stand at such forceful levels that it would just come back to its original position. There was such emotional context in his singing and the delivery was acting-worthy. You can FEEL his music and thats what made my photos so good. There is soul to his craft. There are many artists I can name that currently have this trait but growing up listening to Korn and watching him just gave me goosebumps. I had moments where I sang the music and participated with audience members by singing with them just to get into the spirit of the show. It was something I know I will never forget. Along with the quality of photos I shot, the bands delivery and the material they performed that night it was all FANTASTIC. Check out the photos below and here is their set-list from that night: “Blind”, “Twist”, “Falling Away From Me”, “Love & Meth”, “Narcissistic Cannibal”, “Dead Bodies Everywhere”, “Coming Undone”, “Shoots and Ladders/Somebody Someone”, “Here To Stay”, “Never Never”, “Y’all Want a Single” with 3 encores. Those encores were “Get Up!”, “Got The Life” & “Freak on a Leash” If you have yet to experience Korn, you need to. ASAP. I will be seeing them again. BELIEVE ME.

Rob Zombie headlined where I thought Korn would do the headline set. It didn’t really bother me but being that I have seen Rob Zombie before. The only exception was that this was a brand new stage setup and indoors compared to Mayhem Festival outdoors with massive objects utilized back in the Summer. Rob’s stage was just full of nostalgia and had that essence only you know “ZOMBIE” would have. He used all 4 original monsters of horror (Frankenstein, Dracula, The Wolfman & The Creature From The Black Lagoon) along with a massive backdrop of the original King Kong as he is on top of the Empire State Building. Being that my first time photographing Rob was just an almost utter catastrophe, I learned from my mistakes and went right into shooting Piggy D and John 5 first. All of the attention was on Rob as his body was extremely highlighted with purple and red. Even de-saturation was impossible because the highlights washed out the quality of the photo and facial expressions. John 5 and Piggy D, his guitarist and bassist, were not as mobile as Rob was. That man can move and his choreography is just eclectic. During his second song, I switched from the side members to Mr. Zombie himself. Highly saturated reds covered his body, but was not overbearing as it was in Mayhem Fest. His lights were perfect while Piggy’s and John’s were not as good. Fish was just impossible. Yet again I could not get photos of Rob Zombie’s drummer. His drum kit height was high and filled with smoke from the smoke machines on the sides of the stage. The tapering would give off this highly noisy photo which got me upset to the point where I just gave up. I focused on what was in front of me. Rob, Piggy and John were really photogenic this time around. They gave me the redemption I deserved. John had a completely customer guitar with LED lights inside the guitar along grills that had purple and red L.E.D lights in them. The best part was finding a mother and daughter in the audience and singing Rob Zombie’s classic “Superbeast” with them. Going up to people I didn’t even know and we united through music. It was a beautiful time hanging around with those in the front row and watching them have fun. I exited the photo pit feeling accomplished and continued to watch the show. It was then and ONLY THEN, Rob began talking about the “38 bra salute” which Rob and John 5 bought out an entire set of bras they collected from this current tour. It was hysterical to see John 5 with a bra on his head and Rob talking about having a “TRUE PARTY” Piggy D put on a pink hat which he took from someone on the side-stage and Rob extended his invitation to ladies who threw their bras on stage to happily oblige Rob Zombie’s invite. The cameras rolled as women flashed the cameras that provided the feeds on the two giant screens on the sides of the stage. There was just so much exposed skin and I kept saying to myself “WHY DOES ALL THE BEST STUFF HAPPEN AFTER THE THIRD SONG RULE????” Me and my buddy Joe continued to watch the show unfold. It was amazing to see Rob cover Diamond Heads epic classic “Am I Evil?” with members of Korn on stage. That was the second unique thing of the show, his last one was a partial cover of Alice Cooper’s “School’s Out” to which he encored with my favorite song “Dragula” Rob really goes above and beyond with his shows and it is truly worth the price of admission. His set-list is as follows: “Dead City Radio and the New Gods of Supertown”, “Superbeast”, “Scum of The Earth”, “The Star-Spangled Banner”, “We’re an American Band” (Grand Funk Railroad cover), “More Human Than Human”, “Sick Bubble-Gum”, “House of 1000 Corpses”, “Never Gonna Stop”, “Thunder Kiss ’65”, “Am I Evil?” (Diamond Head cover) & “School’s Out” (Alice Cooper cover). His encore was “Dragula”

This tour was the one I was dreaming for and I skipped Korn at Roseland Ballroom in NYC for this tour. They had the original “Korn-Cage” which is an epic cage styled balcony behind the stage that overlooks the show from the back and the entire audience at Roseland. I skipped the right show and was truly happy with my results from all bands. Easily one of my favorite tours of 2013 bar none. The show, the performances and the photography all lived up to the hyped I lived on for two days. This indeed was one of my favorite Thanksgiving’s in a very long time. I was wiped out on the way home, and I didn’t recover until after Thanksgiving. Give thank to music, to the people unique of mind, and the memories they create that you keep. I know I do.

Check out the photos below and thank you for reading. Until next time!

—Derek Soto—
Sole Proprietor of Sinestra Studios

Scar The Martyr Gallery

Korn Gallery

Rob Zombie Gallery