The “Started At The Bottom” Tour 11/14/13

 

“The Word Alive” & “I See Stars” Marquee on 11/14/13

Started From The Bottom, I could relate with that. As a journalist who is the ONLY person representing a brand name, I couldn’t help but be intrigued in covering this concert. It was always refreshing to meet new people and discover their roots as to how they rose to the top of their business. However, I have encountered most of these bands on this tour 2 or 3 times over, to which “business” has become an everyday way of survival not only for themselves and each other, but for the countless people that back them up. Night one began Thursday at the Gramercy Theatre. Unfortunately I was late for Palisades so we will go right into Dayshell.

Twenty minute sets ran rampant for Palisades, Dayshell and twenty-five minutes went to Get Scared. MY happiness stemmed from the really good lighting that was for those first acts. The proof is in the photos with Dayshell as their setlist is as follows: “I Owe You Nothing”, “Imbecile”, “Edge of The World”, “Not Coming In” and ”Share With Me” Dayshell made the room come alive even though it was empty for a Thursday night (Estimated 200+ people for night 1). Ironically, day 2 of the Gramercy stay was SOLD OUT so the overall atmosphere of night was pretty tame. I always pick night one nights for 2 day stays because the coverage comes out easier and its less stress with press altogether. I recommend seeing Dayshell. Awesome guys accompanied with a strong (but short) set. Get Scared is also another band I truly have shown respect for since meeting and seeing them last year when they toured with “Make Me Famous” which ironically became their farewell tour back in 2012 . Get Scared had similar lighting to Dayshell, which  still managed to keep the smile on my face. Grateful for this decision by the light guy. Their set-list is as follows “Told You So”, “4 You”, “At My Worst”, “Badly Broken” and “Sarcasm” Fearless  Records made the right investment with these guys. It was also refreshing to see band members chat with people after their set. Especially Bradley “Lloyd” Iverson, their bassist. He managed to autograph and write out the whole set-list on the back of a Chipotle Mexican Restaurant receipt. It was by far one of the most hysterical and unique things I have received from a band. You can see the photo below along with others.

Newcomers (to my camera sights) Crown The Empire roared into Gramercy Theatre. The six piece Rise Records band engulfed Gramercy in a sea of Mosh pits, crowd madness and crowd surfing. Playing most of their stuff off their debut album “The Fallout”, CTE completely turned the venue upside down for thirty minutes. Their set-list is as follows: “Johnny’s Revenge”, “Memories of a Broken Heart”, “Makeshift Chemistry”, “Voices”, “Children of Love”, “Oh, Catastrophe” and “The Fallout” The lights was a mixed bag but I was very happy with my crowd photos. seas of orange and red and mixtures of blue plagued the set but thanks to the side fluorescent white lights I salvaged some good quality material. The ENTIRE band but the drummer were all in jumping bean mode. They managed to completely throw my whole game off its course mainly because the lighting was not perfectly coordinated with the shots I desired. I also managed to come across really amazing shots that were BLURRY. So believe me I was upset. Take a look at the material below to see what I mean, because things just did not seem to get any better with I See Stars.

I See Stars was more like I SEE NOTHING. I had no reason to be in the photo pit for their set PRIMARILY due to the band having their own stage lights. Granted, presentation is paramount, but when you kill the house lights and use Blues and Greens I feel like I went into an acid trip with Willie Wonka. Throw in strobe lights and I began pulling out the remaining hair I had on my head. In a strange turn of events, the strobe lights were my only salvation to the good 15+ photos I kept of this set out of the multiples I shot that were all blurry, in high ISO, or were just TOO DARK. The set performance was outstanding as this is the Third time I see this band, I enjoyed them when they toured on the Monster Outbreak tour last December with As I Lay Dying but have not seen much of them since (I cannot remember the 2nd time I saw them as well) Coming off their current album “New Demons” The crowd was on their feet and so was the mosh pit. IT was a little petrifying considering there was ZERO light in the entire auditorium, i made it my business to stay FAR away from the pits as possible. No set-list was with them on the set that was available. Lets not forget their mercy guy Dylan A.K.A “The chicken man” who crowd-surfed in a full chicken costume during their set. I managed to see him on the TV’s downstairs in the Gramercy lounge. Left me in awe almost how he managed to come back with a smile from ear to ear.

Now onto The Word Alive. After seeing them this year with Killswitch Engage (Best Buy Theater in NYC) and Parkway Drive (Irving Plaza in NYC) I was looking forward to seeing them again as they always manage to put on a stellar show and yet again they did. The lighting was the same as I See Stars except the house lights were all on and accessible. However, the harsh blue and red lights were present. With my results being crystal clear, the sharp color saturation ruined the continuity of the shots. So, I had to clear out the saturation significantly so that is why the photos look the way they are. I’m just happy now as I have pictures I can get autographed the next time they are around that are PRESENTABLE and not full of high ISO noise (used a Rebel T2I the first 2 times I shot them live) The set-list was NOT available for this set. For a close out, I was satisfied with The Word Alive. They have such a photogenic band who mange to mix their technicality with a unique beauty to which result in the photos I finalize. The overall show ended at 11pm which is the normal time for a weekday show in NYC. For 6 bands (3 sets at 20 minutes, 1 set at 25 minutes and 2 sets at 45 minutes), this tour had a fulfilled package. I’m only sure that Day two utterly destroyed the first night. Check out all the photos in the gallery below and thank you for reading.

Check out The Full Hi-Res Flickr right HERE!!!

Dayshell Gallery

Get Scared Gallery

Crown The Empire Gallery

I See Stars Gallery

The Word Alive Gallery