Friday the 13th with Taking Back Sunday: Expectations and Disapointments

I've always wanted to be in a concert where I would be able to shoot with all my heart's content at the most coveted spot in the venue. So imagine my joy when the opportunity to cover the Taking Back Sunday concert came knocking. Memories of singing...err..screaming to 'MakeDamnSure' came flooding to my mind.

Leave forms were signed and my husband and I were off for briefing at 12nn. Call time for the event was at 4:00PM. We've only had four hours of sleep since we were both coming from the night shift. Even if we've had little sleep when you are off to do something you really like you don't seem to notice the fatigue or the sleepiness slowly creeping in.

During the briefing we were discussing the do's and don'ts of concert photography, who and what to shoot and who and what not to shoot. As well as the proper body mechanics when shooting a concert and it did not favor my already aching back. (Queue in back spasm).

When we arrived at the venue I was exposed to the politics of event productions and even if we came with a team of 7- 2 videographers and 5 photographers we were cut down to 3 photographers-some kind of misunderstanding from Management A and Management B.

So we were ushered inside the event and even if our team was cut down we still had to make the most of things, my husband Paul was leading the team. We were able to take photos from the media pit while local bands Imbue No Kudos and Typecast were performing and it was shooting heaven!

We were only seperated from the audience with a metal fence which when you touched felt as if it had been unearthed from 6 feet of dirt and oil-it was so sticky! And I had to hold on to this fence or sit against it for support. Also crouching down was not one of my favorite things but hey! all for the sake of the shoot right?

Thoughts of a long bath and a nice massage were creeping at the back of my head. . .

Our ALL ACCESS Photographer Pass wasn't so 'All Access' after all 

Alas, the dissapointments of the night continued to follow us before Taking Back Sunday was to perform. Our 3 man team was (again) cut down and we could only have 1 photographer stay to take photos and this was only for the first two songs.

Looking down at our 'All Access' Photographer pass suddenly did not seem so 'All Access' to me.

So we had Pogs take over photographer duties while me and my husband were kicked out of the media pit-yeah I really felt like they were kicking us out.

Nevertheless I still wanted to enjoy the concert so me and Paul went to the audience and witnessed as a siren echoed througout the venue as if signaling for something ominous. The band's insignia slowly went up from behind the stage as if teasing the already hyped up audience. The band's insignia seemed to belong as a sigil in the Game of Thrones universe. (GoT Fangirl here!)

It would be worth while to note that the Philippines was the band's only Asian stop for their tour. The tour commemorates the 10th anniversary of their "Tell all your friends" album. It was also to launch their new self titled album (check out 'Call me in the morning' which is my favorite track from their new album).

The band played a variety of favorites from their old and new albums. Remember these guys have been around for more than 10 years! 

Lead vocalist Adam Lazarra was all out despite having a fractured leg.  

Due to the crowd's demand for "MORE!" the band played an encore of "There's No 'I' in Team and of course "MakeDamnSure". . .

I was looking forward to a little microphone magic from lead vocalist Adam Lazarra, unfortunately I would not be witnessing this that night since he had crutches. He was in a recent accident where in a tree fell on him-true story. One thing is for sure even if his leg was fractured his stage presence and charisma wasn't.

So even if things didn't turn out the way that I had expected or hoped for (and I was a little dissapointed) it was still a great experience for me, in terms of the opportunity to take photos and to be able to see a band that I liked perform live. Definitely one of those things I 

would consider as a great experience and a story to 

tell my kids someday- or maybe I'll just let them read this. :)

Photo credits go to Pogs Inco. I did not have the time or

energy to look for my shots from a number of SD cards. I got

to use a number of cameras and different lenses. Canon

50mm 1.8f (prime), Canon Sigma Telephoto 70-200mm

2.8f, Nikkor 55-200mm VR lens and a Sigma 8mm 3.5 EX

DG (fish eye).

Fortunately (or unfortunately) the adventures (or misadventures) of the night was far from over since we accidentally, on purpose (huh?!) took a little road trip courtesy of Doms but that is another story!