It was a great night to be back in the photo pit at The Intersection in Grand Rapids. On this night I was excited to be shooting a personal favorite, All That Remains, along with some others I was new to. I had first seen ATR in concert years ago in California when they were opening for Dragonforce. Even back then you just knew they were going to find great success. This time around they were sporting their new bass player after the fairly recent departure of Jeanne Sagan.
The evening started with a set from Red Sun Rising which I thought did a great job. It wasn’t as heavy as I had expected it to be, but was immediately captivated by the vocals of their lead vocalist. I’ll be sure to keep a close watch on these guys.
Taking the stage next was Like Moths to Flames from Columbus Ohio. These guys were very high energy. Sometimes its always a little harder for the opening bands to get the crowd fired up, but it seemed like no problem these guys. They had a swirling mosh pit going quickly and the crowd was definitely feeling their energy.
After a bit of stage prep, ATG burst out on the stage bringing with them the roar of the crowd. The vocal range of lead singer Philip Labonte keeps me hooked on this band. He can beat you to the brink of death with his heavy metal vocals, but then back off to a melodic sound just in time for you to catch your breath.
Last but far from least on the list for this evening was Michigan’s own We Came as Romans. Clearly a lot of fans in the audience for these guys. I wasn’t as familiar with this group, but in my brief pre-show study, I expected them to be high energy. They didn’t disappoint in that department and really fed off the crowd’s energy. A little harder to shoot because the stage at The intersection is already pretty high, and the additional platforms on the stage gave the crowd a great view, but left the photographers looking for a better angle.
All bands gave an amazing performance, and I know my record collection just got a little bigger because of it.
