Arriving at the Hifi Bar a good hour before headliners Morbid Angel were to hit the stage, I noticed a couple of things almost immediately. One, the venue was absolutely packed to the rafters and two, the light show bathing openers The Amenta looked fucking phenomenal. I turned to my fellow photog Anwar and said, “Dude, check out the lights tonight! I think we’re in for a ripper!”

Now I say this because for the most part, I really hate shooting at the Hifi Bar. Reason being, the lighting is mostly woeful on the many occasions I have had to photograph here and subsequently, that makes it darn hard work to get a decent shot.

But on seeing the lights at this early stage of proceedings, you couldn’t wipe the grin off my face.

I decided to capitalise on that and made my way through the throng as I wanted to fire off a couple of shots of opening band The Amenta.

I’ve seen these guys a couple of times before and I haven’t really paid too much attention to them. Standing in the pit before them, with the crowd behind me firing all sorts of obscenities and spit in the band’s general direction. Couldn’t understand the hostility to be honest, I thought the band played real well and they kinda reminded me of Cradle of Filth in places.

Once their set was over the obligatory change-over began. The photogs (four or five of us tonight) chatted amongst ourselves and/or the fans behind the barricade.

One wild looking studded to the brim lass tapped me on the shoulder and informed me she would be “slamming her fucking brains out tonight” and would I mind “getting out of her way” lest I get hurt.

Yeah love. Slam away.

It wasn’t too long before Morbid Angel were ready and as the roadie uttered “kill the lights” and the house lights went off – armageddon began!

I let out a huge sigh that you could probably overhear even from the extraneously loud music – gone were the magnificent lights that openers The Amenta enjoyed and for the vast majority of the three song shooting limit, the band was bathed in that woeful Hifi Bar red.

The fuck! I could not believe our luck and what promised to be a kick ass shoot, turned so fucking sour.

“There’s gonna be a helluva lot of black and white stuff happening in Photoshop tonight” I thought to myself.

With a stench of marijuana and beer in the air, I met up with my contact at Billboard as I had been requested to shoot some shots of Death Metal legends Morbid Angel half an hour before they were to hit the stage. Wow! I was so excited about that I can assure you.

I waited at the foot of a stairwell which led to the band’s dressing-room and took in the sights, sounds and smells around me. A scantily clad young lass tugged at my ‘Media’ pass around my neck and with my camera hanging over my shoulder, I was mistaken for someone in the band’s entourage several times.

“No, I’m not with the band…”

I wonder if I didn’t have that piece of plastic around my neck, would anyone even bother to talk to me? Then again…

After waiting around and feeling like some groupie fan-boy for half-an-hour, I was beginning to feel a tad uneasy and uncomfortable so I texted the venue’s manager to see if the backstage shoot was still on. He rushed back up to the band and they had decided they weren’t going to shoot any shots backstage. Bummer!

By this point in time, with the band about to hit the stage any second, it was going to be incredibly hard for me to go to the rear of the venue and squeeze through the crowd to get to the photo-pit. Instead, I was walked through the backstage area, onto the stage which had the curtain drawn.

I could hear the crowd chanting ‘Morbid Angel! Morbid Angel! Morbid Angel!’ over and over. The band had assumed position on-stage and were about to unleash hell. (I shoulda taken a shot right then and there… but I didn’t think quick enough and missed a fucking golden opportunity!

I was taken to the front of the stage, the curtain drawn slightly so I could jump down into the photo-pit. This was kind of exciting as the crowd cheered loudly when the curtain was drawn but instead of the band… they got me instead! HA! HELLO CLEVELAND!!!! ARE YOU READY TO ROCK?!?!

I jumped down. Got the gear ready and within seconds, the curtain fell and hell was indeed – unleashed!

Again, usual procedure, I had three songs to shoot in and for the duration of those three songs, the band was bathed in that sickly red front-light which makes taking a decent shot all the more difficult.

Sigh!

Still, there was absolutely nothing I could do about the red lights so I endeavoured to take as best a shot as I could under trying conditions.