On July 29, 2024, As I Lay Dying performed at The Fillmore in Charlotte, North Carolina, with special guests Entheos and Chelsea Grin. I celebrated my one year anniversary of photography two days prior and to be able to photograph this show for a late celebration, I was filled with happiness. Being able to photograph one of my favorite bands, a female fronted band, and a band I've never seen live before made the night something to remember!
Opening the night was progressive metal band, Entheos! I saw this band last year with High Command and Unearth in Charleston, SC, at the Music Farm! That was honestly the first time I've listened to that band.
Chaney Crabb (Vocals), I swear, has better vocals than most men in the metal scene and her cleans are just as good. I absolutely loved that a female fronted band opened the night because Entheos set the tone for the rest of the evening. During their set, my one camera actually had trouble focusing which made me sad and so did my other camera, but I was already so fixated on their performance that my sadness soon went away. The lights during their set was not the easiest to work with due to most of their set being black or red and occasionally bright white lights. The lights fit them perfectly though because Crabb's vocals are deep and sinister at the same time which, during the set, you wonder how a woman was blessed with these types of vocals.
The crowd was going INSANE for them. I actually got hit in the head several times during their set because people at the barricade were head banging so much. I swear after the 3 songs, I had enough sweat from people from the barricade on my back that it looked like I ran two miles.
Navene Koperweis (Drums) is one of the most talented drummers that I've seen, but due to the lights being very dark, it was difficult to capture him in action. The band released three singles for their newest EP so far; "All For Nothing," "Life in Slow Motion," and "An End to Everything." I personally haven't listened to their music that much, but I'd rather watch them perform live than actually listen to their music on Spotify. Live performances in my eyes are so much better especially if you haven't listened to the band on album yet, so it's like "HEY SUPRISE!"
Next up was my all time favorite deathcore bands; Chelsea Grin! I recently saw them on tour with Fit For A King and Kingdom Of Giants and their performance absolutely blew me away that night. And at this show... BLOWN AWAY! The second Tom stepped on stage, yes, I fangirled because I KNEW what was coming. If I could see this band perform every single day I would.
The amount of talent each musician has and how engaging they are to the crowd is what makes shows so fun. You can see they love performing in front of everyone. Tom would hold up the devil horns with his hands and I mean at least 100 people did the same thing in the crowd. Head banging. Constant crowd surfing. Mosh pits after mosh pits. I felt the room go up in temperature on how much activity was going on in that room. I have never been disappointed with a Chelsea Grin set and they keep getting better and better. This band had the BEST lights which made photographing so easy. To the point I took way too many photos because Chelsea Grin spoiled us with amazing lighting. They played "Recreant," "Sonnet of The Wretched," "Playing With Fire," and "My Damnation." When they performed "Playing With Fire," I lost my mind a little bit because that is one of my favorite songs from the album "Ashes to Ashes."
Finally, it was time for As I Lay Dying! I've been listening to this band since I was a teenager, so of course this was a special experience for me. They opened their set with "Nothing Left" and the crowd went CRAZY! I was not expecting bright flashing lights and how tall Tim Lambesis was. I mean I felt like I was photographing a rare sighting of a giant. A huge, buff, and tattooed giant with lots of hair.
Before I talk about their set, let's talk about the band themselves! As I Lay Dying formed in 2000 in San Diego, California, consisting of Phil Sgrosso (Guitar/Back Vocals), Ken Susi (Guitar/Back Vocals), Ryan Neff (Bass Guitar/ Clean Vocals), and Nick Pierce (Drums). The band released seven albums in past 24 years and I can't believe this band has been around that long because I'm 30 years old. But I started listening to them in 2007 when "An Ocean Between Us" was released because "Nothing Left" was my favorite song and when they opened their set with that song, my teenage self was like "YES! OH MY GOD!" I will be honest, I haven't really listened to this band that much over the years, but I also do like the song "Forsaken," which was also released on that album that made me start liking the band.
The crowd for their set, I felt like everyone was jumping off the walls. So many crowd surfers. Even when I was taking photos in the back for crowd shots, some dudes were having their own little mosh pit. I even seen a little girl no more then 4 years old jamming out to herself near her parents. This little girl was ROCKING out! I don't know many songs from this band, so I didn't really know the songs being performed besides the first one, but they didn't disappoint. Each song sounded better and better. And they also had Chaney Crabb perform guest vocals during one of the songs and the mixture between both vocalists, I thought the building would collapse. I also noticed my friend Jamison doing sound for them! I love seeing my friends succeed in this industry!
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