Self Help Fest Detroit (Gallery and Review)
A Day To Remember's Festival “Self Help Fest” came to Detroit for the first time October 7th. This lineup was pretty nostalgic with the last four bands being artists I have listened to consistently for a very long time. This was my initial draw to the festival. They sealed it with the supporting artists and the affordability of the festival with tickets being around 60 bucks with fees. Equals out to 5 bucks a band, touring bands at that, with huge stages and amazing sound. Can't beat the young festivals when they're done right. This is something I want to give ADTR and company credit for.
A lot of festivals either bite off more than they can chew or they underestimate their abilities as festival producers. The important shit for me as a photographer, a fan of the bands, and as a festival goer were all met. Proper sound, great lighting, dope lineup, decent set times, not a lot of conflicting time, decent concessions, cleaner bathrooms, access to free water, shelter from the weather, free parking, within an hour of my bed. That doesn't mean there weren't issues because there were, some completely out of the festivals control, others not so much.
GALLERY 1: TOO CLOSE TO TOUCH, SYLAR, THE PLOT IN YOU
The Cat and I got to Freedom Hill a little later than I wanted to. Instead of her coming back at a later time and going shopping at the mall, she decided to get in the insane line at the main entrance. I was told to go to a different box office to get my pass. I figured either there was a small entrance for media only and realized how far of a walk it was. The complete opposite side of the grounds. I laughed. Mind you, there is a lot of laughing that went on this day as I was incredibly stoned shortly after getting to the venue.
I walked the way toward the other box office and in that time met a guy who got VIP passes and was walking the length of the fence also. We walked all the way behind the main stage and he seemed to be really impressed, I like that shit. I am fucking spoiled rotten when it comes to access to these bands and musicians. I don't take it for granted and I try to take it all in from everyone's perspective. He was no different than most, a lot of “wow” and “holy shit” and “Isn't that the one guy?” I love it.
I fucking love when people get that excited about this shit, that set the tone for the entire day for me. I'm thankful to be here. When I saw the other parking lot I started laughing. The guy was like “what's so funny?” and I kept laughing and eventually said “Sorry, we all parked over there, waited in line to get into that entrance, could have driven 1000 feet and parked right here, walked right to the box office, got our passes and got in while they are still not letting people in at the other entrance.” He looked around and said “Fuck... I stood in that other line for like 30 minutes man fuck.” He went to the VIP booth and I never got his name, hope he had a good time.
GALLERY 2: ISSUES, WAGE WAR, MOOSE BLOOD
I went to the Media booth and got my pass. I asked if I could use that entrance and the dude laughed and said: “That's what it's there for.” I laughed that off walked away and wondered how many people yelled at him already by then. Empathy, it's easy to come by when you're high as fuck on weed cartridges and medibles.
I got to the East entrance and a few older gentleman looked through my bag and noticed my photo pass and made my way in a pleasant experience. Most of the time it is, sometimes it's a little different. They were hospitable but brought up a minor “fiasco” with another photographer before me. I will not go into detail about it because I'm just not that guy. I really don't want to throw anyone under the bus. It took me two seconds to figure it out the next day on Instagram though. Tighten up.
GALLERY 3: OF MICE & MEN AND FALLING IN REVERSE
While going through the first few Underoath photos I noticed Spencer is looking directly at me from afar. I thought to myself, hmm, it's been a long time since I first saw this band. And I looked up the tour with Zao. June 2002. The Shelter. Unearth headlined. Yeah. Then I remembered something. I only saw Unearth in The Shelter once, and that was the night of "The Great Underwear-Unearth Pit". Where what seemed like the 20 biggest guys I have ever seen in my life stripped to their underwear, mostly tighty whities and moshed for Unearth's set. You don't forget shit like that. I have been to I'm going to guess 2k+ shows in my lifetime now? They blend together.
My shocking realization that this was the first time I saw Underoath. This lineup was The Changing of Times lineup, pre-Spencer. Yeah. Some people actually remember that version of the band. If you went back and told me I would photograph that band on a massive stage 15 years from now, I would have told you to get bent. You can chase what the world is looking for, or you can do your thing and the world will come to you. Even if it's just for a moment. That band didn't get to that stage to throw me a look for a split millisecond. They did it because of their love of the music they put out. I'm just a fucking leach of that, and well I'm ok with it. Do what you love and sometimes people who do similar things will toss you that “I see you” so many are looking for nowadays.
Pierce the Veil, the San Diego foursome came out to a setting sun and a roaring crowd. Going right into “Bulls In The Bronx” set my fucking heart rate to maximum overload. Absolutely impossible for me to not sing a song that is played daily in my house. I knew at some point some of the photos would end up lacking a little because of my inability to not scream lyrics and kinda lose my shit for a minute.
We get sandwiched between thousands of fans and the band they're there to see. I have tried for the past few years to just “do my job” and sometimes I am successful. This day, this set, this song, NOPE. I might as well have put the camera away until after that fucking flamenco solo. The lighting changed every few seconds it seemed. I couldn't get my mind to focus. I was fucking enamored. They were fucking killing it. I have felt a connection to this band for a long time. I mean, since Myspace, god I'm old.
GALLERY 5: PIERCE THE VEIL
The dudes from Florida who brought us the festival itself decided to let Rise Against headline over them. I had a few thoughts about this. Until the days before when the schedule was released, it was assumed that RA was a co-headliner and ADTR would be the main headliner. I have been around for a minute, Rise Against has been around a bit longer than ADTR. They have pushed the limit on what a political punk band can do. ADTR has pushed their own limits, but they have done it with a shorter time-frame.
See most people just got mad at the concept that a band that influences another would headline over them. In plain objectivity, it makes sense. In this case, it is kinda weird. I honestly don't care but so many fucking people do. I have no idea. They had the same set lengths. If anything I figured they waited for the weather to see what was going on with that. It is ADTR's festival, so no matter what they should be playing if they are on the lineup.
Considering the weather became hairy later on, ADTR's set went off without a hitch. Including firing off streamers at the beginning of the set that got stuck on the upper part of the stage rigging. While in the photo pit I witnessed a photographer take a load of confetti to the face. Within like 30 seconds there was a stage manager there to fucking light up security for not keeping the photographers back. All day I noticed the confetti blasters. But every set I was in the pit for, the rolls of confetti were sitting on top of the machines in plastic. When I got in the pit for ADTR they were loaded into the machine. I will never forget the look on her face. Total shock. Usually we're warned about this shit, and obviously, this is why people were yelling at each other about it. Regardless, another set where screaming lyrics became incredibly hard not to do.
GALLERY 6: A DAY TO REMEMBER
Rise Against is a band I have always felt a deep connection to. Politics affect us every single day and people ignore it. They get mad when bands and musicians talk about it. Which is really weird, considering most of our artistic movements and rebellions came out of fucked up policies and corruption. That type of shit breeds creativity and independence. It makes free thinking want to spread the more people get pushed down. The early days of show-going in Detroit for me began in early 99. From then on I would see Rise Against an unknown number of times. I honestly am going to go with like 13 times from 99 to 04. In the beginning, they were opening for everyone. Even playing super early at Warped Tour. I met them at a couple different shows and they were always humble, kind, and intelligent. A lot of times I meet bands and they were amidst partying and it wasn't their best moment, or they're exhausted and come off cold, I always give em the benefit of the doubt.
I literally never had that issue with RA.
The type of band that when you're around them, you feel stupid. The room that I feel dumb in, is the room I want to be in, just how I feel about it. It is intense to look back at how many shows this band has played since then. So many small venues, basements, house shows, backyards, hall shows, and into decent venues and having tour buses and being in a band big enough to use their voice for positive political causes. Slowly changing the stereotype of punks, bands like Rise Against inspire the shit out of people like me, even all these years later. I still remember seeing them play 1000 Good Intentions regularly. I feel like there was once where it was twice in a week at St Andrews. Every time a bigger punk band came through Detroit or Pontiac from like 99-02, Rise Against was likely a support act on the bill. Only so many bigger punk bands were from the region at the time. To look up at these same dudes, completely grown as humans and musicians, was an unforgettable wet and windy experience I will tell people about for years to come.
After three songs I made my way through the drunk and stoned and wet crowd as the wind and rain started to really pick up. I managed to get a handful of crowd shots and then booked it to where the Cat was at. We hilariously made our way all the way back to the car which seemed to take forever. I really wish I could have stayed and watched the rest of the set but I had a bunch of camera gear, a cold and drenched girlfriend, and a couch and table full of dabs calling my name. We somehow made it home safely and avoided getting obliterated by the massive wall of storms that headed right at the festival at the end of the day.
As a whole, this was a great festival. Simple, two stages, plenty of space, time to get to each stage was maybe a minute, the nachos were stale, the weather was dope for most of the day and ended with it being pretty insane. I didn't hear a bad set or fuck ups from the bands. I didn't see any fights. I did see some people get helped my medical, way too drunk and not enough hydration. Hydration should be one of your top three concerns when going to a festival kids! It makes doing an all-day fest like this less painful. It also helps when you're sweating and only drinking booze all day, skip that fucking hangover and headache with some water you bastards.
Thanks to A Day To Remember and Self Help Fest for letting me shoot and cover this festival. I really appreciate it. Thanks to Stacie the Cat for being with me all day and getting me some crusty nachos. Thanks to everyone who stays patient with me as I'm doing this all on my own, content-wise. I really love doing this and want to keep doing it, so I'm going to continue to do so as much as possible. With the winter coming more of my coverage will be of records and songs, not just because a lot of tours skip Detroit in the winter, but also because it is usually horrendous weather for a few months to travel in. So glad to end the summer and start the fall off with this festival. I hope you dig the photos and words, please feel free to repost or share any of the content, just give the artists, Self Help Fest, Shrbrt.com, and myself credit.
