#shrbrt

HIM and CKY have been a part of my life since the CKY2K video came out and Bam Margera exposed all of us degenerates to Finland's finest, HIM and of course all the music from CKY that influenced us. I have no idea how many times that shit led partying to get way out of fucking control, but it almost always seemed to happen. The early 2000s were wild.  I did my normal rituals before a show and then headed my stoned ass to the Fillmore for the last ever Michigan show HIM will ever play. "Holy fuckballs it's cold as fuck" I told the parking lot attendant, he laughed and said "Have a good night sir, don't drink too much." Oh man, this guy. I only walked 5 blocks and I was freezing and sweating my ass off somehow, probably from walking faster than normal because it was bitter cold and I'm never properly clothed. Detroit, I fucking love you but my god, why do you always snow during autum. This show was November 11th, felt more like a January night instead. As I'm typing this, we're buried in a good 8 inches of snow and it's 10 days before Christmas. How the boys in HIM can handle Finland weather is beyond me. I'm about done dealing with this weather!

I got in with no hassle to the Fillmore and walked down to the main floor to enjoy the opening act. 3teeth remind me of Stabbing Westward if they weren't melodic, instead just dirty and grimy industrial and bass heavy as fuck I feel like shit for not wearing my Atari Teenage Riot shirt. It's good but not where I need my industrial to be but totally understand the appeal to this band, they are definitely their own breed.

I went outside and toked on my vape pen for a while, making sure to warm myself up every few minutes. I eventually made my way down to the photo pit before the next band came out. CKY will forever be dear to my heart. Lineups be damned they put on a great show and are loud as fuck. With the departure of Darren I think everyone had doubts, but they were still fucking great with Chad leading.  I expected to hear 96 Quite Bitter Beings last, not third to last. Escape From Hellview being their last tune and they are nailing it as I type. 

  PHOTO'S FROM CKY'S SET

HIM the pride of Finland graced the stage and my fucking heart fluttered. Thanks to proper timing and my friend Jessica the two of us ended up dead center when they walked out to a sold out Fillmore. She gave me this "oh myyy" look and I gave her a comedic elbow to the side and even had to fan myself off a little.

Halfway through the first song and an emergency happened in the crowd. I couldn't tell what happened but Ville being the kind beautiful soul that he is, stopped the show. Made the LD turn the house lights on and make sure the concertgoer was ok.

What a class mother fucking act that beautiful Finnish bastard is. 

I believe we got to photograph an extra song. Yay for security not doing their jobs. It works out for all of us media. We're not gonna jump up if no one else does. I find that to be a cliche of photo pits. When security can't tell when three songs are done. 

"Wings Of A Butterfly" a song that gets hundreds to whip out their cell phones, belted out by both the band and pretty much every person in the crowd, including yours truly. I get always wanting to pull your phone out at shows. I do it too. From a media standpoint, it's impossible to cover music without using a phone at some point. I just don't understand doing it and watching the phone screen instead of the show. Especially something as amazing as HIM's last Detroit show ever. I just wanted to keep a lot more of the set to my mental memory instead of my phone's internal memory.

Probably the loudest I have ever heard a Fillmore crowd get in all my years of coming here. It caught me off guard how fucking loud they got after what seemed to be the last song of the night. That is until they returned to the stage, and fucking ripped through "Rebel Yell" by Billy Idol. I couldn't thank of a better goodbye to Detroit, for the dudes in HIM. Thanks for the memories and all the music over the years fellas, so many of will never forget this band, this music, or this tour.

I got to St Andrews Hall late as usual and missed the opening act Car Bomb. I walked into an already packed St Andrews Hall and immediately got my way to the side of the photo pit. As the crowd started to get a little restless the lights dimmed and the fellas in Periphery walked out on stage. 

Periphery has to be one of the most creative bands in music. The crowd at St Andrews absolutely loved them. I am honestly blown away by how intense this shit is live. Up close and personal with these bands was some of the most exhilarating shit I have photographed. Their music, both Periphery and Animals As Leaders, is prolific, technical on a mature level, and brutally creative in a way that sets both groups in a league of their own. It's no surprise they get along so well.

Periphery is easily one of the best bands I have ever witnessed a set by. That shit literally blew my fucking mind. I don't know what to really say other than to gush about that set.

After the rest of Periphery's set, I made my way downstairs to The Shelter to use the bathroom. While doing my thing a guy waiting in line said "Great, someone pissed in one of the fucking sinks." I found it to be hilarious because I just ranted the other day about how much more cleaner St Andrews Hall is now that Live Nation has their hands in it. But nothing, nothing will stop the ridiculousness that is a Saturday night crowd in Detroit. When you gotta go, you gotta go. 

I made my way upstairs and apparently I was a little over-zealous. I figured most of the gear would be off stage by then. Nope. Not even close. I asked the nearest security guard what the Animals As Leaders set time was. 30 minutes from the minute I asked him. Fucking a. But then he told me... Animals As Leaders were playing for over an hour.

I went back downstairs to the Shelter and chilled for another 10-15 minutes and then made my way back up to the main floor to wait for Animals As Leaders to come out. The beautiful thing about shooting a trio is a smaller amount of subjects makes it easier to get photos. Then you add that this band is too fucking technical to "go off" on stage. Instead of throwing their bodies and guitars around, they just play their instruments and that's more than enough. The music these dudes come up with and play every night is some of the most incredible shit my ears have ever heard. Again, seeing this up close and personal puts it at a level that I can't describe properly. 

I probably shouldn't have worn my Deftones shirt as I have had "DEFTONES!!!"  yelled at me a dozen times tonight. Funny, but it always catches me off guard.

Someone threw something at my face that night while I was photographing upstairs. Might have been a pocket full of change flung upward from the main floor. Could have easily been an inch higher and took my eye out or smashed my lens. Whoever it was... I hope one day you find a level of peace that makes you regret that stupid shit.

Not surprised in 2017...

Proving just because the music is intelligent doesn't mean all the fans in the crowd are.

Let's not forget someone pissed in the sink earlier in the night...in a bathroom with troughs nonetheless.

As I walked out to go to the car, a guy was being cheered on as he barfed his fucking brains out over the guardrail of the smoking section. Concertgoers laughed hysterically while cheers came from the strip joint next door's smoking section.

Mind you it was maybe 1015?

I would have stayed until the end but the whole getting hit in the face with a rock thing put a damper on my night. As much as I believe that person needs peace, I also wouldn't mind putting up a pair of fives to what I'm assuming would be a chinstrap beard and a drooping jawline that it highlights, I will end with this.