Last Thursday here in Philadelphia I had the oppurtunity to shoot Tyr and Amon Amarth for the final date of their US Tour [See that above picture? That alone makes me so sad I missed this tour in NY -Ed.]. Between rushing from school, fighting traffic and my complete inability to find a parking spot I missed opening band Holy Grail, but I arrived just in time for Tyr. Armed with some of the most awesome boots I’ve ever seen, Tyr awoke the Viking in all of us. Though I found some of the choruses pretty brutally obvious and uninspiring (the lyrics of “The Sword in My Hand” for example) they were definitely fun to watch.

Being a virgin Amon Amarth show-goer, I was a little overly excited for this show. As long as I walked away with one image of some synchronized head banging I would be satisfied. They tore through an awesome set, Johan Hegg pausing between songs to speak to all of us, or sometimes to only some of us: “I want to hear all the ladies out there. [pause for screaming women, this photographer included]. This one is for all the ladies!” As they came out for the encore, they had asked their roadie to play bass for them, and being the last date of the tour, all the members from Tyr and Holy Grail joined on stage as well. All in all an awesome night.

Oh, Did I mention all the awesome beards? Yeah, good stuff.

Photos after the jump.

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Walking into the Trocadero February 3rd for the “The Economy Sucks, Let’s Party” tour made me feel like a 12 year old all over again. This tour included Anti-Flag, Aiden,  Cancer Bats, and Star Fucking Hipsters. There were youngins in the bathroom with technicolor hair sneaking cigarettes, kids with sky-high mohawks and Bad Religion shirts, couples who didn’t look old enough to know what sex is rockin’ back and forth holding each other. Barf.

The only band I’m going to talk about is Cancer Bats, who were definitely the highlight, and only highlight, of this tour line up. Heavy drums, lots of wah-wah and pinch harmonics, and unbelievable stage presence. They didn’t really seem to fit the bill, but their upcoming Canadian tour with Billy Talent, Alexisonfire, and Against Me! may be a better fit. The crowd loved the Beastie Boys cover (“Sabotage”), and closing their set with “Hail Destroyer” left a good taste in the pop-punk loving audience’s mouths. Don’t even get me started about the girls Star Fucking Hipsters snuck in who were bragging about using the tragedy in Haiti to not pay for the show, or the pentagram banners Aiden used as part of their stage set up…

Enjoy some images of the CB kids. Sorry there aren’t any images of the drummer!

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First show of the the new year for me proved to be a great one. Local black metallers Woe, who recently signed to Candlelight Records, opened the night up a little early with hypnotizing riffage, closing the set with “Condemned with Prey.” In spite of the starting times having been changed, Woe’s creator Chris Grigg commented, “Despite the venue’s unprofessional decision to make us play 40 minutes prior to the advertised start of the show, we are confident that those who were in attendance were suitably deafened and offended.”

Next up, Metal Blade’s Lightning Swords of Death proclaimed their evil with gauntlets on and shirts off. Definitely one of the most epic performances I’ve seen in a while. Septic Flesh were welcomed to the stage by the ever-growing crowd as they expertly melded live music with pre-recorded
backing vocal and synth tracks, making the more intoxicated audience members scream for more in a pretty demanding way. The photo pit started getting crowded at this point, so I apologize for a lack of shots of the drummer.

As the kids began getting antsy, a chorus of “BE-HE-MOTH” chants began to rise from the floor, finally erupting in a wave of guttural screaming once the band finally took stage. While some kids just head-banged, otherss found it necessary to run around like oafs, knocking each other down, spinning, and generally being meatheads.

Photos after the jump.

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After a brutal and packed weekend of Municipal Waste, Brutal Truth, Gwar, and partying, I headed to the Trocadero in Philadelphia a little late to catch half of the Vader show, unfortunately missing the first three bands [Vince caught openers The Amenta and Augury earlier on the tour. -Ed.].

Deathcore kids Rose Funeral played to a small but excited crowd. Decrepit Birth totally ripped through an amazing set, pulling classic moves like singer Bill Robinson jumping completely over the crowd right into our favorite metal head, Grim Kim Kelly. As Vader took the stage, the sea of long hairs started moving and continued to headbang through Vader’s last show in America until the Spring, when they’ll return to Philadelphia to kick off another nationwide tour. There were many thanks given out from the Vader men and as the night ended, I was thankful that I could finally go and get some sleep for the first time in days.

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