I thought they each only had a few good songs; but as I walked into the House of Blues on Sunset on October 8th, Crash Kings were setting up.As they were getting ready I was a little confused because usually the singer’s microphone is in the middle of the stage, but the drum set was in the middle, keyboard on the left and bass on the right. Now I was really confused. “No singer? No guitarist?” I thought. “This should be interesting”
At around 9pm Crash Kings made their way onto the stage. They greeted the crowd by a wave and took their rightful spots with the instruments. I was still on the look out for the singer. When they started playing, myself and another photographer just stood, waiting for some lighting to take some photos and me still looking for the singer.
Soundcheck411.com
The singer was finally located. Tony Beliveau was on the keyboard and singing. I was pleasantly surprised by them and though I didn’t know the songs, I enjoyed them. I thought they did really well for a band that doesn’t have a guitarist!
After their first song something went wrong with the keyboard, so the singer was on his hands and knees tinkering with it. The crowd demanded a bass solo, which entertained and humored the bass player. Approximately 5 minutes later the keyboard was fixed! After three songs during which we, the photographers, are allowed to shoot, we made our way off to the side and watched. They only played about total of seven songs and closed with a high energy performance of “War Pigs” by Ozzy Osbourne; still with no guitar. Most of the guitar parts were filled with piano riffs and a piano whammy bar! The crowd loved it as did I even though there was a bit of technical difficulties in the beginning.
I went outside for fresh air, and where I can get cell phone reception, as they cleaned up the stage for Anberlin. Around 10pm I went back inside and sat down near the stage. A fan in the crowd begged me to grab the set list for Crash Kings by saying
“Can you please get me the set list! Please! I never saw this band and they were great!” I couldn’t just say no so I got one for him.
Anberlin came on stage very calmly and I was actually really looking forward to their performance. I got my camera ready and right when they started playing, singer Stephen Christian along with both Joseph Milligan on lead guitar and Deon Rexroat went crazy! It was one of the most high energy opening songs I have ever witnessed which was both exciting- if I was a fan, but because of their constant moments, I could hardly get any pictures of them! They were so high energy, I felt as though I knew the songs! Stephen was moving around everywhere through the whole performance that I watched. He reached into the pit and held fans’ hands. But that wasn’t enough. He needed, really needed, more interaction with his fans. He stood on the top of the barricade with one leg and another in the crowd. The security and audience were going crazy. Security to keep him safe and the crowd to touch him! After the song he jumped back on stage. They started their next song almost instantly without getting any water, again with the same high intensity energy! It was the fastest 3 songs I have ever shot and I enjoyed every minute of it!
I would love to go see BOTH bands again soon. As a fan this time!
Photos: In the Photo Category and on Lifeabove11.com
