Thank goodness the weather was nice because the traffic was not! With two Presidential candidates in Greenville, South Carolina that evening and a very busy Disturbed concert it was just nuts getting to the arena. But, once parked it is a great venue. I got there just in time to photograph Plush as they opened the evening with a very energetic set. The staff at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena is so helpful and nice, they make getting to and from the photo pit in front of the stage easy and even fun. Great conversations and some familiar photo friends. What a positive way to start the evening! Also, I’m going to give you my take on this show from more of a photographer’s standpoint since my All Music Magazine fellow contributor, Andrew Fore also covered this show and has an incredible set of images and his review of the show here! Check it out!
Up first was the all female band, Plush. I had heard about their live shows from a good friend of mine. They came out to get this crowd ready. Right out of the gate bassist, Ashley Suppa ended up on stage left right in front of me. Her “retro” look was bright and fun and as the shutter clicked away I knew I was in for a great performance. I quickly shifted to capturing photos of drummer, Faith Powell since it is usually hard to get drummer pics and I like to start there. I was very happy to see the setup of her drums which enabled me to get some good shots of her. That was bonus number two! Then Moriah Formica started to belt out some incredible vocals and I was hooked! What a solid voice and she sounded great. As Moriah was leading the charge there was guitarist, Bella Perron on stage right just killing it on the guitar. I quickly made it from one side of the photo pit to the other to get as many shots of each band member and a variety as well and all I could think about was how good this band sounded and what a great stage show they were giving the crowd. I was really happy with the variety of images I get to share with you here and I love that Bella Perron gave me some great “face time” for one image which always works! This was not an “opening act” for sure… they had a solid performance. After the three songs we got to shoot, I was able to stay for a rocking performance of Heart‘s “Barracuda” where Moriah Formica just belted it out! So great!
Band:
Moriah Formica – Vocals/Guitar
Bella Perron – Lead Guitar
Ashley Suppa – Bass
Faith Powell – Drums
Setlist:
1.Athena
2. Champion
3. Run
4. Barracuda (Heart cover)
5. Hope It Hurts
6. Left Behind
Next up was Falling in Reverse which I was familiar with but didn’t really know them. As we got back to the photo pit all of the photographers looked at their stage setup and we were like… hmmm. How is this gonna work? The stage in the arena is about chest high on me and I am 6 feet 2 inches tall. There was a riser across the front of the stage that made it at least 1 1/2 feet taller! This was going to be a challenge, but I love a challenge. Lead singer, Ronnie Radke commanded that stage riser and was a consistently moving target. I love an energetic front-person in a band and he definitely gave me a lot to photograph. The rest of the band was a challenge to shoot with the height of the stage but thanks to cameras having swivel screens on them now I just needed to get the lens as high as I could. I was happy to get some great images of bassist, Tyler Burgess and guitarist, Christian Thompson. Then lead guitarist, Max Georgiev took the stage riser and delivered some awesome lead guitar runs. That opened it up for some killer images of him! But, I did not forget about drummer, Luke Holland. There was one place where I could get a clear view of him for some memorable photos. I’m always happy to get some good drummer pics! Falling in Reverse was a joy to photograph and they put on a very energetic show. The crowd went crazy for them just bringing up the energy for Disturbed!
Band:
Ronnie Radke – Lead Vocals / Keyboards
Max Georgiev – Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals
Christian Thompson – Rhythm Guitar/ Backing Vocals
Tyler Burgess – Bass/Backing Vocals
Luke Holland – Drums, Percussion
Setlist:
1. Zombified
2. I’m Not a Vampire
3. Losing My Mind
4. F**k You and All Your Friends
5. The Drug in Me Is You
6. Just Like You
7. Popular Monster
8. Voices in My Head
9. Watch the World Burn
The photographers waited on the side of the stage to enter the photo pit as the stage was hidden by a large white sheet. I could see behind the large sheet and saw some lights next to the drum riser in the middle of the stage. Now I figured out why the drums were in the center of the stage and not near the back of the stage. Pyro! My buddy told me that is was going to be a “hot” show and he wasn’t kidding! Then when the lights went down I could see the band members take their places. Then those extra lights lit them up as silhouettes on that large sheet which was a really cool effect. The sheet dropped and the show was in full force. The pyro was just crazy and the energy level went straight to ten. David Draiman came out with a very “Halford-esque” leather trench coat and totally commanded the stage. John Moyer sure knows how to look like a complete rockstar and Dan Donegan came up to the edge of the stage and gave me some great “face time” that you can see in the images below. When the third song, “Ten Thousand Fists” was coming to a close I thought to myself… just give me one more song! I was starting to hit my stride and so was the band! I sure wish this could have been a whole set photo shoot for sure! I even said this to the media escort that guided us in and out of the photo pit and she actually felt the same way and wished she could allow all of us to stay for another song. Those three songs were so energetic that I felt like I watched an entire show in that short amount of time. Disturbed really knows how to deliver a show!
Band:
Dan Donegan – Guitars/Keyboards/Programming / Backing Vocals
Mike Wengren – Drums/Percussion/Programming/Backing Vocals
David Draiman – Lead Vocals
John Moyer – Bass/Backing Vocals
Setlist:
1.Hey You
2. Stupify
3. Ten Thousand Fists
4. Prayer
5. Are You Ready
6. Bad Man
7. A Reason to Fight
8. Guitar Solo
9. Land of Confusion (Genesis cover)
10. The Vengeful One
11. Drum Solo
12. The Game
13. The Sound of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel cover)
14. Bass Solo
15. Indestructible
16. Don’t Tell Me (with Moriah Formica)
17. The Light
18. Stricken
Encore:
19. Unstoppable
20. Down With the Sickness
21. Inside the Fire
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Scott Diussa is a photographer, guitarist, bassist, videographer and audio engineer based in the Nashville, Tennessee area. Scott has been photographing concerts since 1994 and has a degree in commercial photography. You can follow Scott on Instagram at @sdiussa. www.scottdiussa.com
