Greenville, South Carolina is simply a really great town. The Bon Secours Wellness Arena is a great venue for concerts, rodeos, monster truck rallies and all sorts of great events. It was a beautiful Sunday night in Greenville when the Five Finger Death Punch tour rolled into town. Along with 5FDP was the charismatic Brantley Gilbert and the surprise of the evening, Cory Marks. I had just moved here last month and this was my first show to photograph at this arena. The best part was that it was easy to get to and the people I worked with that evening were really nice to get to know and it was a fun evening all around.
Kicking off the evening was “Outlaw Country” singer, Cory Marks. I didn’t know Cory’s music prior to this show but for some reason I did recognize his name… and now I know why. My friend, Christoper Williams, is Cory’s drummer and I put two and two together when I saw Christopher get behind the drum kit and get everyone in the arena clapping to a beat! I was really happy that Cory allowed the photographers there three songs from the photo pit and during the second song I got Christopher’s attention and we were very psyched to see each other. If you don’t know Christopher, he is the drummer for the German metal band, Accept, a band that I have a long history with. I was truly impressed and somewhat surprised by the impressive stage presence of Cory Marks and the rest of his band. He had the energy to really warm up the crowd in a rather full arena setting. I came away from his set truly understanding what “Outlaw Country” is and finding myself really enjoying his set. The energy level was high and based on some of what I was smelling in the crowd I think that some of the audience was as well. Talk about setting the stage for the rest of the evening.
Cory Marks Band Members:
Cory Marks – Lead Vocals and Guitar
Christopher Williams – Drums
Alex Walls – Guitar and Vocals
Mark Rynkun – Bass and Vocals
Cory Marks Setlist:
1. Devil’s Grin
2. Keep Doing What I Do
3. In Me I Trust
4. Jet Airliner (Steve Miller Band cover)
5. Burn It Up
6. Blame It on the Double
7. Outlaws and Outsiders
Next up was the ever energetic, Brantley Gilbert. His song, “Redneck With a Rolex” described his show with the stage set being very polished and very “redneck” all at the same time with the risers looking like beds of pickup trucks and the shiny industrial diamond plate giving his show a high level of “bling”! There were a lot of very enthusiastic fans in the arena to see Branley’s set. When I saw the original lineup of bands for this show I was a bit surprised by Brantley Gilbert performing with Five Finger Death Punch. But, Brantley’s stage presence fit well with the down and dirty rock part of the country style. Although the photographers for Brantley Gilbert’s set were required to photograph from the soundboard half way back in the arena as compared to the other bands that allowed photographs from the pit in front of the stage I was still able to capture some images that show the level of intensity of his performance.
Brantley Gilbert Setlist:
1. Kick It in the Sticks
2. The Weekend
3. Rolex On A Redneck
4. My Kinda Party
5. Dirt Road Anthem (Colt Ford cover)
6. Small Town Throwdown
7. Son of the Dirty South
8. Blue on Black (Kenny Wayne Shepherd cover)
9. A Country Boy Can Survive (Hank Williams, Jr. cover)
10. Country Must Be Country Wide
11. One Hell of an Amen
12. Bottoms Up
13. Fire’t Up
14. Take It Outside
15. Read Me My Rights
I’ve been a fan of Five Finger Death Punch for a very long time. I had never seen them live and I will say that they certainly did not disappoint! What a really talented and tight band. 5FDP singer, Ivan Moody, is a really impressive frontman and has an incredible voice both live and on recordings. The light show, stage set and the pure energy that this band delivered was simply incredible. What really impressed me the most was the respect and interaction that 5FDP has for its fans. At one point, Ivan Moody came out on stage with a unique looking cane in his hand. I was photographing him with this cane and I was enjoying the images I was getting (from the photo pit) and then he simply gave it to a young fan in the front row. She was a young girl holding up a sign that said something about this being her first concert and she was there with her parents. She was just enamored at the fact that he gave that cane to her and that was a very touching moment. I know that this concert memory will live with her forever. The professionalism of this 5FDP show was simply top-notch. As photographers, we had the opportunity to shoot from the photo pit for songs 2,3 and 4. This was a bit different but I understand why. The curtain that was dropped at the beginning of the first song needed to be secured and that would have taken away from at least half of the first song for the credentialed photographers. I don’t know that was the exact reason why but it left the photographers with three full songs to shoot. The variety of images I was able to capture in that amount of time was just fine. After I exited the photo pit I stayed to watch more of the show. I was truly impressed with the touching tribute to the veterans in the audience when the guys from 5FDP all signed an American flag and Ivan Moody gave it to a veteran in the front row. What a touching moment that was and then they broke into the song, “Bad Company” which they are very well known for. They were the utmost professionals and really brought a high level of patriotism to the arena that evening. This was a great experience, not only for the fans but for me as well.
Five Finger Death Punch Band Members:
Ivan Moody – Lead Vocals
Zoltan Bathory – Guitar
Andy James – Guitar
Chris Kael – Bass Guitar
Charlie Engen – Drums
Five Finger Death Punch Setlist:
1. Inside Out
2. Trouble
3. Wash It All Away
4. Jekyll and Hyde
5. Sham Pain
6. Bad Company (Bad Company cover)
7. IOU
8. All I Know
9. Wrong Side of Heaven
10. Burn MF
11. Welcome to the Circus
12. Lift Me Up
13. Under and Over It
14. The Bleeding
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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