PRESIDENT and Beartooth at Target Center
Well, folks, this was a bit of an odd one, so let’s hop right into it!
First off, I was incredibly hyped to get the chance to photograph PRESIDENT and Beartooth, and this was also my first arena show myself, so this was set to be awesome!
Unfortunately, as good things happen, so too do the bad. I was hit with camera errors, SD card read errors, and general buffoonery that was NOT giving me a hand for this show. So while I got some cool shots of PRESIDENT, I’ll be the first to admit I wish they were better!
On the music side though, I will say it was a pretty good first three songs! The lighting was very dramatic, and the clean vocals coming from that mask are something that really draw you in. I didn’t get to see beyond the first three since it was an escorted pit, but it was a good introduction to seeing PRESIDENT live!
Now for Beartooth. This was honestly one of the more odd experiences I’ve ever had in a pit.
Song one, “Free,” went awesome. Caleb Shomo led into the song talking about letting go of things you’re holding on to, then immediately blasted into those heavy riffs and vocals. The energy kicked up fast and I started snapping away, trying to find angles on this high stage (still not a fan of shooting those, for the record!).
Then song two started, and things got weird. I moved from stage right back toward the middle, turned to see the entire crowd raising their hands perfectly in sync (see the last photo), lined up the shot, and went to snap it… and suddenly I’m being escorted out of the pit along with all the other media. Just like that.
Not too sure what happened with this one, or why we were all kicked out early, but it was definitely a real shame to miss the rest of the first three songs, and honestly the rest of the show. From what I did hear though, Beartooth sounded great, and the crowd was clearly all in. Hopefully I’ll get the chance to catch another show like this, or this lineup again sometime soon. For those of you who were there the whole night, I hope it was an absolutely rad show!
