The NAMM show takes place every year in Anaheim, and while the show is closed to the public, there are always some great musical performances at the local venues. This year the Metal Allegiance show took place at the House of Blues in Anaheim and featured an all-star cast of performers from Anthrax, Testament, Sepultura, Mastadon and more.
The list of performers is extensive as the band morphed from song to song. Metal Allegiance featured Anthrax’s Frank Bello, Charlie Benante and Scott Ian, Megadeth’s David Ellefson, Testament’s Alex Skolnick and Chuck Billy, Winery Dogs Mike Portnoy, Sepultura’s Andreas Kisser, Mastodon’s Troy Sanders, former Pantera bassist Rex Brown, Chris Broderick, Kyle Sanders, Gary Holt, Mark Oseueda and John Tempesta.
Shooting this type of event is tough, as the band kept changing and morphing from song to song all night. We were given 5 songs from the photo pit and the go-ahead to shoot the rest of the show from anywhere in the building as long as it didn’t hinder the show for any patrons.
The photo pit was packed and moving around in it was impossible. I was lucky to be in position with two friends, Scott Diussa and Iron Mike, which made for a great time before the show started. Once the lights went down, it was about the band.
After the first five I headed towards the back and got a great position by the soundboard where I shot the rest of the show.
Photographing the drummers was really tough. The drum kits were set up across the back of the stage but not on risers. That meant that they were effectively hidden behind the other musicians most of the time. It took patience and some luck to get any usable shots, especially with the sticks showing.
All images were taken with the Nikon D4 and D750 camera bodies using the 24-70mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses. Maybe the most difficult part of the show was getting the gallery down to a manageable number. I could easily has posted a hundred or more photos.
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