Nervous and excited for the first time ever my live nation press pass was approved and it was time to head down to St.Andrews Hall for Machine Heads Slaughter The Martour with Fear Factory Orbit Culture and Gates To Hell. First time in the photo pit the anticipation is killing me. Finally Gates to Hell comes out on stage. A Louisville death core outfit with some hardcore accents. There lightning quick riffs,filthy vocals and head banging breakdowns made for some badass photos. They played a handful of songs off their self titled album “Gates To Hell”. I went especially hard when “Drenched In Your Blood” started playing one of my favorites from them. Up next we have Orbit Culture a melodic death metal band all the way from Sweden. With solid rhythm and catchy riffs the crowd was very active during this set forming the biggest wall of death of the night and sending crowd surfers on repeat to the front as the band jammed through there set. Fear Factory the final performance before headliner, not knowing much at all about this band I was happy to see the vocalist Milo reaching over the photo pit with the mic and sticking it in fans faces so they can sing along with them as they played. Nothing but energy and enthusiasm from the members in Fear Factory. “Every time we play in Detroit i get reminded of the time we played at the Shelter in 1977 and that show is permanently scarred in my head forever. There were mother fuckers hanging on the ceiling flying from the pipes people jumping off the stage and all out mayhem! And all I can say from that is YOU ARE SOME CRAZY MOTHER FUCKERS DETROIT”. Says Robb Flynn vocalist of Machine Head. ”The fans screaming, and shouting at the top of their lungs “MACHINE FUCKIN HEAD” over and over. They played some of their all-time Classics, like “ten ton hammer” and “bulldozer” as well as some of their new music like “Choke on the ashes of your hate” off their newest album OF KINGDOM AND CROWN released back in August of 2022. The guitars that Reese and Robb used were super rad I was very happy with the shots I got of them.I was extremely grateful for the opportunity to photograph this event I always look forward to any Live Nation events that come to Detroit. If this tour is coming to a city near you I would highly recommend checking it out!
