The Black Dahlia murder has been around as long as I have been rocking out, I have always been a fan of their music, and have been lucky enough to witness them live multiple times; this being the first time photographing them as a photographer as well as a huge fan. The opening acts leading to The Black Dahlia Murder were Artificial Brain, Entheos, Iron Reagan, and Goatwhore.
Walking into the DNA lounge in San Francisco for the first time was slightly overwhelming; the venue is build like a post apocalyptic mad max style de facto music venue when not used for mortal combat. The first floor is rather simple, an ample stage with plenty of room to mosh, crowd surf, and a chill area away from the rowdiness. The upstairs has this Rust-oleum red primer painted rail that hangs towards the downstairs at an angle for better viewing that makes it feel like they are spectators awaiting to give us the all too dramatic thumbs down kill approval.
I got there as Entheos was mid set and the crowd was loving it. I caught an elbow to the face during their set, the first of many to come in the night. Their energy was amazing and refreshing to see a female lead singer in a genre dominated with males. Their heavy sound set the tone for the upcoming band Iron Reagan.
Iron Reagan came out swinging and the fans responded, I didn’t see a single person standing the whole place went ape shit. During their set they made it a point to let us know that they are a thrash surfer band. I believe this is when the crowd surfing began, and the moshing escalated.
Goatwhore’s guitarist Sammy Duet set the tone to their set as he told us that he hated us wishing death upon us. We responded by sending out our troops by the numbers to the stage only to have them come back as crowd surfers. It all went down in a non-stop crowd surfing flash battle till the end of their set. Which at that point Sammy Duet told us that he wished us death in the best way possible
When The Black Dahlia Murder came out the whole orchestra came together and moshers moshed, crowd surfers surfed, head bangers banged, dancers danced, merch guys marched the hell out of their tables, and of course photographers photogged. They seem to have taken us in a rollercoaster of their discography touching on various old hits along with enlightening us with some of their new music. At some point it became too dangerous for my camera and was forced to hit the side stage to hang out with the head bangers.
We made it out a sweaty, over indulged audiophiles with one ear ringing due to losing an earplug just like any good metal concert. Also with a few feel good injuries from the crowd surfers, and moshers, but we all know it is all in good fun.
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~ Contributed by Tiburon, www.tiburon1431.com
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- Photography and review by Tiburon www.tiburon1431.com
Check out our interview from earlier this year with Trevor of The Black Dahlia Murder:
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