Dropkick Murphys Live @ Billboard

Geez, I thought the Bleeding Through gig was raucous last Friday night, it didn't hold a candle to the blistering anthemic mayhem that was the Dropkick Murphys tonight.

With Melbourne in the midst of an intense heat wave that saw the temperature soaring into the 40's even at 10pm, you can imagine what it was like inside the venue.

I had been instructed to meet up with the band's tour manager at 10.15pm. Geez, they left it late enough. I went to the Box Office told them the details, got my photo pass and the band had already kicked into the first song. The venue was absolutely packed and with a three song only limit, I hastily made my way to the front and presented my pass to the bouncer.

Three songs was very, very stiff as the songs were short and I barely had time to get it all together. Again, the 17-85mm lens let me down big time. As a street lens it is fantastic, as a live music fast motion lens, it sucks. So damn slow and cumbersome. I quickly switched to the 50mm and started getting some decent shots. I'm seriously going to have to look into a decent live music lens so any suggestions are most welcome. I'm a newbie when it comes to live music shooting.

Within those first three songs, I got kicked in the back of the head twice, fell to the ground once as a body came crashing on me and after just one solitary song, I was drenched in sweat from head to toe! Holy fuck! Now this is rock and roll! This was insanity personified as the band were in fine form and the walls of the Billboard venue were dripping in sweat. You think I'm kidding? It was 40 degrees outside, it must have been 60 in here!

Third song ended and I was quickly ushered out of the pit. Fortunately I was allowed to stay for the entire set. I spent a couple of songs recuperating and then went right up to the pit barrier and parked myself infront of this massive industrial air conditioner. I was close to the stage and able to shoot some more.

All in all, a tremendous gig and one that has encouraged me to check out some of the band's music of which I haven't really delved into.

A hot night for rock and roll!

38 photos | 2,347 views

items are from between 28 Jan 2009 & 29 Jan 2009.