Grand Rapids, Michigan, Metal, Sherburt, Photography, Galleries, Events, Arena, 2024 Sherburt Grand Rapids, Michigan, Metal, Sherburt, Photography, Galleries, Events, Arena, 2024 Sherburt

Pantera Pays Homage to the Abbott Brothers in Grand Rapids Alongside Lamb of God and Child Bite

I have to preface this with; it meant a lot to me to do this because the 3 guys I grew up listening to this band with in high school are all dead. RIP Joey Bags, Hansen, and Dolsen.

The Cowboys From Hell in Grand Rapids

I have to preface this with; it meant a lot to me to do this because the 3 guys I grew up listening to this band with in high school are all dead.
RIP Joey Bags, Hansen, and Dolsen.

 

Pantera brought their headlining tour to Michigan and I drove my ass almost 3 hours to Grand Rapids to photograph it. I was 1 of only 6 photographers approved for this show and it was my 2nd arena gig ever. It felt like a hometown show right off the bat with a couple of photographers from Detroit being in the media pool, but the main reason was because Detroit’s Child Bite opened the gig. It was a helluva warm-up show for their appearance at the Garden this past weekend in New York City. Gimme some salsa ya weird metal cowboys. Anyway, the direct support for the show was Lamb of God and despite having to share the pit with 30+ VIPs, I still had no issue photographing them. I always found it weird that bands do this, and also making us sign a photo release just sends a pretty wild message. I think this might’ve been my last time photographing LOG tbh.

PANTERA NORTH AMERICAN TOUR

PANTERA

LAMB OF GOD

CHILD BITE

Rad to see Child Bite go from small Detroit shows to playing the Garden a few days after I took these. That was a big deal for me when I signed up to potentially do this show. Considering Phil has not one but multiple bands from Detroit on his Housecore Records label, it’s no surprise he would be sidestage for their set in Grand Rapids.

Everyone takes pride in their city’s culture, or at least in my head, everyone does. Detroit is incredibly tight-knit and supportive of one another, even outside of our genre lines. Escaping this city is no easy task, even nowadays when things are perceived to be much better than it used to be. Woof, that is for an entirely different conversation and I am not doing that again here today. Instead let’s just check out the galleries below from the show!

PANTERA

LAMB OF GOD

CHILD BITE

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Galleries, Michigan, Photography, Sherburt, Events, Tied Down Detroit, Punk, Hardcore, Royal Oak Sherburt Galleries, Michigan, Photography, Sherburt, Events, Tied Down Detroit, Punk, Hardcore, Royal Oak Sherburt

Neck Deep, Drain, Bearings, and Higher Power @ Royal Oak Music Theatre

Neck Deep has been on my list of bands to photograph since I started doing this over a decade ago. For whatever reason it just seemed like it was never going to happen. Denial after denial. Then I got approved and woke up the day of the show sick with the flu. And of course, more denials. Then I had to not put in once for inventory at my old job. It just seemed like a lost cause

NECK DEEP taken by SHERBURT 2.13.23

Neck Deep has been on my list of bands to photograph since I started doing this over a decade ago. For whatever reason it just seemed like it was never going to happen. Denial after denial. Then I got approved and woke up the day of the show sick with the flu. And of course, more denials. Then I had to not put in once for inventory at my old job. It just seemed like a lost cause. Then they announced this tour with one of my favorite bands in the world, Drain. I took this as a sign, that it was time. I could easily just hit Drain up and they would hook me up but I wanted to do this right. I wanted to do it on my own accord, and I wanted to go through the headliner. I didn’t want to ask for a favor. I didn’t ask for one for Blink or NOFX. So I did it the old way, the same way that got me the first gigs. Publicity.

NECK DEEP LIVE IN AMERICA

N E C K D E E P

D R A I N

B E A R I N G S

H I G H E R P O W E R

I have been working so many production shows that I haven't been able to do these kinds of gigs as often as I would like. These are a net loss for me every time. There is no payment for these kinds of gigs. Working for a publication maybe they might pay you, but I work for myself so I go in knowing I am losing money on parking, on a beverage, on food afterward and even sometimes, having to pay for tickets. Hence why a lot of these types of shows have been getting thinner and thinner on my calendar. The best part is that it’s not the same reason most start to give up shows, it’s because I have prior obligations to production companies and one of the biggest bands on the face of the planet. So with all that being said, at this point in my career, if I am willing to lose money to work, it’s because it is something I truly want to do.

Alongside Neck Deep and Drain were Bearings and Higher Power creating an absolutely stacked lineup stretching from UK Pop Punk to California Hardcore.

NECK DEEP

DRAIN

BEARINGS

HIGHER POWER

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Galleries, Metal, Michigan, Photography, Sherburt, Music, Detroit, Events Sherburt Galleries, Metal, Michigan, Photography, Sherburt, Music, Detroit, Events Sherburt

Boris and The Melvins Brought the "Twins of Evil" Tour to St. Andrew’s Hall

Boris and The Melvins at Saint Andrews Hall in Detroit was a treat for me being I was obliterated on dabs and in a really good mood knowing the next day I would be flying to California. That type of energy should be able to be bottled! It made shooting so relaxing, for the first time ever. Usually, I am anxious and trying to keep myself focused. Luckily I was able to just enjoy myself and photograph the sets and feel special. Knowing Nirvana played this room is a big deal for most of us right? So to have anyone that is connected to them come here and play in the same room, is a pretty big deal. This all plays into my theory that

Time Is A Circle Pit.

The Melvins and Boris at St. Andrew’s Hall

Boris and The Melvins at Saint Andrews Hall in Detroit was a treat for me being I was obliterated on dabs and in a really good mood knowing the next day I would be flying to California. That type of energy should be able to be bottled! It made shooting so relaxing, for the first time ever. Usually, I am anxious and trying to keep myself focused. Luckily I was able to just enjoy myself and photograph the sets and feel special. Knowing Nirvana played this room is a big deal for most of us right? So to have anyone that is connected to them come here and play in the same room, is a pretty big deal. This all plays into my theory that
Time Is A Circle Pit.

I decided to go all Black and white for this show and I think it worked in my favor. I am honestly not a fan of most lighting nowadays. Few will get me to put out massive amounts of color photos. I am more likely to do it with daytime outdoor photos than hall or theatre concerts. Just how it is. These two bands are all photogenic as hell and for playing slower tempos than the punk, hardcore, and death metal shows I usually photograph, it was such a welcomed change of pace.

The Melvins played “Bullhead” and Boris played “Heavy Rocks, both in their entirety. If you ever get a chance to see either of these bands, do not skip. It is a trip.

 
 

This post originally appeared on my predecessor site Time Is A Circle Pit.

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Music, Galleries, Events, Detroit, Michigan, 2024, Metal, Sherburt, Photography Sherburt Music, Galleries, Events, Detroit, Michigan, 2024, Metal, Sherburt, Photography Sherburt

The Slaughter The Martour with Machine Head and More @ St Andrew’s Hall in Detroit

Machine Head brought the Slaughter the Martour to Saint Andrew’s Hall in Detroit Saturday night. Packed to the gills alongside friends in Fear Factory, Sweden’s Orbit Culture, and my favorite on the lineup Gates to Hell…

MACHINE HEAD taken by SHERBURT

Machine Head brought the Slaughter the Martour to Saint Andrew’s Hall in Detroit Saturday night. Packed to the gills alongside friends in Fear Factory, Sweden’s Orbit Culture, and my favorite on the lineup Gates to Hell. As a precaution, I brought two King Palm Slims and tried to stay as covert as possible. At the moment I am experimenting with inadvertantly overhearing aging music fans and their casual opinions about Detroit. Before we get to the negative, let’s get to the positive. This show was sold out. The bands all ripped. I didn’t have a single boring moment at all, no matter where I was in the venue. Staff is mostly welcome to me except for the other newer middle-aged dudes who just haven’t figured me out yet. They’ll get there.

The most thrilling part of all of this is that it’s the first new article on the newly launched site. After years of using branded sites, I peeked into the production world with the most non-press work last year. This led me to today where I am just going for it full bar all on me and not behind a brand or company idea. With that being said, I Like Their Old Stuff will live on with Anniversary Features on the site and Time Is A Circle Pit will be the Podcast presented by Sherburt. Fun times.

 

The Slaughter the Martour

 

M A C H I N E H E A D

O R B I T C U L T U R E

F E A R F A C T O R Y

G A T E S T O H E L L

There were a few cool moments about getting this to photograph this gig. For starters, I loved seeing Gates to Hell play to a new crowd. That band is one of my favorites coming from Louisville’s bustling intertwining hardcore and metal scene alongside the likes of Knocked Loose, Inclination, World Of Pleasure, Belushi Speed Ball, and a ton of others.

Getting to see Orbit Culture and their Swedish Melodic Death Metal onslaught kept my brain in functioning ADHD mode. I blame the double bass that was on a level only to be rivaled by Tomas Haake himself. Not a set to be missed.

The best part of the night wasn’t getting Fear Factory for the 2nd time in a year but getting Machine Head for the first time. Machine Head co-headlined my first show at Harpo’s with Coal Chamber. The openers for that show were Amen and Slipknot. 1999. 25 years later Robb Flynn is spitting on me at Saint Andrew’s Hall. It’s really hard not to think about how much has changed since that show in 99, typing on a computer like this was unheard of outside of Doogie Howser and the original blog sites like Angelfire or Homestead. I was barely 16 years old when I first saw them and now I’m staring at a bottle of Baby Aspirin.

I will say this. Over the last decade, I have gone to 100s of shows. This was a perfectly booked tour. I loved every minute of the show and had a blast working it with a bunch of pretty rad Detroit photographers and some newcomers. Dodging tour managers with cell phones and VIPs invading the photo pit was hilarious to me. I am so inundated with DIY shows and the things that happen there, I forgot a little bit, of just how ridiculous metal as a whole is. I prefer my punk and hardcore shows for sure but metal is always a very close third for me.

If you’re anywhere in the path of this tour, check it out and get tickets. It was worth all the trouble and welp, I kept hearing folks talk about this being their first time at this venue.
A venue that just celebrated 116 years since opening…
WITH THAT BEING SAID I HAVE TO SAY THIS…

METRO DETROIT, STOP BEING AFRAID OF DETROIT. IT IS 2024. IT IS NOT ROBOCOP TIME ANYMORE. YES, SOME AREAS AREN’T THAT GREAT BUT YOU’RE NOT GOING THERE ANYWAY. ALL THE VENUES YOU WILL GO TO, ARE DOWNTOWN. IT’S OKAY. STOP STAYING AT HOME AND WATCHING THE SAME NETFLIX RERUNS. LIVE A LITTLE. GO TO SHOWS.

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