This was my first year covering the Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival, which I
have decided is the new Ozzfest without the Ozz. Lots of bands,intoxicated
sweaty rockers, and plenty of photo opportunities. I was pretty much exhausted
by the end of the day and still had a 3hr drive home. That 3hr drive turned into
a 4hr drive because the White River Amphitheater detoured traffic. If you're
going to detour traffic, shouldn't you post signs on where to go? Apparently
not. Those of us without GPS got ridiculously lost, which of course is exactly
what you look forward to after 8hrs of shooting or rocking out.

I am admittedly not a metal head, however, being a music lover keeps my mind
and ears open. To be painfully honest, the only bands on the bill I had heard
play were, All That Remains, Marilyn Manson and Bullet For my Valentine. I was
pleasantly surprised by God Forbid, and extremely impressed with Trivium. Both
bands had a tremendous amount of energy and were hungry to make an impression.
It seems that when a band's energy is explosively good, the photos always
capture it.

It was a nice perspective to hang side stage for the opening bands, and
actually shoot from their stages. Catching Trivium before they went on, from the
pit, from the stage, and backstage after their set, was definitely a highlight
for me. Makes for a well rounded photo shoot.

From what I saw, Slayer brought in the most fans, and they were of course all
ages. From Tweens to soon-to-be retirees, "SLAYER" was chanted by them all
throughout the day. It became particularly loud after their set was done and
they were leaving. I was a little surprised that so many people left before
Marilyn Manson came on, but then again, they are 2 completely different
bands.

The slew of photographers were all anticipating shooting Marilyn Manson. He
is after all, an interesting subject. Imagine the disappointment when we learned
we could only shoot 1 song (3 is standard), and during that first song, the
stage was completely engulfed in smoke. Seriously? It was almost comical
observing all of us trying to find our subject in the dense cloud of dry ice. I
wanted to start screaming "Marco", in hopes Mr.Manson would scream "Polo", right
back at me. He managed to pop out of the smoke a few times, but never really
long enough to capture "the shot". By the time I had adjusted the settings on my
camera, it was all over. Next time I shall actually engage in Marco/Polo and get
a shot of that sneaky bugger.

In summary, if you are one of those left terribly disappointed by the absence
of Ozzfest, hit Mayhem Fest, it will definitely quench your metal hunger.

MORE PHOTOS

motorcross

job for a cowboy backstage

behemoth backstage

god forbid backstage

mayhem crowd

By Jenn Dohner