Finally getting this blog up after like a week & a half of being sicker than a dog with tons of photo editing to do. Two straight nights out with Megadeth, in two countries, that's a first in my book. Ok, it's not so hard when we're talking Abbotsford, BC (Canada) and Kent, WA (USA) but not many concert photographers can probably state that, ha! The 2012 edition of the Dave Mustaine created Gigantour featured a monster lineup from around the world! England's Motörhead, Denmark's Volbeat, Italy's Lacuna Coil and of course America's Megadeth!

Abbotsford, BC (Canada) - Cold and rainy Canada. I went over the border at the wrong location but found my way to the Abbotsford Entertainment & Sports Centre thanks to the Jeep’s GPS. Glad I didn't get up there any earlier than a hour before show time cause the passes didn't arrive to the front box office till 10 min before doors opened. Luckily, I ran into my fellow rock photographer friend Neil Lim Sang and his Motörhead crew buddy got us in the doors so we could make the Lacuna Coil set in time. It started 1/2hr after doors opened. Otherwise we wouldn't of made it waiting in the huge line to get in. What cracked us up the most as we got to the photo pit was we had an individual photo pass for each band and that didn't include our VIP passes! Megadeth's photo pass alone was a huge 8x6 inches!! I gotta hang with Megadeth Webmaster Dave McRobb and his gang at the soundboard during the show. That was cool! Later I met up with my buddy David Ellefson backstage after the show.

Kent, WA (USA) - Another cold but really windy day. Fans in line welcomed open doors when the ShoWare finally opened an hour before show time unlike Abbotsford where it was only a 1/2hr. So Lacuna Coil got a decent early crowd for this show. Overall a better show I thought for all the bands. Megadeth mixed their set list a little from the previous night. I really like the Kent ShoWare Center for shows! Both me & my wife Stephanie got to shoot this show so it was easier for me not to worry too much about coverage. I was all over the place in the arena and she covered whatever I couldn't. I ran into so many KISW Rock-A-Holics saying ‘hi’ there I nearly lost my voice by nights end. Hilarious walking right into Lemmy on my way from backstage to photo pit. We chatted for a second. Last year we had some fun filming at the Showbox Sodo for Duff McKagan's movie and bassist Jeff Rouse's movie skit. Lot more photographers at this show than the night before. After the show, we went backstage with local 15yo artist Jason Kertson and we gotta hang with David Ellefson & Dave Mustaine for awhile which was great. Mustaine has been mentoring/managing Jason and his band The Immortals this past year.

Lacuna Coil - With only a 6 song set to open the shows, the band really had to make a statement with the slow filling crowd which only had the arena at about 40% full.  Slamming through a set list of Our Truth/Upsidedown/Fragile/Kill the Light/Trip the Darkness & Spellbound each night, Lacuna Coil nailed it all! The dual female/male vocals from Cristina Scabbia & Andrea Ferro was great!  The band can explore many musical textures within their rock.metal musical context with two vocalist! Cristina was so intense yet had some fun moments with the crowd. Recently Lacuna Coil have been nominated for the Revolver Golden Gods “Best International Band” award - vote. Check out their latest video for "Trip The Darkness"  at the bottom of this blog and visit the bands official website!