This was my 5th time seeing Avenged Sevenfold (4th time having been just two days earlier at Soundwave Festival, which was awesome! Check it out on Youtube, they had a fireworks display and everything) and my first time being in the front row, right on the barrier. My friends (Bek, Sarah & Jenna) and I waited in line for about eight hours (11am - 7pm) in the ridiculously hot sun on the boardwalk right by the harbor. There was pretty much no breeze, the temperature must have been about 45 degrees (113F) and we had no shade... we ended up having to purchase umbrella's from a convenience store just for some relief from the blazing sun.
But it was all totally worth it!
We got let in and my friends and I ran to the stage and 3 out of the 5 (another friend, Elysia, joined us in line about 6:30pm) of us scored a position right on the barrier on Mr. Vengeance's side. We watched Asking Alexandria first and they weren't too bad... not really my taste though. Following them was Five Finger Death Punch and they were AWESOME! They put on such a great show and you can't help but get swept up in their excitement. I had only previously heard one of their songs, but after seeing them live, I decided I definitely needed to hear more.
Finally we got to the awesomeness that is Avenged Sevenfold. The crowd went nuts when they stepped out onto the stage and I have to admit, I didn't really see much through the first couple of songs because I was too busy trying to get photo's... haha. But I soon realised I needed to focus on enjoying myself, which I did. It was a great night, totally worth the wait out in the blistering sun.
Here's the set list:
01. Shepherd of Fire
02. Critical Acclaim
03. Beast and the Harlot
04. Hail to the King
05. Eternal Rest
06. Buried Alive
07. Seize the Day
08. Nightmare
09. Burn It Down
Guitar Solo
10. Afterlife
11. Almost Easy
Encore:
12. Unholy Confessions
13. A Little Piece of Heaven
I was a little bummed we didn't get God Hates Us since it's my favourite song, but otherwise I can't really complain :)
Okay, pictures:
Johnny doing his thing ;)
Not the best shot, but if you look closely in the bottom right corner, you'll find Miss Renée aka Haylie Jade
His face is a little blurry, but I actually like this shot :)
Hogging the spotlight ;)
I don't think I've seen a better guitarist pairing... I mean, just look at them! *Sigh*
Shadows looking all fine and stuff ;)
One of my favourites, just bummed that Zacky wasn't in focus
There's something about this stance that always reminds me of the Thriller dance. I could see Matt doing that on stage... Hahaha
Security and photographers heads got in the way, but still not a bad photo
Arin... hard to see, but he's back there. Haha.
I know the lighting serves a purpose, but man it's annoying when you're trying to get good shots!
He's got a "say what?!" kind of face going on.
My favourite shot of Shadows from the night
This one I love the coloured lights :D
Good clear shot :)
Love it when they look in your direction and it feels like they're looking straight at you!
Zacky.V showing off :)
This face makes me laugh! It's like "Oops, wrong note!" Bahahaha!
Bahahahaha! Not his best look...
He's got shmancy shoes ;)
Another one of those shots where it feels like he's looking right at me... I like to pretend he was, since I did have super bright purple hair at the time ;)
Zacky doing his thing :)
Zacky doing his thing with his head down... hahaha
Syn and Johnny having a little pow wow, while Matt appears to be asking the audience what they think of his hair... "It's good, right?"
Tossing out picks at the end of the show :)
The picks I scored. It pays to be in the front row and also to make friends with security :) I now have a Zacky pick, Syn pick and a Johnny one from a couple years ago :)
26 pictures. Lot more than I expected to post... but oh well. I have lots more, those are just the better ones. Haha. Hope you liked them! Can't wait for them to come back so I can take even better ones next time!