The Airborne Toxic Event (10/29/2009)

(Xander’s Note: This is not a review of the show. This is a personal reflection of what i endured that day that constitutes it as “the worst gig ever”. I have also included the interview with an intro by me at the beginning. I will continue to do this on a monthly basis or when I have audio/video interviews available. Normally I would post these to Backstage Pass, but with the site under major construction at the moment; this will have to do for the time being.)

I have been working as a concert photographer for almost six months. It all started when my mentor and boss Jenn, emailed me one day and asked me to join her publication, “Backstage Pass.” I finally thought “This is it! All that hard work has paid off and now, I finally get to live my dream of photographing shows in Seattle; “There have been many bands I have shot for that were a great experience to shoot; however not all of them have worked in my favor. This is one of them that will go down as the worst gig ever.

It was the end of October, and I was getting ready to shoot “The Airborne Toxic Event” at the Showbox Sodo in Seattle. I had put in for this gig 2 months in advance to make sure I would be guaranteed a spot on the guest list. There’s a 50-50 chance of shooting it; Luckily, I was approved to shoot and interview the band. This was also the first time I was shooting during a weeknight, and being it was in Seattle, it was also a bit of a challenge for me as I had school the next day. The day of the show, I got in contact with the band’s tour manager to make sure everything was a go for that day. Once everything was approved, I started my trek from Yakima to Seattle.

The drive to Seattle wasn’t bad at all. The weather was clear and the roads on Snoqualmie Pass were bare and wet with no restrictions. The drive over was filled with excitement and anticipation as The Airborne Toxic Event was not only one of my favorite bands, but also on my top 5 list of bands I really wanted to shoot. As I made it to North Bend, I decided to stop and take a breather from driving as I had plenty of time before I had to be at the Showbox Sodo. After hanging out for about a half an hour, I made it back on the road on my way to Seattle.

Once I made it to Seattle, I noticed traffic was really bad and not the normal traffic you would expect to find in Seattle. I come to find out that it was backed up due to the Seattle Sounders (Major League Soccer Team) playoff game that was going on at Qwest Field, which is a mile and a half away from the venue. As I was sitting in my car, I kept checking the clock to see what time it was as I needed to be at the venue before 6PM. With the bumper to bumper traffic flowing on the overpass that stood across from Qwest Field, many Sounders fans where honking their horns in support of their team. I too being a Sounders fan joined in on the festivities and started honking my car horn.

After about 20 minutes passed, I finally made it to the venue to notice that the normal parking spot across from the venue that I normally parked at was being guarded like a hawk by a parking attendant. Normally what you would do is park your vehicle in the open spot and then made your way over to the parking terminal and paid the fee. Well this wasn’t the case as the lady who barely spoke a word of English wanted 10 dollars just to park. “Oh great, could this day get any worse?” I thought to myself as I made my way over to a Key Bank ATM which was a mile away from the venue to pull out $20, and then made my way back over to the parking lot to pay the attendant. After this was all said and done I had made it with less than 5 minutes before I was to interview The Airborne Toxic Event.

As I waited outside the Showbox Sodo, I called the tour manager for The Airborne Toxic Event to let him know I was outside waiting. I got sent straight to voicemail. “Oh don’t do this to me now!” I thought as I kept redialing the number and hoping that I would be able to get through. After 20 minutes had passed, the tour manager called me back and informed me that the sound check went longer than expected and he would meet me outside to escort me backstage to the bands dressing room for the interview. I was quickly introduced to the band who were relaxing backstage before they were to perform. The room was filled with alcoholic refreshments and laptops were scattered all over the room as band members were checking their Facebook accounts. “Hey man, you wanna beer?” The drummer asked me. “Sure!” I replied back as he handed me a Drop Top. As we made our way over to the lounge area of the dressing room, the interview began.

After the interview had concluded, the tour manager informed me that he hadn’t had the photo passes ready, and would not be available for another 30 minutes. So with 30 minutes to kill, I ventured over to Starbucks for a Chai Latte and then over to Office Max to purchase a lanyard to enclose my photo pass as I had problems with the adhesive not sticking to my shirt. Once I arrived back to the venue and obtained my photo pass from the ticket booth, I realized that there was no security barricade in front of the stage. The barricade is a photographer’s best friend as it separates the crazy fans from rushing the stage and also gives the photographer free range to shoot.

As I thought this day was getting bad, it just got worse! Not only was there no room to shoot, but the front stage area was infested with soccer moms and little kids, which is by far the worst to deal with at any live show. The reason why I say this is, at a normal 21 and over show, if you have a photo pass and gear to prove it, most concert goers know you are there to work. However with kids, they don’t care, they will try and hijack your spot while you’re shooting and will be disrespectful in doing so.

I was lucky to get a spot at the front of the stage next to another photographer who had a bit of an ego and worked for a publication I had never heard of. As the show went on, I had problems trying to get decent shots due to the kids trying to hijack my spot. One kid in particular gave me the creeps. He was short, had a shaved head, and rocked a “pirate patch.” He kind of resembled Charlie Brown, only creepy. On top of that a woman in her early 40’s who I could have sworn was high on something kept trying to let kids up near the stage area as I was shooting and to make matters worse, the egotistical photographer decided to pull out a “point and shoot” after her 3 song limit was up, which is considered a big no-no. I had finally had enough and walked out during The Airborne Toxic Event’s set and made my way back to Yakima. I was not only disappointed, but irritated that I came down on a weeknight to shoot a band I respected and loved only to find out that it was the worst gig ever.

In conclusion, after I had a sit down with Jenn, she told me that there would be gigs like that and that you have to not let them get the best of you. Since then, I have been checking out venues to make sure they do have the barricade, so I don’t have to deal with that… Until I get an equipment upgrade.

**Xander’s Note** For the record, The Airborne Toxic Event threw on an amazing set and were awesome to interview. I can see them going places if they keep up at the rate they are going. I still enjoy this band as their debut album was listed at #3 on my top 50 of the decade list. The only thing that irritated me was no barricade and the chick who was on assignment for another Seattle publication who used a Point and Shoot to shoot the rest of the sets after we were told to put our cameras away after our 3 songs were up. The P&S photos were also published on the publicatons web site as well. As I had stated before, not only is this embarrassing, but it’s also a slap in the face to concert photogs as well.