Helloween At L'Olympia

We're a little bit backed up on getting my concert photographs up here on The Old Blog.  I suppose we will catch up at some point, but this would be a good time to remind you that my concert photographs can be seen in a much more timely manner by visiting V13 Media, which you can do by following the link.  If you'd like an even more direct route to my photographs, you can visit my personal page over there but using the following link.  To the best of my knowledge, Montréal’s Théâtre L’Olympia had never held an agricultural fair.  This past Saturday night, its well worn floor was transformed into a giant pumpkin patch.  Inside were nearly 3000 Linus Val Pelt’s.  All of them just waiting to catch a glimpse of The Great Pumpkin.  Unlike our fictional friend, their time waiting in the patch would soon be rewarded.  Helloween was in town and only moments away from arising.  L’Olympia sold out in near record time after this show was announced, appropriately enough, last Halloween.  Their North American 40^th Anniversary tour continued the good reunion vibes that have followed the band since the return of Michael Kiske and Kai Hansen to the band.  Helloween have been riding a wave of renewed popularity, evidenced by how many of the shows on this tour have sold out.  While waiting in "The Pit" for the stage to be changed, I quickly eyed the crowd and noticed a particularly happy group of headbangers.  They had had driven all the way from Gaspé to catch the show.  A nearly 1000km trip, just to see their favourite band.  You have to appreciate that kind of devotion.  Moment later, the sold-out crowd of Linus’ finally found their Great Pumpkin.  They erupted in unison as Helloween hit the stage.  Andi Deris and Michael Keiske made their way to the front of the extended stage together as they took turns belting out the lyrics to ‘March Of Time’.  Equally impressive was Kai Hansen.  Not only was all over the stage, but he gave Atte Palokangas a run for who had the biggest smile.  After a video visit from The Keeper, Helloween blasted into overdrive with an epic version of ‘The King For 1000 Years’.  Helloween's Keeper Of The Seven Keys albums rank on several all-time greatest lists, and both albums were featured heavily in the setlist.  Their more recent albums shouldn't be ignored either.  Their most recent album, Giants And Monsters, was released in  August of last year.  The first song they played from it, 'This Is Tokyo', was met with as resounding roar from the crowd.  If there were any doubters, and there weren’t, the performance showed that Helloween was not here to rest on any laurels.  They were here to demonstrate that they were still a force to be reckoned with.  Afterwards, we photographers exited the pit.  Helloween continued their awesome performance with another 19 songs from their unrivaled discography.  The Gaspé road warriors were having the time of their lives and everything was well in the pumpkin patch.  Linus had finally seen the Great Pumpkin, and it was glorious.  All of the pĥotographs were taken at f/3.2 while using various different shutter speeds, ISO settings and focal lengths.  Here are the rest of the photographs that I took of Helloween while they performed up on the L'Olympia stage.

 

If you would like to find out more about Helloween and their music, you can do so by following the link to their website.  If you would like to see the photographs that I took of Beast In Black, who performed earlier that evening, you can do so by following the link.  As always, a big thank you goes out to Helloween's publicist, Ute Kromrey of Bottom Row Music Industry, Extensive Enterprise and Christopher Gonda of V13 Media for getting me a pass to photograph the show.  As always, it is very much appreciated.  Helloween’s 40^th Anniversary tour continues until the end of the month.  Don't you dare miss if when they perform in a town near you.