There is a beauty behind the buildings that house live performances that people tend to often overlook. In reality what goes on inside a venue before a performance is pretty crucial in order to have a smooth run. In case you don’t know exactly what goes on- let me enlighten you! There is an entire team of people focused on just the lighting aspect- called the lighting technician (aha hints the name)! There is also someone in charge of making sure the band travels at ease on the road by making sure venues are booked, they have the correct flights to get to the next city, and basically a lot of other things to make sure the band gets to the places they need to play at successfully. Then you have your techs that take care of the instruments- each of their names is pretty self explanatory: (drum tech, guitar tech, and so on). They are most of the time really close to the musicians due to the fact that they are dealing directly with their instruments and making sure they will be at their best shape for the performance! There are so many other hardworking making sure the tour goes as planned, but if i sit here and name them all- we might never get to the bands performance.
The band, that act, the stars. The people you love they are sort of the beginning and the end of the equation. Why? well because without the band all those jobs I just talked about wouldn’t exist, and in the end after the hard work of all those people they are able to put on a kick ass show! This past weekend in Dallas I was lucky enough to see the 40th anniversary tour of Foreigner!- Wait, let me rephrase that.. The SOLD OUT 40th anniversary- much better! Legends I’ll start there. They smashed it really. First they started playing on time. Playing pretty much all the songs the crowd was hungry to see live. The Texas crowd was nothing but cold to the band. Especially when they played “Cold as Ice.” It was crazy in the best way- everyone was singing and dancing. I had a chance to be at the pit taking photos during this song and oh boy was I not in shock. I totally saw this coming- I mean they are a legendary rock band. The energy was bouncing literally off every wall. My body felt so vibrant, electric, and alive. As a photographer high energy from the band means some amazing action shots! Rock starts are known for giving performances like that. They do not do your average 95-100% performance they brake the scale of how much energy they bring onto the stage. Foreigner did not fall short from that. They interacted with the crowd throwing guitar pics at them and at some point even letting them pick what song they should play next. They played all their hits to a crowd that literally sang the entire time- it was pretty cool. One would think they would be tired from doing this for forty plus years- in contrary they sounded just like they did in the late 70’s- 80’s (except with a little more practice)… I can definitely say you are in for a good time if you attend a concert in their tour. Their amazing worldwide recognized songs and the energy in the room will make you sing your heart out.
Photos and Writting By: Maria Limon | Instagram: @shotbylimon
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