portrayal of guilt @ tv eye (feb 2025)

someone lost their shoe in the pit and at the end of the show someone was holding it up and people were yelling “shoe! shoe!”

that wasn’t even the only lost shoe.

lot of people taking photos at front of the stage and i didn’t want to try to elbow in there, so i just camped out on the far left (stage right) where there’s a few stairs leading up to the stage.

it’s a great spot, and a couple of times during the show another photographer asked if they could swap in for a bit (of course, no problem!). there’s a little elevation so it’s slightly protected from the wave of humans once the pit gets going, and it’s far enough off to the side that it’s usually out of the flailing leg from stage divers zone. last time i saw portrayal of guilt i got kicked in the head.

downside: i would have liked to get shots from more positions! it was a fun constraint to see how much variety i could get from just one spot, though.

stoked we got to hear a new song from portrayal of guilt, always great to get some new evil riffs¹. i’ll see them every time they come through, one of the best live bands. particularly watching James on drums, he’s got incredible technique and a unique style. it’s usually drumming that draws me in to any band, and i remember the first time i heard Until We’re Dust off their first album and the way the drums come back in at 2:27 blew me away, felt like it subverted what my ear was expecting, especially with the first part of the song being such technical chaos.

i’m giving James a lot of credit here, but really the whole trio is so tight together, as songwriters and performers. also it doesn’t sound like you’re listening to the record 1:1, the versions on stage have their own life. i also love the way they incorporate samples. one of my favorite bands to see, hoping we get at least one more show i’m around for in nyc this year.

couldn’t get many few good shots of Taraneh at all. i swapped out with another photographer after just a few songs and didn’t realize most of what i got was trash. they played a great set though!

Rabbit put on hell of a performance, singer climbing all over the place. i hadn’t listened to them before the show, i’ll have to check out their records and see how they hold up compared to the live show.

Heretic Bodyhammer: drummer with a microphone! the drummer is the singer, and he smashes those blastbeats too, impressive stuff. guitarist’s spikes made it hard to get clean photos of the drummer. also, first time taking photos in tv eye and they were the first band of the night, so i was still working it out during their set.

portrayal of guilt

Taraneh

Rabbit

Heretic Bodyhammer