Radioactive Metal: Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Tour 2013 - Tampa, FL 7-31-2013 Recap and photos!

Apologies for taking over a week to post this... between work and having to sort through 1900 pictures, time was a luxury I didn't have!

All-in-all, this was an excellent day but I must be getting old... the heat really got to me a couple of times, so I had to take some breaks and go drink some water in the shade and chill for a while.

I got to talk to some every cool people: Roope Latvala of Children of Bodom, Evan Seinfeld of Attika 7, and everybody from the Butcher Babies!

These interviews will be posted soon, check this space for more details!

Of all the bands that I had the privilege to shoot and watch, I had a few surprises. This is the beauty of going to large shows and getting there early. You get exposed to bands that you may have never heard of before. The two biggest surprises for me were Thrown Into Exile and Battlecross. I had the pleasure of being in the photo pit for Thrown Into Exile and I was impressed! They had the unenviable task of being the very first band to go on. Great stuff form this unsigned band... if you're a label, get these guys signed! I only caught the last 2 songs of Battlecross as I was away to conduct interviews. But what I did hear impressed me very much. Definitely a band to watch in the near future.

Highlights: Thrown Into Exile, Battlecross, Motionless in White, Amon Amarth, and interviewing Evan Seinfeld and Roope Latvala.

But the biggest highlight was seeing the Butcher Babies live again... and also getting to catch up with them. This was my 3rd interview with the band in the span of a year. Bands like this meet a lot of people and do a lot of interviews, so I was pleased that they remembered me. Our long time listeners know how much we like the Butcher Babies, and I think the BBs also like us, as it shows in the lively and fun interviews that we conduct with them. Two horns up for the BBs!

One of the highlights not mentioned above was the thunder storm that hit us during Mastodon's and Five Finger Death Punch's sets. While Mastodon was wrapping up their set, they were playing a quiet musical passage when suddenly one of the loudest thunder cracks I've ever heard happened. The crowd jumped up and cheered their appreciation! I'm not sure if the band heard the thunder but a couple of them did lift their heads after the cheer, looking a bit confused. A similar thing happened during 5FDP's set, but it was between songs. Ivan just smiled at the crowd and said "We've brought the thunder!".

Below are the best shots throughout the day... enjoy and please leave us feed back at radmetal666@gmail.com!

Thrown Into Exile