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Unfortunately, I haven't been successful in getting a photo pass for NIN/JA yet, but managed to get a good seat and won 2 tickets from Jane's Addiction's bass player, Eric Avery, via a Twitter contest for the Chula Vista show (only the second concert in my life I took photos at without having a photo pass)... but even in the premium seats I was still so far away all my shots look like this...

And after 3 hours of editing and invoking of strange Photoshop gods the best I could get was...

Dave Navarro is a subject who warrants being photographed under better conditions. And yes, his skin appears to reject being covered by silly things, like shirts... Jane's Addiction @ NIN/JA in Chula Vista, California on May 16, 2009. Photographs ©2009 MiseryXchord. All RIghts Reserved.

I don't know if my ability to enjoy a concert without being able to photograph it has been ruined... I saw AFI probably 7 times last time they toured without taking a single shot (my camera was broken)... I remember it being really important to me to photo them before they went off the road and being overjoyed I got to photo them at their last show (Download Festival), but don't remember NOT having a great time at the other shows... since 2007 I haven't been to a single show (big or small) that I DIDN'T photograph.

Street Sweeper Social Club joined onstage by Trent Reznor for Kick Out The Jams... and the crowd went WILD. SSSC @ NIN/JA in Chula Vista, California on May 16, 2009. Photographs ©2009 MiseryXchord. All RIghts Reserved.

It's been pretty devastating that I haven't been able to get a photo pass to shoot the NIN/JA Tour, with it being Nine Inch Nails last tour for possibly forever. I first saw them (when I say them I mean Trent :) in 1990 opening for Jesus and Mary Chain in a tiny club, while I was working as an on air DJ at a college station, playing as many songs off Pretty Hate Machine during my time slot as I could get away with... next saw them again Saturday May 16, 2009.

Why wasn't just being in the audience good enough? (I mean, I got to hear The Hand That Feeds and Head like a Hole LIVE. Holy cow!) Why is it so tormenting not to be able to create GOOD photos of this tour? Has my perception of a concert changed so much that without the visuals I capture I can't enjoy it? Or is it that my (I'll say it, obsessive) drive to create (previously responsible for a 20 year career as a painter and illustrator who painted EVERY day) no longer has any other outlet than photography?

It's probably not being fair to myself to over-analyze how I feel about shooting concerts with this particular tour as an example. I mean, IT'S NINE INCH NAILS LAST TOUR AND I CAN'T PHOTOGRAPH IT. See... it's not like if I missed shooting Coldplay or something. It's F-ing NINE INCH NAILS.

IDK... I haven't found a single viewable shot of Nine Inch Nails on my memory cards so far (hey, you try taking a decent photo half a football field away, on a dark stage, with backlighting and strobes!), so it's killing me seeing all the great shots people have been getting both from in front of and behind the barricade at these shows. (but thank you again to Trent Reznor for the relaxed camera policy that's allowing everyone to have a chance to take home images from these shows... THAT is something I have no trouble being happy about). 

Nico Vega performing @ Club Nokia in Los Angeles, California on May 9, 2009

All photographs © 2009 MiseryXchord. All Rights Reserved.

Shiny Toy Guns performing @ Club Nokia in Los Angeles, California on May 9, 2009

All photographs © 2009 MiseryXchord. All Rights Reserved.

Industrial/Aggrotech project Combichrist performing @ The Avalon in Hollywood, California USA January 24, 2009.

The band is touring in support of their new album"Today We Are All Demons" and along with support band Black Light Burns is featured on the soundtrack of Underworld: Rise of The Lycans.

You can follow the band on the road via their tour blog on VampireFreaks.com

All photographs ©2009 MiseryXchord of Music Pictures, Ltd.
All Rights Reserved.