What’s it like shooting photos at a Five Finger Death Punch show?

We get maybe a song and a half into the band’s set and security starts shoving the photographers out of the pit: “Get out! Get out! Too dangerous!” they shout. Kids are streaming over the barricade, feet up in the air, elbows swinging. A security guard is shoving me from behind, screaming “Get the fuck out!” but there are 15 people in front of me. We inch along for about a minute, and then a guard on the other end of the pit starts shoving the opposite direction. Word travels through the ranks of photographers: We have to go the other way now. Somebody is knocked out cold at the other end of the pit.

Yeah. It’s like that.

For more on this year’s Aftershock festival, check out my coverage on Loudwire.

Five Finger Death Punch