UTG PHOTOS: The 8123 TOUR (6/25/13)

June 28th, 2013

Corbin Alvae

Under The Gun sent photographer, Corbin Alvae, to the 8123 Tour at The Crofoot in Pontiac, MI.

This past weekday (Tuesday to be exact), I stopped over in Pontiac to catch The Maine, Rocket To The Moon, This Century, and Brighten. Now I’ve been a fan of each band for awhile now, so you could say I was pretty excited to get the opportunity to photograph each act. What made this tour different though and kind of sad- actually really sad, was that this was Rocket To The Moon’s last tour. When I heard the news they were splitting, I definitely needed to catch them one last time.

Anyway, as I arrived at the venue, I ended up waiting in this super long line, overheard that some fans were at the venue since 11am…11am! Holy hell. Didn’t really surprise me, since all the bands on this tour have a fantastic fan base, and boy did they show it!

The tour kicked off with indie rock band, Brighten, which is fronted by the guitarist of A Rocket To The Moon, Justin Richards. Definitely enjoyed watching his performance. Super mellow and calming. Funny moment during the set: I think it was a Mom, but she bought Justin a shot and out of nowhere, security guard goes up and takes it off stage. I thought that was hilarious.

Next up we had pop rock band, This Century. Interesting band, super energetic. Lead singer had some pipes! Definitely was diggin’ his mic stand as well, which looked like was made out of an LED light, real creative. Not a band to miss when they’re in your town!

After that, we have the final performance from pop rock band, A Rocket To The Moon. Now, before the band started their set, as I mentioned before about a mom buying Justin a shot. Well…It happened again and this time, no security guard took it away. Thought that was great! Set started and saying that ARTTM was amazing is an understatement, because the band did absolutely phenomenal! Every show I’ve been to or have covered, there’s always that one band that everyone just sings with them and once again, it happened. I don’t think I’ve ever heard The Crofoot that loud with fans singing along, especially during “Like We Used To.” Chills went up my spine when that happened and seeing them one last time was awesome. I wish them all the best of luck in the future.

Last, but not least, we have rock band, The Maine. Holy energy! As soon as that intro ended, the band just got straight down to business, especially the bass player. Now, if any of you read my article back when I covered Skate & Surf Festival, you’ll know about the whole Pete Wentz and beach ball incident that happened. Well, I have another story — this time with vocalist, Jon Jon. I really feel like each time my camera just goes through hell at every event and during the second track, either I got too close or Jon Jon did, but all I remember was that his mic pretty much just hit my lens. Luckily my hood saved it and all I saw was the “oh shit” moment on Jon Jon’s face. He apologized with all smiles, then got straight back to doing work. Amazing performance overall! What made it super special though was at the end, each touring band came out and sang the last song with them, in honor of ARTTM’s last tour. I thought that was a perfect way to end the night.

The tour overall was a huge success — met some new people, saw some familiar faces and just had a great time. Check out the images below that I captured!

BRIGHTEN