Wednesday afternoon, my husband and I drove to my parents to drop off Alexandra where she would spend the night while we drove to Montreal to go see Symphony X. It’s only 1 hour and 30 minutes away, so the road trip is short. We got to the venue – Le Medley – 10 minutes before doors opened and the line was already a few blocks. Luckily, we ran into my husbands band mates just a short block away from the venue so we got in with them.
Since the show was a general admission show, as it usually is in bars, we decided to go to the balcony to check out the first 2 bands – Into Eternity and Epica. We picked 2 chairs on the side and sat and watched.
When the first band got on, I noticed people coming through some doors that lead basically backstage where *most* of the time it’s people from the bar bringing up cases of beer to the bar on the balcony but just when I decided to look that way, I notice this slim guy with long hair and a goat-tee stepping through, he looked at the band playing and took a seat just 2 tables away from us. I turned to my husband and said: “That looks alot like Mike Lepond” (the bass player for Symphony X. He said : “No way!” So, I ignored it and watch the band playing and enjoyed the music and every so often I would turn and look at the guy again. Finally, I said to my husband: “Hun … that IS Mke. Just look at him!” we started laughing ’cause some kids sat down just beside him and they didn’t clue in. So, Yves (my husband) got up to grab a beer and decided to go talk to him.
I was right 
It was him!
Very nice guy! Yves didn’t talk to him for too long ’cause he didn’t want to bug him or have other people notice him and bug him before the show. But he did go and brag to his fellow band-mates tho :p One of them came up and chatted with him (for quite a long time). I then decided to go and say Hi to him and wish him luck with the show. I also told him that I hoped they continued to make music for years and years to come to which he replied “Yeah! Me too!”.
The first band was almost done playing and Yves’ bandmate was still chatting him with him. By that time, a few kids noticed Mike and asked for his autograph. Yves got up and went to Mike Lepond and Steve (bandmate) and told him jokingly to stop bugging the man. When Yves walked back to our seat, those same kids started following him and asked him is he was Russell and if they could get his autograph. I started laughing ’cause quite frankly, my husband looks nothing like Russell. It was dark and I guess in person, Russell would look slimmer … maybe! Funny stuff!
When the second band started playing, I went to the car and got my Rebel XT back in the club with me. I had my 50mm f1.8 lens with me. Nice and small. When the second band was done with their set, we made our way downstairs and into the “pit” and waited for Symphony X to start. I wasn’t expecting to get any decent shots since I don’t use flash and focusing is a challenge on it’s own, imaging in a pit of sweaty, rockin’ fans 
I managed to get a few (91 in total) very nice, mostly sharp pictures:
and my favorite
The show itself was totally awesome. Russel Allen is, in my opinion, one of the best (if not the best) front man in this day and age. The poor guy had the flu and doctors told him that he wasn’t suppose to sing but that wasn’t going to work. We (the crowd) helped him out and sang some of the choruses for him and he also joked around
Allen: “God I wanna sing”
God: “No”
Allen: “Why?”
God: “Because!”
Allen: “And than Satans down there and he is like….”
Satan: “ROCK ON MUTHAFUCKAH”
And he did! And we love him for it!
The setlist was great:
- Set The World
- Domination
- Serpents Kiss
- Masquerade
- Paradise Lost
- Egypt / Death
- Babylon
- Inferno
- Smoke
- Revelation / Divine
Encore
- Eve of Seduction
- Sea of Lies
Originally, the encore was suppose to be “Eve Of Seduction”, “Of Sins and Shadows” and “Out of The Ashes” but due to Russell having a really hard time singing by the end, they changed that up a bit. It’s too bad ’cause I REALLY wanted to hear “Out of The Ashes”! Oh well … next show maybe 
For more pictures, check the Symphony X set in my flickr account
