Photos taken with an iPhone 4S

This was my first Dillinger experience and it was unhinged, maniacal, and just plain crazy, as completely expected. I'm a very long-time fan of this band - on my top 5 - and the stars have just never aligned for me to see them live. I still cry very deeply inside when I think about the Deftones/DEP tour I missed, and the famous Bottom Lounge show afterwards. What else was I doing that was more important than those shows? It better have been a birthday or something.

Living in the Midwest will do that to you -- shows aren't just down the street, they are down the interstate. If shows don't fall on a weekend, vacation days are necessary. Having a career and being responsible can certainly put a stick in the craw of your wanting to be 20 again, just for a day.

Being the old man that I am these days, I usually just hang in the back during shows and watch the craziness unfold in front of me. But this was Dillinger, and I wasn't going to short myself a full experience. I put myself up in the sweaty front for 95% of the show. Normally very annoyed and irked by fellow fan contact, I let all those inhibitions go and literally went with the flow of the crowd.

I grabbed photos when I could, snapping as I was knocked around, shoved, and kicked in the head -- a death grip on my iPhone all the while. I was stuck in a vortex of wanting to be a concert-going fan, and being a photographer and wanting to capture the experience, even if all I had was my iPhone.

During one photo attempt, Ben Weinman jumped from the stage, flipped, and landed directly on my phone and then his derriere ended up on top of my head. My head became a chair as he situated and re-positioned himself to get back to the stage. I'm almost 90% sure this was intentional, because before he jumped, we made eye contact, and then he looked at my phone. If so, his aim was true. Nice try by him, but I managed to hold onto my phone. Did I mention the death grip?

Should I be angry at Ben if his flipping body loft aimed directly at my iPhone was intentional? Absolutely not. He probably gets tired of looking out at the crowd and seeing masses of phones in the air -- people no longer taking in the concert experience for themselves and instead trying to Facebook/Instagram/Tweet something instantly to inflate their already overly-inflated egos. Kids these days. Get off my lawn.

I would tell Ben that although I commend his admirable attempt to dislodge my iPhone from my now famous death grip, I understand the effort. And I would tell him that I took in the Dillinger experience as a whole -- I swayed with the uncontrollable sways of the crowd, I shared sweat with fans and band members, I took on a Greg Puciato stage dive and helped push him back on the stage, I sang/screamed along to every song, and I snapped a few photos along the way. But I definitely waited until the next day to post them.

Ok, maybe Instagrammed one right after the show. My ego needed a boost. Don't judge me.

Some videos from the show (not taken by me)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8V-4eg2bew

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbbLdFF8c0g