After a short break from attending and taking pictures of music concerts, I was back at my beloved Rotonde in Le Botanique on Sunday for their wonderful festival of Les Nuits Botanique. Although I was staying away from metal concerts, I couldn’t resist attending that concert when I saw the line-up: Imperial Triumphant and Neptunian Maximalism, I had to see them.
The first band on stage were the Belgian collective self-proclaimed cultural engineers Neptunian Maximalism, on a trio version, who played a show divided in two parts, being the second one a pure improvisation piece of about 45 minutes, that took me into a kind of an hypnotic trance while enjoying the playfulness that the band was displaying.
They were followed by the American experimental metal band Imperial Triumphant, playing their experimental metal jazzy rhythms wrapped up in golden lights. Already intimidated by the fixed regard of the drummer, the other two band members made their appearance on stage dress up all in black, a cape with a black hood, and a golden mask, each one with a different crown shape or horns, making me wonder if I was attending an actual ritual of some kind. Their presence on stage was captivating, making me take pictures non-stop, always coming close to the audience, and making me test my yoga backbends every now and then to try to get the best shot. They played with us, the photographers, and the whole audience as well, even by parading around among the crowd, and suddenly bringing the audience to their biggest climax when they sprayed champagne all over us. Lucky me, I was prepared and was able to avoid the golden rain. It was overall a fun experience to shoot, and they were extremely kind to grant me a guest ticket when I thought the photopass would not get approved by the hall.
Imperial Triumphant
Neptunian Maximalism
zondag 07 mei 2023, Le Botanique (Brussel, BE) | Foto's & tekst: Cristina Vergara