Photographer Ross Halfin - "KISS Were Amazing"
June 16, 2008, 16 years ago
Photographer Ross Halfin (LED ZEPPELIN, IRON MAIDEN, AC/DC) was hired to shoot KISS at the 2008 Download Festival on June 13th.
"KISS were amazing (and I'm not just saying this because I'm with them)," Halfin comments. "They give the crowd everything you want - pyro, bombs, great light show (a photographers dream). Eric Singer gives KISS a solid sound - I wonder what DEF LEPPARD would sound with someone like him. You get riffs, singalong anthems, guitar solos, posing. The end of the show is spectacular with Gene, Paul and Tommy Thayer right at the front of the stage with what looks like World War III going on around them. Get good photos of Paul smashing his guitar. During, I think, 'Lick It Up' they played 'Won't Get Fooled Again', Eric doing Keith Moon's drum fill perfectly. I could watch this every day.I fly back to London with them straight after. As we land Doc says 'Nice landing' before we notice the jet isn't stopping and every time the pilot puts on the brakes the jet is turning sideways. The plane then keeps going on and on for about ten minutes around the runway until it finally stops very hard. By this point I am considering if I'd survive if I jumped. 'The hydraulics failed,' says the pilot, 'it is Friday the 13th.'"
View Halfin's Download photo gallery here.
