Touring with Megadeth, Photos of Dubai, India & Taj Mahal
I had the opportunity this past August & September to do some very unique traveling. In addition to shooting photography I also do a fair amount of video shooting and editing. One day a friend of mine who is friends with a Tour Manager of several bands asked me, "Hey Joe, do you want to go to South America and shoot video for Megadeth?" Taken aback just a bit by the grandeur of the simply asked offer, I said, "Sure."
Before I knew it I hit the ground running! I was on a plane to Santiago, Chile. Now, I've shot quite a bit of video but never in this industry so I wasn't sure what to expect. I landed in the airport and had a driver pick me up and we were off to our video meeting. Did I mention I flew through the evening, landed in the morning and our first gig was that night!? It was full speed ahead! But after learning the ropes everything went smoothly! I was part of about a dozen shows in South America and 2 shows in India. The pace in South America was a little dizzying for me as I was absorbing a lot of new information and learning what I was expected to do. I didn't see much more than my hotel room and the venue for those three weeks but it was worth it, a very cool & good experience! I did get to see the cities of Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Mexico City and a few more!
A glimpse of downtown buenos aires taken from the ecological reserve.
We actually had a week or two break between South American & India. The pace in India was much more relaxed as we had only two shows in about the span of a week. While in India we had a concert in New Dehli and then we headed over to the United Arab of Emirates and held a concert in Dubai. It was something else to see the cultures of these two places. They contrasted each other in just about every way. India was very poor and disorganized while Dubai was rich with oil money but each place has it's own "specialness" and wonders.
In India we had the opportunity to see The Taj Mahal which was super impressive! I didn't think I would like it as much as I did. The sad part is though, it is extremely poor in the area surrounding the Taj Mahal. The people in the streets, the cow crossings, the "law of the jungle" driving attitude, the garbage heaps on the side of the road was a little sad and depressing. They need help desperatly... I don't mean to sound like I'm bringing down the whole country, I saw only a fraction of it but from what I saw I felt sad for them... Without getting too depressed in this blog article let me switch gears too Dubai...
The wealth in Dubai made it much easier to get around the city, to see sites and do "touristy" stuff without feeling in danger. We were able to ride on the Sand Dunes, Ride a Camel & eat some really good food.
All in all I had some great experiences & am very thankful that I had this opportunity. I have truly been blessed with some crazy adventures the last couple of years and I don't want to forget where those come from or take them for granted!
Enjoy the photos from the trip and take a look at the MegaDeth Video I shot & edited!
Instagram Photos On The Go! (@joeboyle)
Setting up for megadeth in New Dehli at 3:30am local time. Which would be about 5:30pm Cleveland time. The show is tonight.
Megadeth setlist for Mexico city. ;)
A Dubai sunset. There always seems to be quite a bit of haze around downtown from all the pollution and driving. Dubai has been a pretty cool place so far. Super strict yet super relaxed in certain scenarios. Kinda strange.
Megadeth set up in Dubai. Dubai is by far the nicest place we've been to.
