A 20″ x 30″ print signed by Dave Matthews Band, which was used as the cover art for a live recording recorded at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.
Last September, Dave Matthews Band licensed one of my images to use as the album cover for one of their live recordings. A few days ago, out of the blue, my lovely Live Nation representatives surprised me by arranging for a signing with the band before their concert this week.
When I photographed Dave Matthews Band performing at Busch Stadium last year on June 7, the event seemed liked any other assignment. True, the scale was a little larger – the event had drawn 35,000 fans and marked the first concert of the then-new Cardinals’ ballpark. But apart from the fanfare, the constants remained: there was a band on stage, a camera in hand, and a job to be done.
After photographing the band’s first three songs – the industry standard for most national touring acts – press were led up to the upper level of the new stadium opposite the stage, which sat in the outfield.
This vantage point was perfect for capturing the essence of the event, revealing a sea of fans filling the stadium before the glow of the stage, with the St. Louis Arch and the skyline as the backdrop.
Along with the other press photographers, I surveyed the scene, made my shots, and then headed home to process the images for delivery.
As a courtesy, I also sent a set of images to my reps at Live Nation, who produced the event.
I didn’t think much more of the concert until several months later, when Live Nation contacted me about licensing the image on behalf of Dave Matthews Band.
While every music photographer hopes to have a concert image grace an album cover in their career, I never would have guessed that my first would be for a national act like Dave Matthews Band. The band featured the stadium shot as the cover art for their Live Trax recording of the St. Louis show.
Fast forward a year, and I’m photographing DMB again on their annual summer tour, this time at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater.
A few days before, my contact with Live Nation had surprised me with the suggestion that I should bring a nice print of the stadium shot the band had used for the cover art.
With a massive 20″ x 30″ print in tow, I showed up to the venue, dropped off the image at the venue’s production office, and headed out to photograph the concert.
With Dave Matthews Band, I’ve come to expect nothing less than excellent production in their live show, and this event was no exception. From the first bars, the band had the crowd on their feet and dancing in the aisles, all while performing under an epic stage treatment of lush lights and LED screens.
After photographing the concert, I met up with the Live Nation folks again, who returned with the print signed by the band.
A year after photographing Dave Matthews Band’s Busch Stadium performance and the album cover that followed, I couldn’t think of a better memento to mark the occasion.
Here’s how the band used the image for their Live Trax series:
Stay tuned for the images from this year’s live show – they’re coming up!
This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 17th, 2009 at 9:23 pm and is filed under Music Photography and tagged with autograph, busch stadium, dave matthews band, live, live trax, Music Photography, photographer, photography, signed, st. louis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Dave Matthews Band just signed a print of the image I shot used for their live album recorded at Busch Stadium in 2008: http://bit.ly/CjDxW
So cool. RT @toddowyoung DMB just signed a print of the image I shot used for their live album from Busch Stadium 2008: http://bit.ly/CjDxW
man, that’s really awesome
many congrats! :)
Thanks, Pat – I appreciate it. I thought that this was really cool just because the Live Nation reps did this out of their own volition, which was really sweet. It’s just a really nice gesture.
Nicely done, Todd. Outstanding.
@todd
that was really cool of them. they sound like really good reps :)
Awesome Todd!
I have my tickets for DMB in London – Tried (repeatedly) to get a photo pass, alas, no reply..
Well done you and awesome Aerosmith shots btw!
sime
Very cool.
that’s really cool!
Hey all, thanks very much for the comments!
[...] from coming with a massive 20″ x 30″ print in tow, this was really just like any other [...]
When I was in college at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., I remember going to see this offbeat combo called the Dave Matthews Band play Lewis’ Fish House, a few blocks from campus. A few years later, I was in my first gig as an entertainment writer when a copy of “Under the Table and Dreaming” came across my desk. I was surprised, but should have been so much because I since learned hard work and talent will often be rewarded. I can say the same of your images. Congrats. I’m sure it’s the first of many.
Hey Rich,
Thanks for the kind words and for the support, I really appreciate it.
Congrats man, that’s really awesome.
Thanks, David.
Todd man Congrats on the cover man that’s really sick man
Thanks, Corey.
Wow, they love you Todd!
Nah, they just had a minute with nothing else to do. Thanks, Hillary.
That is totally awesome!
Thanks, Julie!
[...] out my rss feed for Todd’s website and saw his recent DMB shoot and his feature of the signed album cover shot – I tell you what, talk about me being green with envy! Beautiful work, Todd… Anyway [...]
What a neat gift! Makes for an awesome memento, indeed.
Thanks, Chris. Now I just need to get this thing framed!
Fantastic Todd! That’s really awesome. How often do you send your shots to management or the production company as a courtesy? Is this a habit I should do more of even if I’m on assignment?
Hi Sanjay,
Thanks for the comment. Sometimes it’s not necessary to send images, as the people in question are already looking for coverage the next day. It just depends on the situation, and it certainly doesn’t hurt.
So cool!
Thanks, Eric. It was really cool to see that the band signed it – at first I thought it was just going to be Dave Matthews.
Is the print for sale?
The print is not for sale, but the image itself is available for purchase here:
Dave Matthews Performing At Busch Stadium
[...] can also read about the signed print I have of the image I made that was used as the album cover for the Live Trax vol. 13 from the [...]
Hey Todd!
Wow – looks like you’ve done VERY well for yourself, and I must say that I’m SUPER jealous that you have such a beautiful print signed by one of my favorite bands. Glad to see that things are well with you!
- Nate
Hey Nate,
Really good to hear from you, thanks for taking the time to leave a comment here. The whole DMB print signing came about as a nice surprise – and this reminds me, I still have to get this image framed. Hope you’re doing well!