In the first night of their soldout, six-night residency at the Pageant, El Monster y Los Masked Avengers blazed on stage with a powerhouse spectacle that showed why this show continues to be one of the highlights of the year for so many Pink Floyd fans.
Photographer’s Notes:
I’ve been wanting to catch El Monstero’s performance for years, and it was a nice way to cap off 2009 as the last event I photographed. The event proved very theatrical and very atmospheric.
Due to the fact that the show had the Pageant booked for a series of shows, the production level was very high and incorporated a huge number of lighting effects. Since nothing had to be packed up and carted off like on a touring show on a nightly basis, El Monstero had what looked like much more lighting gear on stage than all but the biggest club tours.
The stage featured a wide extension from the stage into the crowd, and the ensemble took good advantage of this feature during the show. For me, this extension just screamed ultra-wide angle, so I used the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 liberally.
One other feature in the photo pit were too massive banks of lights flanking the extension, coming in from the sides of the stage to the center in a wide V-formation. This setup meant, for the most part, shooting from two to three meters back from the edge of the stage, so the longer sides of the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 and Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 came into play whenever the band was on the main stage.
However, despite a massive array of lights in front of the band and especially behind them, an atmospheric treatment was the dominating theme for El Monstero’s show, and exposures were often dialed way down.
In fact, the lighting for some segments of this show were shockingly low considering the huge amount of lighting gear that was on stage. Regardless, I really came mightily impressed by the show and the sheer volume of production that went it it, and I’ll be back next year.
Big sound, big [atmospheric] lights, and no 3-song limit? Count me in.
End Notes:
Big shout out to Paul Addotta, El Monstero’s photographer, for so graciously giving me some great pointers before this show. As the group’s official photographer, Paul gave me heads up on when the band would use certain effects, which made shooting this concert all the more fun in knowing what to anticipate.
This entry was posted on Sunday, January 3rd, 2010 at 6:05 pm and is filed under Music Photography and tagged with 2009, concert photographer, el monstero, images, music photographer, pageant, photos, pink floyd, tribute. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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El Monstero – Any show with pyro, costumes, and an op for the ultra-wide is OK by me: http://bit.ly/8sS4GG
A must see! RT @toddowyoung: El Monstero – Any show with pyro, costumes, and an op for the ultra-wide is OK by me: http://bit.ly/8sS4GG
RT @toddowyoung: El Monstero – Any show with pyro, costumes, and an op for the ultra-wide is OK by me: http://bit.ly/8sS4GG
http://bit.ly/7ZvrFw 3rd and 15th pic from Todd O. We tease about BBS and the Pole. He did take pics of St. Louis
El Monstero – Any show with pyro, costumes, and an op for the ultra-wide is OK by me: http://bit.ly/8sS4GG
NICE! I shot the 12/23 show and was similarly amazed. I think I sacred the bejeezus out of their pyro guy too. I bent down to change lenses and he thought I was ducking under the light bank to get closer to the stage so he grabbed me. Good thing too, because those flash pots erupted about 5 seconds later. Wish I’d had the pointers you got. I missed some great stuff.
Hey Woody,
Thanks for the comment. There was also a sheet taped to the stage extension that had the setlist and annotations. I think all the songs that had pyro were marked in red. But either way, it never hurts to have a heads up. Glad it was as fun of a shoot for you, too.
Nice set Todd. I especially like the one of the guy sitting by the lamp. I can’t remember which song that’s from off The Wall. It reminds me of what I wanted to perform in high school for an air guitar contest but with the theatrics. I’m going to have to check this show out.
Hey Aaron,
Thanks for the comment. Definitely check this show out at the end of 2010 – they always do a string of shows in December at the Pageant. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. I met a lot of people who made it a tradition and had been going for years.
I don’t know their musc (blush), but they remind me of Laibach when I look at your pics:)
Hey Joanna,
I don’t think many people know of this group, as they don’t tour and they don’t record. I forgot to mention that this set of shows in December are the only performances El Monstero do. Thanks for the comment, nice to hear from you here!
Yeah really nice set Todd.
I like the one of the guitarrist and the girl poledancing.
This pic shows a really nice concert or something more like a huge rock party.
Awesome stuff!
I wish you u great start in 2010 :D
Daniel from Germany
Hey Daniel,
Thanks for the new year wishes and the kind words. Yeah, this was a bit like a huge party, as everyone was enjoying the familiar music and the spectacle of it all. And, the band on stage looked like they were loving every second of it, which always adds to a show. Cheers.