In a triumphant return to the Pageant after a three-year absence, Alice In Chains rocked a sold-out show in impressive style, with first-class production and an infectious energy that had this music photographer grinning along with a legion of over 2,000 strong in the crowd.
Photographer’s Notes:
Consider me blown away. Simply put, Alice in Chains rocked out; these are the kinds of shows music photographers love. Considering that the last time I’d photographed the band it was as a small acoustic show in 2007, this performance was an entirely different experience.
With a white kakubi curtain-drop, spotlights, and blasting white backlights right out of the gates, the production on this show was very high and came off looking fantastic. It’s not many club shows where I get to shoot at ISO 800, let alone stopped down and at relatively luxuriously high shutter speeds. On top of the great light, there was a tremendous energy to the performance that was entirely infectious.
I shot this show with the D700 and D3 blazing, drawing on the 24-70mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/2.8 for the majority of the shooting.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010 at 12:43 am and is filed under Music Photography and tagged with 2010, alice in chains, Jerry Cantrell, live, Mike Inez, pageant, photography, Sean Kinney, tour, William DuVall. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Todd,
Amazing work (as always)… You’ve got some seriously killer shots in this set. Hope you don’t mind… I’m taking careful notes on your work & site… Love what you’re doing!
Cheers!
- Brandon
Hey Brandon,
Thanks for the kind words. I had a lot of fun in the pit for this show and it was a thrill photographing Alice in Chains – it was high octane all the way for the first three.
RT @toddowyoung: Spotlights, blinding backlighting, & white-hot intensity: Alice in Chains is back; the kind of show photographers love. http://bit.ly/by0WCb
Gorgeous shots especially with difficulty of the white backlights. These look great as usual. Nice, sharp and crisp. I love your work.
Hey Eric,
Thanks for the comment – the super bright backlighting was tough, but still a nice problem to have if one can work with it. I appreciate the support!
Gah wish they were touring near me, i adore Alice in Chains. Some very nice guitars to :-P
Awesome shots as always and iso 800? :-o I dont think i have had the pleasure of shooting that at a gig lol
Hey Christine,
Yes, AiC were rocking some nice guitars.
The exposure for this show was pretty unreal. It wasn’t so much for the frontlighting, but the backlights were so intense that a relatively conservative exposure was needed just to keep the scene from flaring out entirely. If I hadn’t stopped down and had used 1/200 or 1/250 instead, I could have shot this gig at ISO 200.
Amazing shots as usual Todd. One of my all-time favorite bands. Wanted to go see them at the House of Blues in Myrtle Beach, but ticket prices were a bit absurd. The wife and I went with Flogging Molly instead.
Really dig the shot of Jerry with his foot on the monitor (or riser can’t tell) and the backlight streaming in. Nice grab.
Hi Kevin,
Thanks for the kind words. Flogging Molly always puts on a great show, though I don’t think that you’d have been asking for your money back at Alice in Chains, either. Jerry and the guys really brought a great show.
Jerry and William were up at the front of the stage quite a bit. Not pandering too much, but they certainly came up several times over the course of the first three songs and worked it.
Great Set as usual!
Would you mind sharing where you focused for shot #8 and what the setting were?
I’ve tried to shoot shots like this on a few occasions and it seems the face is just out of the range of focus… with Nikon 80-200 shooting at 2.8.
Maybe its the artist move back just a bit out of the focus plane when I click the shutter but I just figure this one out.
Thanks and as always.. your an inspiration for us to become better shooters
Hi David,
In all these images, and for the vast majority of my single-musician images, the focus is on the eyes/face of the subject.
In #8 of Jerry Cantrell leaning back, it’s a wide angle shot, so the mechanics of focus are a bit different. But if they’re rocking back, try and judge the distance as best as possible or prefocus, and then wait for it.
Thanks much.. I will try the prefocus next time out. Don’t feel quite as confident to try to judge the distance by eye .. someday maybe :-)
thanks so much for sharing!
You’re welcome, David, thanks for the continued support.
…like no. #8 and #9, awesome shot and good moment there
Thanks for the picks, Anggara.
RT @toddowyoung: Spotlights, blinding backlighting, & white-hot intensity: Alice in Chains is back; the kind of show photographers love. http://bit.ly/by0WCb
RT @Bobin_James Absolutely stunning Alice in Chains pics by @toddowyoung here: http://bit.ly/by0WCb
RT @OldmonkMGM: RT @Bobin_James Absolutely stunning Alice in Chains pics by @toddowyoung here: http://bit.ly/by0WCb
RT @toddowyoung: Spotlights, blinding backlighting, & white-hot intensity: Alice in Chains is back; the kind of show photographers love. http://bit.ly/by0WCb
@theVIPERroom check it out, our awesome bud William representing http://bit.ly/bpCoF5
RT @toddowyoung: Spotlights, blinding backlighting, & white-hot intensity: Alice in Chains is back; the kind of show photographers love. http://bit.ly/by0WCb
d00d that's bada$$. good catch! RT @HelsinkiValo: @theVIPERroom check it out, our awesome bud William representing http://bit.ly/bpCoF5
Spotlights, blinding backlighting, & white-hot intensity: Alice in Chains is back; the kind of show photographers love. http://bit.ly/by0WCb
RT @TheViperRoom: d00d that's bada$$. good catch! RT @HelsinkiValo: @theVIPERroom check it out, our awesome bud William representing http://bit.ly/bpCoF5
[...] rockers Creature With The Atomic Brain opened up for Alice In Chains in a heavy, dramatically lit set that hit just about all the primary colors in succession during [...]
Good shots on a tough photo pass to get.
You need to come to Beale Street. The lineup is INSANE.
http://www.memphisinmay.org/lineup
Hey Alice in Chains fans,
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[...] catching Alice in Chains at the 2,000-capacity Pageant earlier this year, I was very curious as to how the band would transition into an arena show at the [...]