Buddy Holly glasses? Check. Big, light-up W at the of the stage? Check. Marty McFly red vest? Check.
Closing out The Bamboozle, Weezer seemed to bring it all except for the lights.
Photographer’s Notes:
My 16-year old self would have loved photographing this set. Of course, at 16, I’d never touched a camera, so the results then might have been questionable.
Going into this set, my goal was to nail an image of Rivers Cuomo with Weezer’s iconic W lit up in all it’s geek-rock glory. When the band played in near-darkness for the first song, I was beginning to lose hope
Shooting Weezer at The Bamboozle was an interesting experience. As the closing act for the two-day festival, I was curious to see what sort of lighting treatment we’d see. As it turned out, it was a dark one. Rivers Cuomo and crew played mostly under a wash of cool lighting, with middling accent lighting coming in from the back.
For me, the most interesting part of the three-song limit was when Rivers came to the front of the stage, slid down on his knees, and rocked the tilted mic while waving his free arm in the air, all with the Weezer “W” flaring up in the background. After a relatively lightless set, you better believe I railed away when this moment happened.
Gear Used:
Nikon D3
Nikon D700
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8
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This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010 at 7:08 am and is filed under Music Photography and tagged with bamboozle, Brian Bell, festival, images, live, music photography, Patrick Wilson, photos, rivers cuomo, Scott Shriner, weezer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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One of my favorite bands right here. Great work Todd, as always. I’m diggin the 1st and 9th shots the most.
Hey Rick,
Thanks for the feedback – I sure did love Weezer back in the day.
Nice work Todd. I like the bright one with Cuomo doing the W with his hands. That’s one of those great ‘moment’ captures.
Question for you, what kind of bag do you use both for the concert shooting and location shooting?
Photos: Weezer @ The Bamboozle http://bit.ly/9vWYEg
Buddy Holly glasses? Big, light-up W at the of the stage? Check. Photos: Weezer rocking #Bamboozle http://bit.ly/dkXZ37
Great work! RT @toddowyoung: Buddy Holly glasses? Big, light-up W at the of the stage? Check. Weezer rocking #Bamboozle http://bit.ly/dkXZ37
Buddy Holly glasses? Big, light-up W at the of the stage? Check. Photos: Weezer rocking #Bamboozle http://bit.ly/dkXZ37 (via @toddowyoung)
RT @crephoto Photos: Weezer at The Bamboozle http://bit.ly/9vWYEg
Ah, I remember the 16 year old camera-less Todd. You had an minidisc player and drew ink sketches instead! I think you lent me your Blue album at some point around then. As Oprah would say, its a full circle moment. Nice photos, as always. :-)
Hey Allie!
So nice to hear from you. Before cameras, I had my sketchbooks. Before iPods, a MiniDisc player. And the Blue album and Pinkerton.
I’m an analog gal who’s just recently stepped into the digital realm. I’ve got an assignment to shoot a show, and it’s no flash, one song only, pit access. I have a Canon 7D with an f2.8 lens. I’m worried–the band’s lighting setups are notoriously dark and mysterious. I know you’re a Nikon guy, but do you think my camera/lens combo has what it takes to shoot a dark arena stage from the pit?
Hey Heather,
If the stage treatment is decent, f/2.8 should be OK – it all depends on the show, venue, and the touring lighting. If the band has a notoriously dark look – you might need f/1.4 primes.
Hi Todd,
Came across your website a while back from a forum when posing a question about concert photography gear. Love your work! For someone who wants to get opportunities to shoot concerts (both paid and non) how did you approach getting into the scene?
We just had Weezer here to close out Bluesfest in Ottawa and while they didn’t allow professional DSLR cameras, I saw a number of people (myself included) who took the risk of photographing. Hopefully their intent was the same as mine to enjoy the show and take some personal photos for fun and for a learning experience.
Keep up the great work!
When was your 16 year old self 16?
Because even back when I was 16 I would not have wanted to see this… don’t get me wrong, they’re brutally beautiful, but I have no idea what went on with Mr. Cuomo over the past ten years (when I kinda gave up on them).
What’s he trying to prove? It’s like he’s trying to impersonate Tracy Morgan, I find it a bit disturbing. And sad. And contrived. Ouch, am I bitter?
:P
@Weezer check out @toddowyoung . He did one of your shows: http://ishootshows.com/2010/06/23/photos-weezer-the-bamboozle/
@ShotLivePhoto I thought Weezer put on a great show at Bamboozle, except they played with almost no frontlighting http://bit.ly/9s1v6N