The second day of the first-ever LouFest saw bigger crowds, higher temperatures, and tons of great music, including performances by She & Him, Jeff Tweedy, Alejandro Escovedo, Fruit Bats, Cory Chisel, and more.
The atmosphere for LouFest was great – very relaxed, very casual. And of course, I think we had some great weather in St. Louis considering the late August dates.
Kim Massie kicked off the show with a little gospel-styled set under the open shade of the main stage. A nice, easy way to start the day, if I do say so.
See more photos of Kim Massie at LouFest
Hometown alt-country favorites Magnolia Summer kept things rolling and opened up the the b-stage at 1:00pm, with some really soft, gorgeous light on them. This sort of nice open shade is fantastic for portraits, and shooting a band under this kind of light was a treat.
See more photos of Magnolia Summer at LouFest
The Carolina Chocolate Drops were a band I’d never heard, but they were a nice surprise. Several fans had come in from out of town to see this trio perform, and with covers of Johnny Cash and others, they didn’t disappoint.
See more photos of Carolina Chocolate Drop at LouFest
Local favorites Gentleman Auction House put on a lively set – I’ve seen these guys a few times before, but never at a festival setting like LouFest, and they sounded great.
About the time of this show, the sun was finally peaking over on the b-stage, but the band popped out well against the bright sky behind the stage.
See more photos of Gentleman Auction House at LouFest
Singer-songwriter Cory Chisel was a fantastic photo subject at Loufest. He was in good spirits, easy to smile, and overall a charismatic subject. When his guitarist was having some technical difficulties with weird noises coming from an amp, Cory remarked that he didn’t know what it was, but suggested that “maybe it’s the Devil.”
The light was hitting just right so that the whole stage had a really airy feeling with the natural light and made it a pleasure to shoot.
See more photos of Corey Chisel at LouFest
Indie-folk rockers Fruit Bats played in the full, bright afternoon sun of LouFest and for me, this sort of look epitomizes the summer festival photo vibe.
See more photos of Fruit Bats at LouFest
Alejandro Escovedo was amazing. He came out to the a-stage of LouFest and threw down, rocking sunglasses and a coat in the 90-degree weather. To me, his show just oozed rockstar confidence, and I loved photographing him.
See more photos of Alejandro Escovedo at LouFest
Jeff Tweedy was welcomed at LouFest like a son of the city, from outright adoration to hecklers joking about his bar tab at Ciceros. I’d caught Jeff Tweedy with Wilco at Farm Aid 2009, and it was great to see him on stage again.
See more photos of Jeff Tweedy at LouFest
The headliners for the second day, She & Him, had a huge response from the crowd, with a lot of die-hard fans showing up early to snag a close spot to Zooey Deschanel.
While lighting for the band was a little touch-and-go, it was still a nice set to close out the festival.
See more photos of She & Him at LouFest
Photographer’s Note:
If you haven’t already, check out the photos from the first day of LouFest. Day two of LouFest was a great day for shooting. Despite feeling about 50% sick with a cold, the fantastic weather, music, and general vibe of the festival keep me energized throughout the long day. I’m definitely looking forward to attending and shooting again next year.
Cameras Used:
Lenses Used:
For day two of LouFest and the festival in general, the big hero here was the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8, which I used extensively throughout the day. The height of the stage, the distance of the performers, and the general feel in the photo pit made the telephoto the natural choice for this festival, and it did a stellar job.
While I brought the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 on the first day, I left it at home for this second day of LouFest. The Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 did it all for the wide-angle needs.
And speaking of wide-angles, here are some panoramas from the festival:
Prints
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This entry was posted on Monday, August 30th, 2010 at 10:52 am and is filed under Music Photography and tagged with festival, forest park, live music, loufest, music, music photography, outdoors, photography, st. louis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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…wow, zooey looks awesome …again, great shot todd
Hey Anggara, thanks for the comment. Zooey did look great, and her fans seemed to love her performance. I did feel a little bit bad for M. Ward – while people were shouting out “Zooey,” M. was more the silent partner and didn’t get as much overt love.
Well done, Todd! I was hoping for some better light on Zooey, but what can you do?
Hey Woody, thanks very much. Yeah, I was hoping that She & Him would get a little more frontlighting, but, like you said – what can you do.
Overall, I thought the lighting was pretty nice for Broken Social Scene, and would have loved to see a brighter treatment like that for Zooey & M. Ward.
Zooey Deschanel, the 100 faces of Jeff Tweedy, Alejandro Escoveda & more at day 2 of @LouFestSTL: http://bit.ly/b5bLLI
From these shots, it looks like you’re moving all over during the concerts. Do people just move out of the way because you have a big lens?
Hey TJ – I am moving during these concerts. For festivals like this and most larger concerts, there is what’s called a photo pit, which is a space between the stage and a barrier for the crowd.
There were probably under a dozen photographers shooting, so for a festival like this there’s plenty of room to move around.
But yes, sometimes other people with photo credentials do move out of the way because you have a big lens.
RT @toddowyoung: Zooey Deschanel, the 100 faces of Jeff Tweedy, Alejandro Escoveda & more at day 2 of @LouFestSTL: http://bit.ly/b5bLLI
RT @toddowyoung: Zooey Deschanel, the 100 faces of Jeff Tweedy, Alejandro Escoveda & more at day 2 of @LouFestSTL: http://bit.ly/b5bLLI
RT @toddowyoung: Zooey Deschanel, the 100 faces of Jeff Tweedy, Alejandro Escoveda & more at day 2 of @LouFestSTL: http://bit.ly/b5bLLI
RT @LOUfestSTL: RT @toddowyoung: Zooey Deschanel, the 100 faces of Jeff Tweedy, Alejandro Escoveda & more at day 2 of @LouFestSTL: http://bit.ly/b5bLLI
Love the few shots of CCD. I’ve seen them a couple of times this summer playing to sold out crowds. I love how they give a lot of history to go along with the tunes. Dom is such a character.
Points of business.
1. Escovedo shots rule. Dude sounded awesome, just a shame I had to miss seeing him to snag the barricade spot I had for Tweedy.
2. To all those comments asking, “Who’s that incredibly handsome man on the barricade for Tweedy?” It’s me. Currently single…(ish).
3. She & Him lighting definitely could have been better, and Zooey didn’t seem too cheery at all, but I love all the M. Ward photos. And him, for that matter.
All in all, nice work, as always. I’ve looked through a bunch of LouFest photosets, and yours takes the cake. And I’m not just saying that because I know you.
Hey Chris, nice seeing you on Sunday. Escovedo was a great subject, I really enjoyed photographing him. He just brought power in his performance in a way that stood out from many of the performers.
Thanks for the kind words – I aim to please. And destroy.
Great shots Todd, love the shots of Matt, I am a huge M. Ward fan and it is odd how fickle the masses are, he is the musical genius, singer, songwriter and master musician on both piano and guitar and one f the most sought after studio musicians on the planet, Rolling Stones did a entire article on him last year and yet beautiful Zooey gets the spot light. Such is life in the entertainment world.
Hey Lewis,
Thanks for the comment. Zooey gets the spotlight (nearly literally – she got all the light, though there were no true spotlights). I’m sure many fans might not know M. Ward previously, but surely appreciate his contribution to the duo.
Heading out to @LouFestSTL? Highlights from last year to get you in the mood. http://t.co/7R3cxc2 http://t.co/8srQeZk