February 19, 2009 – Performing on the Swagger Like Us Tour, Southern rapper Ludacris brought equal parts braggadacio and impeccable showmanship to the stage at the Chaifetz Arena.

In addition to Ludacris, Chicago rapper Shawnna, the first female artist signed to Def Jam Records, took the stage, providing a great contrast and dynamic to the performance for the time she spent on stage.

Shooting Notes:

The main challenge of this show was the very narrow pit, with essential no real room to move around given the amount of other photographers and the security personel spaced evenly across the barricade. Pushed up against the 5-foot stage created low perspective to the performers, which compounded the already difficult sight lines of Ludacris’s close mic position.

However, it’s hard to complain too much about this show, given the fact that we had no song restrictions and were allowed to photograph the entire set. Thanks to a spotlight tracking the Ludacris throughout the set, lighting wasn’t a problem, and I stayed around ISO 2500 and 1/500.

I utilized the Nikon D3 and Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 for the majority of this set, also turning to the Nikon D700 and Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 for longer shots. Due to the tight angles and relatively high stage, the Nikon 14-24mm didn’t see too much action for this set.

End Notes:

Stay tuned for images sets from T.I., Jim Jones, Murphy Lee, and others from this tour. This was actually a pretty crazy bill, as there were quite literally 8 or 9 acts for the night, which is quite a lot of time in the pit. Many of the press photographers were basically camped out from 7:30pm until after midnight.

In a bittersweet performance opening the new Chaifetz Arena, The Starting Line played a one of their last performances before taking an indefinite break.

Led by Kenny Vasoli on vox and bass, the Pennsylvania-based four-piece ripped through a tight 45-minute set of driving, punk-tinged rock.

Despite being one of the band’s last performances, the band seemed in high spirits and delivered a high-energy show that gave nothing away of the break.

The Starting Line’s performance at Bamboozle in East Rutherford, marked the band’s last performance. Band members will pursue other projects, including Person L and the 76.

Photographer’s Notes:

This set was really pretty straight forward. First three, no flash. Due to the lighting situation, Kenny Vasoli was really the only prime subject for this set. The singer and bassist for the group was lit with a warm mix of light from the front throughout the set without much deviation during the alloted shooting time.

As such, I focused on Vasoli, picking up drummer Tom Gryskiewicz in a few shots, as he was a distant second for lighting on the large stage.

Lighting:

This set was lit with very simple schemes. Singer Kenny Vasoli got the lion’s share of the light, while the rest of the band was mostly subject to much weaker color washes and whatever was being blasted from the back. Overall, lots of mixed color lighting from behind, with reds dominating.

Exposure & Metering:

Due to the very constant lighting on Vasoli, I shot at a very consistent exposure for this set. 1/320 and f/2.8 at ISO 4000 did the trick for the majority of these shots.

Lenses & Gear:

I shot this set with the Nikon D3 and Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 for the first three, switching once to the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8. Due to the relatively low four-foot height of the stage and close proximity of Vasoli, the more modest midrange zoom did the trick for this set.

End Notes:

Check out the Starting Line’s cover of Big Time Sensuality by Björk for a chugging, three-chord spin on the pop-house classic.

As Drive-By Truckers take the stage to wild cries and whistles from the audience, there are two handles of Jack on each side of the stage and just about as much in the front row. By the end of the night, there will be broken glass in the pit, empty bottles on stage, and an epic dose of the Dirty South thrown down on the Pageant.

In a sprawling, nearly 30-song set, fueled by Tennessee whiskey and the crowd’s open love for the band, the Trucker’s intensity grew from a slow smolder to an incendiary assault.

The Southern rockers brought their signature triple-guitar attack, anchored by Mike “The Stroker Ace” Cooley’s combination of ice-man cool and face-melting riffs. There’s something one has to respect when a man can bring the searing guitar-love while carefully cultivating an inch of ash on the tip of his Marlboro.

In this respect, frontman Patterson Hood was Cooley’s perfect foil. In contrast to his partner-in-crime, Hood is a visceral force on stage, taking a swing at his demons with every guttural growl and raw intonation. While Cooley seemed to prefer playing back from the stage, Hood came to the front with obvious relish, playing out over the crowd, going vertical, and generally showing off his guitar-face.

John Neff, often switching from third guitar to pedal steel, quietly laid a slow heat throughout the set, neither seeming to save his energy nor burn it out in fits. Rather, Neff was more content to follow Cooley’s lead that slow and steady wins the race, and let his steel guitar sing with patient and confident care.

Shonna Tucker’s sweet soul bass playing and Brad “EZB” Morgan’s tight reign on drums drove the band’s freight-steady beat tirelessly through the night.

By the end of the set, Patterson Hood was falling to his knees with a bottle of old Number 7 in one hand and microphone in the other. When not partaking himself, the imposing frontman alternated between thrusting the bottle into the crowd and pulling it back, only to pass it along to the next imbiber eager for a taste of rock ‘n roll.

The monumental, 26-song set touched on nearly all of their eight-album discography, featuring a heavy mix from Brighter Than Creation’s Dark (2008) as well as DBT’s definitive Southern Rock Opera (2001).

It was an epic night of rock.

Set list:

1. That Man I Shot
2. 3 Dimes Down
3. Puttin’ People On The Moon
4. Carl Perkins’ Cadillac
5. Two Daughters and A Beautiful Wife
6. Daddy Needs A Drink
7. A Ghost To Most
8. I’m Sorry Huston
9. Sink Hole
10. Ronnie and Neil
11. Self Destructive Zones
12. Home Field Advantage
13. Road Cases
    
14. Checkout Time In Vegas
    
15. The Righteous Path
    
16. Lisa’s Birthday
    
17. The Living Bubba
    
18. Shut Up and Get On The Plane
    
19. Lookout Mountain
    
20. Let There Be Rock
    
21. Marry Me
    
22. 18 Wheels Of Love
    
23. Women Without Whiskey
    
24. I’m Eighteen
    
25. Buttholeville > State Trooper > Buttholeville
26. People Who Died

If you want to download the full set, you can grab the live recording as a bittorrent file here.

Shooting Notes:

When I showed up to the venue, I was informed there was no photo pass, since the band has an open photo policy. The pit was tight, but the open policy meant that I could also shoot for the entire set, which more than made up for the tight quarters up front.

With three-songs being the standard limit, being able to photograph the entire set made a huge difference in approach and, ultimately, in the quality and number of keeper images from the Trucker’s performance.

If you look at images from this set and that of the Dresden Dolls, who also have an open camera policy, I think it’s an easily corollary that more time in the pit results in the opportunity to make better images.

On stage, Patterson Hood took the center of the stage, flanked by guitarist John Neff on his right and bassist Shonna Tucker on his left, while Mike Cooley played far stage left.

Drummer Brad Morgan played on a short riser with a keen eye on the rest of the band, and even on the large stage, the group dynamic still felt tight.

My friend Tom pointed me to this picture posted on NineBullets.org by Roy:

Which I believe roughly corresponds to me making an image like this:

Lighting & Effects:

Just like the intensity of the performance itself, the lighting for this show started off solid and respectable before it grew into the bombastic bright white light of the finale.

While the concert lighting went through half a dozen different schemes, the most dominant expression was white light in some form, whether it was high, weak light from the front, stronger accenting from behind, or the flood that came at the end of the show.

Red and blue washes were used in a few songs, but luckily these monochromatic schemes were few and far between.

For atmospherics, I think the water hazers were kept at a perfect level for this show, still giving the large stage some accents of character while not overwhelming the understated lighting.

Lenses & Gear:

I used the Nikon D3 with the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 for the majority of this set. The midrange zoom did a great job for all the standard shots, particularly for Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley.

In addition, I used the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8, which was great for picking up drummer Brad Morgan, bassist Shonna Tucker, and guitarist John Neff, all of whom played back from the stage.

Due to the luxury of shooting the entire set, I also had the opportunity to use the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 and try some ultra-wide shots of the band.

As the band loosened up over the course of the performance, the three guitarists made more and more frequent trips to the front of the stage, which provided the perfect opportunity to get in their face with the ultra-wide lens.

In particular, Hood was a great subject for the lens. The only downside to the otherwise great Pageant venue is the relatively high stage, which puts a lot of distance between a subject and the viewer unless one is right up close, so I try to use the 14-24mm sparingly. Even still, when it pays off, it pays off.

Due to the bright backlighting, flare resistance in your lenses should be a consideration if you’re working this show.

Exposure & Camera Settings:

Quite simply, the range of settings for this show were all over the place due to the wide range of lighting schemes.

During the finale’s blue wash, I was at 1/20 and f/2.8 at ISO 6400 in a Hail Mary move as Patterson Hood dropped to his knees at the front of the stage.

For the brightest parts of the set, I shot around 1/200 at f/2.8 and ISO 1600, moving up to ISO 3200 during the more standard lighting schemes. The lighting wasn’t technically that challenging in terms of quantity, but I was between ISO 2500 and 6400 for a good portion of the set.

End Notes:

In my mind, the Truckers have a short, whiskey-stained “to-do” list for every concert, and I imagine looks something like this at the end of the night:

1. Asses: kicked.
2. Names: took.
3. Faces: melted.

This show was just flat-out fun to shoot. Even if you’ve never heard or heard of Drive-By Truckers, I urge you to check out a date near you. And if you show up early enough to snag a spot in the front, you’ve got a swig of Jack waiting for you, personally delivered by a Southern gentleman.

Big thanks to Brad for introducing me to Drive-By Truckers and editing the write-up.

This is what happens when you let a concert photographer shoot for two-hours and fifteen minutes instead of just three songs:

There’s a thick haze inside the Pageant, and a little use of the olfactory senses immediately makes it clear that it’s not just the water hazers at work in the venue.

In a sprawling two-hour set, New Orleans-based funk group Galactic brought grooving, feel good performance with special guest Chali 2na of Jurassic 5 fame.

Touring in support of the 2007 release From the Corner to the Block as well as their forthcoming album, Galactic brought their unique blend of funk, hip hop, and jazz-influenced rock.

Chali 2na, who has worked with the band in the past and also appears on the new album, lent his signature baritone flow to a number of songs during the performance, including a rendition of “What’s Golden” from J5′s 2002 release, Power in Numbers.

Shooting Notes:

To my surprise, I found out this show was completely open to photography as I went to pick up my photo pass at the box office.

The barricade was very, very close to the stage for this performance, to the point of really impeding mobility in the pit.

Galactic played relatively far back from the front of the stage compared to a rock band, while Chali 2na provided a point of much-welcome interaction with the crowd. All the shots of the towering MC were shot stage left out of the pit, on the floor.

Lighting:

Lighting for this set was mostly comprised of monochromatic washes, with accents from two arrays of LEDs on either side of the stage.

When Chali 2na performed with the band, he was graced with accent lighting, which ranged from white to a dull orange. Still, the MC was mostly subject to the deep washes that lit the band.

Lenses & Gear:

For this set, I primarily used the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8, the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR, and the Nikon D3. The telephoto lens was highly useful for shooting Chali 2na and drummer Stanton Moore, while the midrange zoom was most useful for saxophonist Ben Ellma.

In addition, I used the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 for a one-off shot at 14mm for a more overall shot of the stage to give an idea of the atmospheric lighting.

Camera Settings:

I shot at 1/200 and f/2.8 at ISO 6400 for the majority of this set, going up to 1/250 on occasion. Given the deep intensity of the lighting, the exposure was actually fairly consistent. More than anything, single-color washes affected exposure the most, given the possibility of blowing out a channel.

End Notes:

This is one of those sets where I’d never listened to the group before, but I found it was a pleasant surprise. While the lighting wasn’t that compelling to me, the set provided a nice change of pace from the rock acts I usually photograph.

While I used to only photograph bands I was personally interested in, I think branching out to different genres provides a nice variety that can be important in shooting. From indie rock to hip hop, funk to metalcore, it’s all good.

Santa is on stage playing an electric guitar, there’s confetti stuck to my lens hood, Andrew Volpe is leading the crowd through a chorus of rocked out power pop, and I’m trying to figure out if the last song was about pterodactyls. That’s right, kids: Ludo is in town.

The St. Louis natives extended the Christmas season in a sold-out hometown show December 27 that brought included a dancing ensemble of elves, Mrs. Claus, confetti-filled balloons, giant candy canes, and poinsettias flying through the air.

In a surprise turnout for both the venue and even the band, Ludo drew a rabidly enthusiastic crowd that swelled to 2200, half of which bought tickets the day of the show. With strong opening performances from The Hush Sound, Quietdrive, and Nothing Still, the audience was ideally primed for the headlining performance to come.

Churning through a set that pushed right up until minutes of curfew, the local-boys done good had the crowd singing along from start to finish, spurred on by Volpe’s constant mugging and operatic gestures.

Dressed in a dapper three-piece suit, Volpe dominated the stage with a mix of infectious charisma and exaggerated rockstar moves. The frontman rocked the whole gambit, from the power stance to the home-run finger point, as he carved out power chords and delivered everything the fans wanted.

Tim Ferrell on guitar and backing vocals delivered a no-nonsense performance that still displayed obvious relish in his solos and chugging melodies. The guitarist often played facing Marshall Fanciullo across the stage on bass. Fanciullo was the least visible member of the band, preferring the mid-stage to the front, but his bouncing notes cooly drove the anthems from beyond the spotlight.

Stage right, Tim Convy rocked the moog and keyboard from behind a faux fireplace, hyping the crowd with hand claps all while smashing away at enough effects pedals for a lead guitarist.

Matt Palermo kept up a driving beat throughout the night in a tight, crunchy style that was still splashy in all the right places.

I don’t know whether it was the seasonal cheer, the love for hometown-heros, or just a perfectly constructed set of driving power pop, but this was nothing but a feel-good set. The perfect way to close down a year of shows.

Shooting Notes:

For the third time in a month, I had the chance to shoot a show with my brother, fellow concert photographer Chris Owyoung of OneLouderPhoto.com. A month before, we’d photographed VHS or Beta in NYC and then Modern Day Zero in St. Louis. Back on my home turf, we’d decided to hit Ludo’s performance to round out the year with one last show.

To our surprise and delight, the performance was a complete blast, with big performance all around in a celebratory mood fitting of the season. And truly, I’m an easy sell: any show with confetti canons is A-list in my book.

This was definitely one of the more fun experience of concert photography that I’ve had. If Ludo is playing a well-lit venue near you, definitely check them out. As long as the lights cooperate, you’re in for a fun show.

Lighting:

Overall, the lighting schemes for the set were very straight forward, with no real surprises. The show was marked with fairly plain white light from the front that waned during the middle, but made a strong showing at the start and end of the show.

Complimenting this white light was an array of colored backlighting that drew strongly on blues, oranges, and cool white light.

Camera Settings:

Though the set was pretty evenly lit, this event was a perfect test for the D3 given the three openers and unlimited shooting time for Ludo. I shot between ISO 200 and 6400 for the majority of the set, with ISO 3200 in particular seeing a lot of action.

Thanks to the great high ISO performance of the D3, I shot comfortably at 1/160 and higher, wit a large portion of shots at 1/200 and 1/250.

Lenses:

I relied solely on zooms for this gig, with the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 seeing the most use. The Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 and Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 also saw some limited action, but the midrange zoom dominated the performance with its utilitarian focal range.