Jill Scott didn’t bring her three Grammies, but you could hear every one of them in the electrifying performance the virtuoso singer delivered at the Fabulous Fox Theatre.

Scott treated the sold-out crowd of 4200 to a rich set list, starting off with “Let It Be” from her 2007 release, The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol. 3, followed by that album’s title track.

After her performance of “The Real Thing,” Scott paused between songs to reiterate the song’s second verse for the uninitiated.

I ’m more than a toy for your satisfaction
I’m a pay-per-view on the TV screen
Your main attraction

By the end of the night, there was no doubt about the veracity of these lyrics. Fact: the woman’s got pipes.

Photographer’s Notes:

Just as with shooting Raheem DeVaughn‘s opening performance, photographing Jill Scott’s set proved an interesting challenge given the setup of the Fox Theatre. Without a dedicated security/photo pit, I shot crouching down in the aisles of the venue and generally tried to stay as out of the way as possible. This approach, combined with the layout, restricted composition to a degree, but the spectacular production won out in the end.

I shoot for the first two songs, and was glad that I brought my casual kicks instead of my dress shoes. While the latter would have been perfectly at home in the posh theatre and among the well-dressed crowd, flexible and comfortable shoes were an absolute must for this gig.

Unlike the high stage of the Pageant, the Fox Theatre’s stage is only about four feet, which would have made standing all too conspicuous.

Lighting:

The production opened with a loose grid of shifting lights behind Scott, which created a fantastic backdrop of color and texture with the surprising amount of smoke being generated on stage. During the first song, this curtain of lights rose to reveal the full band and backup singers, along with a variety of more environmental lights. During the first and second songs, this mix included reds, greens, yellows, purples, and blues.

Light on Scott herself was warm, thin light from high above – no such luck with a spotlight for the first two. While the front lighting was weak, there was generally more than enough action in the background to keep things interesting.

Since much of the lighting occurred at the back of the stage, I shot primarily from fairly acute angles to keep the background as lively as possible. Shooting from the sides produced the best mic separation, but simply didn’t do justice to the lighting production.

Exposure & Metering:

Since the light on Scott was relatively constant, I shot within a fairly narrow range – around f/3.2 and 1/250 at ISO 2500, give or take a third-stop in any direction.

Lenses & Gear:

I shot with the Nikon D3 and Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 for almost the entire set. Given the moderate distance from the performer, the range of the telephoto was most welcome. I did switch to the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 for just one shot of the full stage, knowing I’d be remiss if I missed capturing the full setup.

End Notes:

Below are two snaps of the Fabulous Fox Theatre itself, in between sets. You can see that despite the size of the venue, there is actually a good deal of haze in the place, which was put to good use during Jill Scott’s performance. The Fox is a wonderful venue.

As he bounds through the aisle of the Fabulous Fox Theatre, whipping the venue’s 4200 audience members into a frenzy, it’s clear that Raheem DeVaughn knows what the ladies like. And that’s dancing.

Ladies love dancing.

The Grammy-nominated singer, with band in tow, was happy to provide the jams that had people spilling out of their seats and onto the carpeted aisles. DeVaughn is currently touring in support of his 2008 release, Love Behind the Melody (Jive), which features singles “Woman” and “Customer.”

Photographer’s Notes:

This was a relatively easy shoot, though it was made a little more complicated by the layout of the venue itself. The Fox Theatre makes a fantastic live music venue, but it’s actually much more suited to musicals. With guest seating set up in the orchestra section, right up to the stage, access to the front was limited to three aisles. For most of the set, I shot from either these aisles or the gap between the orchestra seating and the start of the regular seating, about five meters back from the stage.

I had two songs for this shoot, and no restrictions to positioning other than those imposed by the physical layout of the seating and the venue. The shoot was definitely a little different than shooting at the Pageant, but the grand scale of Fox is always adds a nice luxe element to the shoot.

One interesting aspect of DeVaughn’s set was the use of title cards, which he changed throughout his set to correspond with his song choice, and the use of a sign language interpreter, the duties of which were handled by spoken word artist Malik Yousef.

Lighting:

Lighting-wise, this gig was a breeze to shoot, as a big bright spot from far in the front of the house lit up DeVaughn and tracked his every movement. The precise color temperature of the spot flickered minutely, changing casts during the two-song shoot, while accent lighting touched on blue, purple, and red hues.

I was pleased that the backdrop curtain included a sprinkling of LED lights, which shifted in color and added a little interest to the background of a few shots.

Exposure & Metering:

Thanks to the spotlight, the amount of light for this gig was plenty. After evaluating the exposure, I decided on f/3.2 and 1/320 at ISO 1600.

Lenses & Gear:

I shot this set with the Nikon D3 and Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8. The range of the telephoto was perfect due to the very limited shooting positions, and worked well for tracking the singer as he moved across the length of the stage.

End Notes:

Compared to the other two R&B performances I photographed this month, those of J. Holiday and Trey Songz, Raheem DeVaughn provided an interesting contrast in approach, not to mention venue. While the two Pageant shows provided very close positioning, this performance at the Fox Theatre allowed for a slightly more relaxed shoot. While the alloted shooting time was only two songs instead of the full-sets of the previous shows, I was pleased that DeVaughn’s set still provided plenty of variety in pose and expression.

J. Holiday @ the Pageant — 2008.02.26
Trey Songz @ the Pageant — 2008.02.26