Drive-By Trucker’s October 28 show at the Pageant was easily one of the top 5 best shows I’ve seen in 2011, if not the best so far. The reason? The Truckers are simply a true rock band.

There’s no pyro, no confetti cannons or other gimmicks. No LED or video screens or flashing, trick lighting.

What they do have is no less than three guitars and a sledgehammer of earnest, crushing rock ‘n roll. 

Photographer’s Notes:

Cameras Used:

• Nikon D3
• Nikon D700

Lenses Used:

• Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
• Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8
• Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8

This was a phenomenal show. Even at a “light” two hours (due to the show coinciding and being pushed back by game seven of the World Series featuring the St. Louis Cardinals), this show still featured just rock solid performances and a fantastic encore. In fact, this show came close to the rock ‘n roll heights of the Trucker’s 2008 performance at the Pageant, which I personally consider to be legendary.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, the Drive-By Truckers are a band without gimmicks. There’s no mind-blowing light show or huge stage production, just barreling, unpretentious and unstoppable rock.

In this respect, part of me almost felt bad chasing around guitarist Mike Cooley whenever he came to the front of the stage. It obviously wasn’t for me, but for the fans directly behind the barricade – and, sometimes, maybe not even for them.

At the end of the night, the Drive-By Truckers deliver the kind of show that’s refreshing and surprisingly cathartic as a music photographer. It’s easy to get wrapped up shooting shows with immense lighting rigs that take up trailers and trailers to haul, but it’s really shows like those the Drive-By Truckers deliver that can be the very most satisfying, both as a fan and as a photographer.

Besides, you don’t need pryotechnics when the show ends with the band’s frontman laying on his stomach at the front of the stage, thrusting a bottle of Patrón tequila out into the eager hands of the fans in the front row. Short of someone dousing their guitar with ligher fluid and setting it on fire, this is just about as good as it gets.

The very fact that the Drive-By Truckers allow photography for their entire set is another reason this band is so special. In an age where so many national touring bands limit press to the first three songs of a band’s set, it’s amazing and wonderful that a band like the Truckers allow photographers to shoot for the entire show. This full access, simply put, allows for the creation of the very best images.

Case in point, this shot of Patterson Hood from 2008 ranks among my very favorite I’ve ever made.

This end-of-show moments are the ones for which music photographers live. The ones that give us a shot at capturing something that’ll last beyond the album cycle and maybe, just maybe, take root in the minds of fans as an image that can define a band.

End Notes

Big thanks to Patterson Hood for making sure I was taken care of for this show. Much appreciated.

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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: