October 24, 2008 – I could tell you that there were dancing Buddhas, mythical creatures, a feather-cannon, and Kevin Barnes in all manner of costume (and lack thereof) in Of Montreal’s epically theatrical performance at the Pageant. I could compare their show to a kaleidoscopic acid trip or some other liminal space of perception.

However, there are really no words that can adequately describe what Of Montreal is doing on stage these days. As such, these images will have to suffice.

The encore included a totally rockin’ cover of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” which had the pit heaving like nothing I’ve seen in a while.

Photographer’s Notes:

Where do I begin? There’s really almost no preparing for Of Montreal’s live show. You’ll have to take my word for it as someone who’s photographed the band four times now. Almost anything can and will happen on stage.

Every year, the band’s live show has gotten bigger – and yes, better, even in its ballooning, technicolor extravagance of 2008.

With costume changes for singer Kevin Barnes and the revolving cast of performers nearly ever song, the stage is in constant motion, so picking a subject for this show can be an interesting challenge.

Lighting for this show is very minimal, in part due to projections on three panels high at the back of the stage. The lighting treatment for this show was subdued, with subtle color washes from behind and nothing in the way of direct frontlighting.

This lighting scheme was actually very similar to last year’s show in terms of it being low impact. Expecting this, I used a set of three speedlights for this performance, setting up two SB-600s on the far sides of the stage and using an SB-900 as the commander. Due to the great distances between the lights and the obtuse angle between them and the commander flash, they were more or less fired independently of one another, as Nikon’s wireless flash system relies more or less on line of sight transmission.

I used the Nikon D3 and Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 for almost the entire set, with light use of the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/2.8 throughout the set.

End Notes:

I first shot Of Montreal in a dingey basement venue a couple of years ago as one of the very first shows I photographed. Kevin Barnes came out in a wedding dress, proposed to the 200-person audience, and then proceeded to consummate the relationship with an hour of party-time indie pop.

It’s great to see the band’s live show evolve into what it has become – a spectacle that I dare say may be giving The Flaming Lips a run for their money.

October 18, 2008 – Storming the stage in support of Cobra Starship, Dallas power pop group Forever The Sickest Kids laid down a devastating set of upbeat antics and controlled chaos on stage for the Sassy Back tour.

Singer Jonathan Cook led the charge on lead vocals, spending the majority of the performance dominating the speaker monitors at the front of the stage.

Six-strong, the FTSK were in constant motion throughout the set, thrashing out the fresh jams in the perfect setup for the Sassy Back headliners.

Photographer’s Notes:

Flat out, this was a fun set to photograph. With six band members on stage, it full was a full house at Pop’s, with no shortage of interesting subjects for this set. FTSK brought a tremendous amount of energy to the stage, and I was sprinting to keep up.

Lighting was generally pretty good, with lots of warm backlighting throughout the show. I used a wireless flash setup for this performance, with speedlights stage right and left. Overall, these flashes helped with definition and adding separation, particularly with the band members at the front of the stage.

Even though the photo pit for this show was filled with crates and the band’s monitors, there was just enough room in the pit for free movement without too many traffic jams with the other photogs and security.

I used the Nikon D3, 24-70mm f/2.8, and 14-24mm for this set, with the SB-900 as commander to the two SB-600s on stage. Due to the frenetic performance and close quarters, the 70-200mm stayed in the bag.

I have to say, without the aid of wireless flash, this set would have been a very different experience. With the no-frills lighting treatment that FTSK received, flash was certainly a nice benefit for this show.

End Notes:

A big thanks and shout out to Forever The Sickest Kids for a great performance and for letting me use speedlights during this set.

Stay tuned for Cobra Starship’s set to round out the Sassy Back tour!

After performances by Apocalyptica, Shinedown, Bullet For My Valentine, and Puddle of Mudd, South Africa’s Seether closed down the main stage of Pointfest with a heavy dose of rock.

The band’s set drew heavily from their 2007 release, Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces, including their Billboard-topping hit, “Fake It.”

Photographer’s Notes:

After a full day of interesting shoots, from backstage portraits to the mainstage performances, Seether’s set was the final challenge of the night.

The most prominent and difficult obstacle was the stage set up, which included large monitors along the edge of the stage and mic stands relatively far back, which created a fair distance between the photo pit and the performers.

I would have killed for some catchflash during this set.

Overall, lighting consisted of deep washes and backlighting, with accents of red underlighting for singer Shaun Morgan. There was very little in the way of direct lighting on the performers, but the treatment did suit the band’s sound and aesthetic for a solid show.

October 7, 2008 – Britpop rockers The Kooks rolled into the Pageant, churning through a boisterous set amidst a din of screaming fans and popping flashbulbs. Led by singer Luke Pritchard, the boys from Brighton delivered a fast-paced set that drew heavily from their sophomore album, Konk, released earlier this year.

Photographer’s Notes:

Despite blasts of quickly changing color washes that had me shaking my head, this set was actually pretty fun to shoot, in no small part thanks to frontman Luke Pritchard. The singer proved a very expressive subject with no shortage of gestures to capture.

Pritchard was a moving target throughout the first three songs, which added to the challenge and kept things interesting.

The band’s monitors were set up about two meters back from the edge of the stage, so I relied on the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 for much of the set. The Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 helped pick up a few wider shots, while the 14-24mm f/2.8 only came out for a single overall of the stage.

For this set, I concentrated on Pritchard, not only because he proved to be an interesting subject, but because he also received the lion’s share of usable stage lighting.

August 1-3, 2008 – 225,000 fans, 90 bands, 10 bottles of water, 8 stages, 3 days, 2 flights, and 1 “suntan” later, Lollapalooza 2008 has come and gone.

Headlined by the troika of Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, and Rage Against The Machine, this year’s festival marked a three-day sellout, with attendance of 75,000 music fans flocking to Grant Park in the heart Chicago.

I photographed a modest 19 bands over the three-day festival, including all of the major headliners for the three nights. The latter was actually a somewhat rare feat, especially considering that only 25 photographers were allowed to photograph Rage Against The Machine due to tense security and a heaving barricade.

For this festival I shot with the Nikon D3 and the new Nikon D700, which share the same newly developed 35mm sensor. For lenses, I brought the Nikon 14-24mm, Nikon 24-70mm, and Nikon 70-200mm, the trifecto of Nikon’s f/2.8 zooms. The gear performed flawlessly.

One great aspect of Lollapalooza, aside from the shotgun-convenience of photographing so many bands in one short span of time, was meeting other photographers.

It was a pleasure to meet and hang out with music photographers whose work I’m familiar with. It was also a very pleasant surprise to meet a number of folks who read ishootshows.com.

I’ve already posted the image set from Radiohead and a few teasers, but stay tuned for the full sets for NIN, Rage Against the Machine, and many many more from Lollapalooza.

PS: If for some reason you just can’t wait for more, the new September issue of Rolling Stone features a small shot of Chan Marshall, AKA Cat Power, that I shot at Lolla in the “On The Road’ section. Big thanks to Jason “Eagle Eyes” Bergman for the tip off on this placement.