Jay Farrar and company rocked the Pageant as Son Volt, delivering a powerhouse alt-country set for the hometown show. No fancy lighting here, but then again, the show didn’t really need it.

Photographer’s Notes:

When Jay Farrar took the stage with Son Volt and donned his harmonica neck-brace, I turned to another photographer in the photo pit and said, “Of course, the first song we get, he plays the harmonica.”

While Farrar used the harmonica for the first and third song, overall it wasn’t that big of an issue. The singer stayed put for the most part, so there was generally plenty of opportunity to work either side of the stage for clear angles.

Aside from the harmonica challenge, this show was pretty straight forward, with slowly changing background lights and warm frontlighting from high in the rafters for all three songs photographed.

I shot this set at f/2.8 and ISO 3200 with shutter speeds between 1/50 and 1/160. Due to relative lack of movement, I wasn’t too worried about motion blur on this, so the slower shutter speeds weren’t a concern.