Two Gallants, Akron/Family at The Fillmore, 02-02-2013

 Believe it or not, this was the first time I'd been to The Fillmore. Going in, I pretty much knew what to expect: gorgeous venue, floor and packed balcony, and expensive beer. The sound was fantastic until the middle of Two Gallants' set, and then something awful happened.

At some point it became obvious, even with earplugs in, that one of the speakers was blowing out. During the crescendo on a couple of songs, when the bass drum and Adam Stevens guitar were both blasting, the stage right speaker would just make a brittle "wooomp" sound.

I'm pretty sure both Stevens (guitar, vocals), and Tyson Vogel (drums, vocals, clapping, crowdsurfing) heard it, didn't allow it to dampen the spirits of the crowd or the musicians. The set featured mostly songs from the last two albums, and a new (presumably unreleased) song that featured Stevens on Piano and Vogel on guitar. All together, it was a great performance from one of my absolute favorite bands. I heartily suggest everyone go see them!

Also on the bill was Akron/Family, a band I knew by reputation only. Not knowing their music, I spent most of the set trying to figure out exactly what was going on. I certainly didn't know what to expect, and not knowing the songs I got lost in a couple of places, but I have to commend them for generally knowing what they're doing and for putting on an interesting and unique show that managed to appeal to even non-fans.

Two Gallants

Akron/Family

The Y- Axes at Hemlock Tavern, 2012-11-13

Tuesday night at Hemlock Tavern: The Y-Axes put on a great (and loud!) show. It's been a while since I've had the occasion to shoot in a little bar like hemlock, and was a little surprised that there was only one (!?) spotlight. Of course, it was pointed directly at Lexi's (the singer) face, but as she moved around she'd dive straight into shadow. The keyboard player and drummer were completely in shadow, and the guitarist had a red-gelled ceiling light on him. Basically, this was the least-consistently lit stage I've ever had to shoot. The bassist was actually off-stage, set up in front because "he's too tall to be on stage!"

One great aspect to the lighting was the ease of bringing the background to black - since there was little light, there was no light spill. Downside: having to keep track of several different exposures depending on which part of the stage I was shooting.

Technical details: Canon 5d mk3, 50mm f/1.4, 24mm f/2.8, 135mm f/2.0.

I started out at ISO 6400, but quickly bumped it up to 8000 (pretty much the 5d's top workable range) to hold back some motion blur.