Digital Diversion

Photographer Notes: Slim’s is one of my favorite venues to see a show … not too big, great sound, and good bands. From a photographer’s perspective, the lighting setup is good compared to other clubs and the stage is nice and low. It does offer it’s share of challenges, however. There are two large pillars in front of the stage (holding up the roof I suppose) that require shooting around and there’s no barrier so getting close-up shots means jockeying for position in the crowd.

For the Youth Brigade set, I positioned myself to the right side of the stage so I could shoot across with my 18-50 mm and avoid the majority of the movement from the mosh pit. I also wanted to get more shots of guitarist John Carey who got short shrift last time I shot the band. John was great to shoot with tons of energy that I think come across in the shots. After about 5 songs and two minor beer dousings, I fell back to shoot the rest of the show with my 50-150 mm which I always bring with me when I shoot at Slim’s.

The performance was great and the crowd was definitely showing some love. If you’re a fan of Youth Brigade, be sure to check out the excellent documentary Let Them Know, which chronicles the band’s and BYO’s history. It’s a must-have especially for those who grew up in the 80′s LA punk scene.

Friday night at the Fox Theater in Oakland.  If you’ve never been to the Fox, it’s an art deco movie theater that was reopened in February 2009 after sitting empty for decades.  The restoration was top-notch and it’s great to have a venue of this size (3,000 capacity) in the East Bay.

These days I usually make it a point to get to shows early to catch the opening bands.  I’m always looking for new music and let’s just say that local radio isn’t much help in that department.  The ticket said 7:30 … since when did that mean that the music actually starts at 7:30?  I got to the Fox at 7:50 only to find the second band already setting up so they must have given the Insurgents a 15 minute set.

The Flatliners

Getting ready to shoot the Flatliners, I see that they’ve set up a large stage extension reaching almost to the front barrier and leaving only room for a security guard between the crowd and the stage.  Needless to say it made it a little difficult to cover both ends of the stage … I actually ended up walking around the crowd to get shots of the other side.  The band did a nice job of delivering a predictably short but energetic set to the gathering crowd.

Youth Brigade

I was very much looking forward to seeing Youth Brigade … I grew up listening to this band and have pretty much lost touch with their goings on over the past several years.  After 25+ years, they haven’t lost an ounce of energy and put together a career-spanning set that ended with my favorite, Sink with California.  Given the amount of green, Boston sports shirts and Dropkick Murphys logos in the audience, it was clear who most people were here to see but the crowd definitely showed Youth Brigade some much deserved respect!  There’s a pretty cool book/CD/DVD package about Youth Brigade and their label, BYO records, that’s now available called Let Them Know that you should check out.

Dropkick Murphys

The Dropkick Murphys took the stage at 10 pm to an eager crowd and wasted no time tearing into Cadence to Arms.  Singer Al Barr made maximum use of the stage extension to get up close to the crowd.  Unfortunately for my picture taking, the stage extension didn’t have much lighting but the rest of the band was all over the stage making for some good shots.  As I suspected, this was definitely a Dropkick Murphys crowd … singing at the top of their lungs to anthemic songs that make me feel like drinking beer.  During “Kiss Me I’m Shitfaced” the band invited all the women onto the stage for a massive singalong.  After a short break, they returned with The Who’s Baba O’Riley and finally got to crowd favorite Shipping Up To Boston before ending the night with Alcohol.