The other day I got a chance to shoot the Duck Down Anniversary tour, which was basically a Boot Camp Clik reunion… pretty much everyone was there. It was pretty great, and it had been awhile since I had been to a real as hell hip-hop show, so it was an awesome night.
Joey & Rory @ the Carlysle Club : Read the Washington Post review.
Joshua Redman at Blues Alley. Read the Washington Post review.
Raul Malo & Shannon Whitworth at the Birchmere. Read the Washington Post review.
La Excelensia at Artisphere. Read the Washington Post review here.
You can see more photos from these shows (and many more) here.
Mid October was pretty good for shows… starting out with the super rare performance by former Clockcleaner leader Sharkey’s new solo vehicle Puerto Rico Flowers. How rare? This was apparently their first, last, and only live show. Backed by a temporary group of friends, he played with Screen Vinyl Image and the Pfisters at the Talking Head Club in Baltimore, with the help of Fan Death Records and Unregistered Nurse.
View the whole Puerto Rico Flowers/Pfisters/Screen Vinyl Image set here
Then there was the last Lower Dens show of the year… Lower Dens is a Baltimore band, fronted by former solo artist Jana Hunter, they are pretty new and getting a lot of buzz… they just put out a debut record on Devendra Banhart’s record label and are just about to go out on what sounds like a GRUELING tour, starting with 11 shows at CMJ this past weekend. They are great; check them out.
View the whole Lower Dens set here
Then I snuck out to Arlington, VA to see Japanther and the Death Set play at the new Artisphere space. The staff, and the space, were awesome but somehow virtually no one showed up! Those of us who were there were treated to what amount to a private performance… really odd but a lot of fun! Both bands played new material, much of it related to the passing of Death Set member Beau Velasco, who died sadly last year. Really great performances from both bands. The Death Set has a new mixtape out next month, then a new full length in January and the songs they played off of that sounded good so pick it up when its out!
View the whole Japanther/the Death Set set here
This post also appeared in a different form on BYT.
This show was great! Over two hours (short for a GBV set, but let’s face it, none of us are as young as we used to be) and packed with classic songs. If you are an old fan of the band, don’t miss them on this tour. See the whole GBV set here, and read Phil Runco’s review of the GBV show, along with my photos, up at Brightest Young Things.
Two features up at Brightest Young Things today, both metal related, both with my photos.
Al Shipley over at Urbanite just did a nice little write-up about my book. The thing basically sold out the first run, only a couple left, but I am about to do a second run, with some expansions and some changed design elements, so feel free to purchase one – but if you want the new & improved version, it won’t be out for a bit yet! If you don’t mind the OG edition, go ahead!
Last week I got a chance to see (and shoot) the Slayer/Megadeth/Anthrax Jagermeister tour. The headliners were playing their 1990-era albums IN FULL (Seasons In The Abyss, Rust In Peace, respectively), plus their other hits… It was a great show and especially fun for me since I was banned from going to see this same tour in 1990 by my parents! Twenty years later, I finally made it…
Before the show, a writer and I showed up to interview Charlie Benante (from Anthrax) and he was great. We also met Joey Belladona and he was nice as well – he asked me if I was shooting the show and I said yes… he said he’d see me out there. I didn’t think much of it at the time but when they played, true to his word, he saw me in the photo pit, waved, and posed for several photos while looking right at my lens. What a great moment! I’ll post the interview as soon as it goes up.
The show itself was great – Anthrax looked like they were having a great time, reunited, and the crowd responded really well. Megadeth were amazing! Dave Mustaine voice seemed a LITTLE strained, but several of the Rust In Peace songs are really vocally challenging and also were never performed live until recently. All in all Megadeth was AWESOME. Then Slayer – who I’ve seen before and generally are always the same live – were Slayer, they slew in their workmanlike way. Nothing ostentatious, but they are a dependably accomplished and always good live.
Last weekend Michael Byrne and I covered the Vaselines US tour kickoff at the 9:30 Club in DC. Pretty fun show, I had never seen them before, and honestly didn’t know much about them besides that they were Kurt Cobain’s muse… well, pleasant suprise, an engaging poppy band with really foul mouthed (but in an adorable way) stage banter.
I covered this years’ Virgin Fest for the Baltimore Sun and it was a doozy (and a lot of work). Performances by: MIA, LCD Soundsystem, Pavement, Ludacris, Sleigh Bells, Chromeo, Matt & Kim, Joan Jett, Modeselector, Thievery Corporation, Edward Sharpe, and MANY MANY more. By the end of the day I was delirious, dehydrated and had a blister on my shutter finger! But I also saw some great shows… Pavement was a big highlight, and LCD was great. MIA invited the crowd to join her on stage (a move which I could tell stressed the security guys out to no end, but they handled it well)… Ludacris was also awesome. All in all it was a great time, and much of (maybe all?) the proceeds went to charity, which is great. I think the mood in general was lifted by the fact that most tickets were free or for a good cause.
Afterwards I went to the Ottobar to catch the Death Set/Po Po/Waaves show, but I was too wiped out to shoot it. Then I somehow ended up at a punk cover band show and my car got towed… but that’s a story for another time…
To see all the photos from VirginFest 2010 (a lot), click here.
Barn Aid was a one time benefit show at the Golden West for Springfield Farm in Sparks, Maryland, which needs money to pay some legal bills. It was a GREAT night and featured a reunion show for Birdland (which is the band which ultimately became Celebration), Wye Oak, and the Pilgrim.
Deathface / the Captain @ No Rule
The Shirks / Hollywood
Caught a few random shows last week… dropped in at Cullen Stalin & Scottie B’s always entertaining NO RULE party (every monday at Metro Gallery in Baltimore). They bring in an always rotating assortment of out-of-towners who spin a wide variety of dance music… a great stop on a monday in baltimore.
I also checked out Hollywood & the Shirks at the Dionysus 3rd Floor (aka Jerrod’s Attic). Hollywood needs no introduction – really fun Baltimore rock n roll. Shirks are a DC band that I hadn’t seen before, but who are comprised of a bunch of familiar faces… I couldn’t place everyone in the band, but I think it’s all people who have been playing in bands for awhile. They were good, check them out. You can check the whole set here.
I was lucky enough to cover Christian Fennesz’ performance at the Sonic Circuits festival… it was at the Strathmore Mansion, a very intimate (and classy!) location for a concert. Fennesz has only rarely played in the US and the small room was packed with very lucky people… I’m sure there must be footage of this somewhere on youtube, but it’s not a replacement for being in that room and hearing Fennesz perform. A great night.
Read the Washington Post review | See the rest of the Fennesz photos.
I was also able, thanks to the awesome people at Wayside Music (waysidemusic.com) and Cuneiform Records (cuneiformrecords.com), attend a EXTREMELY rare collaborative performance of Merzbow and Richard Pinhas at the French Embassy in DC. This was by far the most SECURE show I’ve ever been too, and in fact when I tried to leave the show, was locked in the super luxurious grounds until an unseen person remotely opened the steel gate. So surreal. We also got to pal around with Richard and his son and discuss America, France, and all sorts of topics. Richard was really funny in person and his son was a trip!
The show itself was pretty great – Merzbow creating sonic textures on his laptop/electronic gear while Richard Pinhas played analog soundscapes with his guitar rig. Great stuff, and again, a packed theater. I’m not sure if this is the first Sonic Circuits festival, but this year was quite an accomplishment and I am already looking forward to 2011’s!
Last week, i shot Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros’ packed 9:30 Club for the Virgin Fest pre-party. You can check out more photos on SPIN.com, or my photo set here.
I shot promo photos/photos for Decibel magazine for the Virginia doom metal band Salome. You can view the rest of the shots we choose here.
Last weekend, I shot HFStival, which used to be a big deal music festival in Maryland but disappeared for half a decade or so… they are trying to bring it back. It was mostly 90s bands, with one exception… BILLY IDOL, who ruled the main stage (even though he wasn’t officially the headliner). It was awesome seeing him, he is still in great shape… eerily so, actually. Between this and seeing Joan Jett this past weekend, I am in the midst of an early 80s revival.
This is one of the only concerts I have been to where the opening act absolutely flattened the headliner. Janelle Monae was amazing, energetic, charismatic, and dominated this show. Of Montreal were focused more on their complicated stage show, which just fell flat… a shame. In summary, go see Janelle Monae if you get a chance.
After seeing Double Dagger & Sick Weapons at Hampden Fest, we high-tailed it over to Merriweather Post because I got a last minute assignment to shoot the Vampire Weekend show with Beach House and the Dum Dum Girls. I’d seen all them before, but never at Merriweather, which is one of my favorite places to shoot. We had to race in due to some issues with my friends’ passes, so I only got to shoot one song of Dum Dum Girls, but I got a few good shots. It was really surreal seeing Beach House, who I first saw play on the street in front of the old talking head, playing on that stage to 10,000s of people… but they did good, and had a nice stage setup and a few new touring members to fill out their sound. Vampire Weekend… was Vampire Weekend.
A few weekends back, I managed to go see Hollywood wreck the Golden West, then check out Dave Nada’s last Taxlo before he moves to LA to become a famous record producer, then Hampden Fest to see Double Dagger and Sick Weapons. (And THEN I went to shoot Vampire Weekend/Beach House/Dum Dum Girls, which I will post in it’s own blog entry soon). What a weekend, I love Baltimore.
see the Hampdenfest set here | see the Hollywood photo set here | see the Dave Nada going away set here – also posted in different form on BYT
I had never seen Fucked Up before, but this was a good show… the singer Damian is, of course, well-known for his antics and he didn’t disappoint this night, jumping in the crowd, wrestling people, pouring hot wax on himself… but the most interesting thing about it was he did all that while managing to retain a personal-feeling connection with the crowd… it didn’t really feel like a STUNT, it just felt like he was goofing off, and we could, too. Fun time, go see them if you haven’t.
view the whole Fucked Up photo set | read the Wahsington Post review
I like a few of Best Coast songs, but don’t know much about them… I think this was a pretty common sentiment among the crowd, which was sold out, but alot of people seemed unfamiliar with them, and just going on the strength of a few really catchy songs. They sounded pretty good, but I think I’d rather see this band outside where i could lay on some grass. Aslo some of the people at this show were realllllly drunk and annoying. Not the band or the venues fault, of course…
see the whole Best Coast photo set | read the Washington Post review