Thursday, April 16, 2009

Connor Oberst @ Marquee Theatre



Connor Oberst... the lead singer of Bright Eyes. I don't really know his material that well. It's sort of 'indie' story-telling. At least that's what people tell me. So I cant really comment on the show/performance. He did his thing, people clapped. Job done!




Let's get right to the photo stuff... I don't think I get more frustrated at any venue more than I do at the Marquee. They have piles of lights at their disposal... and apparently no one to work them... or even POINT them at the people on stage. 100% of the time at this show, Connor was back lit, with maybe one or two lights hitting the sides of his face. But, to make matters worse, he was wearing a large flat-rimmed black hat. So nothing above his cheeks was lit. This was really rough for a photographer.

I had the camera already set at ISO1600, and my shutter was down as low as 20/100, with a F2.8 lens... and it was still barely enough to capture anything in the middle of the stage. The sides of the stage however... perfectly lit! Maybe next time I'll see if they'll let me position the lights myself before the show.


On another note. I walked in to hear the 2nd half of the band Deep Sea Diver, and I was impressed with what I heard. Pretty chilled out vibe. Two drummers on some songs, and a twangy, reverb-heavy guitar. The band hung out by the merch table after their set to sell CDs. I walked over and said hello and told them I dug their set. I snapped a quick photo of Jessica Dobson (singer/guitarist) and Evan Trine (drummer) and bought a CD. I found out later that night that Jessica played guitar for Beck on his last tour. Which I actually photographed, and then recognized her when I read that. I would have tracked her down if I would have known, she was great in Beck's band. And in her own band too, of course.

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