Gorillaz @ Dodge Theatre

I have to admit, upon walking down to the stage of the Dodge, seeing the lights and set up, I wasn't sure if this was going to be a cool show or not. The little I know about the Gorillaz tells me it should be.





The Gorillaz have always been very 'theatrical' with their approach to the music world, sort of a BIG art band. The idea being that the Gorillaz are a 'virtual' band, and the performers are comic book characters. Lots of neat videos, I believe all of which are cartoons... starring animated caricatures of the band mates. When the curtain fell before the start of the show, I could tell they had something neat planned. Large glowing letters that spelt Gorillaz on the back of the stage, a giant projector screen, then maybe a 10-piece brass band, a string section, 3 back up singers, and a slathering of 'other' musicians took the stage. Then a really colorful video started the show. Neat, if indie/art-band style, miniature-based sweeping footage of a sort of island fortress in the ocean played out to an excited audience. (Check out the cover art to their new album "Plastic Beach") Then Snoop-Dogg showed up on the screen and performed (via prerecorded underwater video footage) with the live band. None of which I was allowed to photograph.







When lead singer Damon Albarn took the stage, the crowd went nuts. Let's not forget he's also the singer of the seriously influential British band Blur as well. Sadly, we photographers were locked to one side of the stage, in a very tight section. Which just meant, in lay terms, the photos would suffer. Albarn stayed on the 'other' side of the stage for the duration of my shooting time, save for a few times when he hopped on a piano in the middle of the stage with his back to me. Then, the one time when he came closer to me than just middle stage, this weirdo in the front row jumped out in front of me for the shot, and blocked all the photographers. I say ‘weirdo’ because he WAS a nut job. He was taking pictures of all sorts of things with his iPhone 4. Like, the floor. After he jumped in front of me, he turned around and took my picture. I bet he drives a BMW.





The lighting was cool, but none of the band mates were actually lit themselves. It was a case of watching the spot light on Albarn, and anticipating when some of that light will spill on to the other members. I got some neat silhouettes, but an entire show of that would get boring. If only I was allowed to move around with my camera!





All in all, it was neat. I actually wished I knew the band more than I do, and that I could have watched the show. I bet it was a lot of fun. And who doesn't love that Clint Eastwood song?? Hearing that live probably made the night for a lot of people. Next time...

Paramore (w/ Tegan and Sara) @ Dodge Theatre

Tonight was Paramore with Tegan and Sara opening for the "Honda-Civic-Go-Buy-A-Fucking-Honda-Already-Damn-It!-They-Are-Green-And-Paramore-Drives-Them-What-Are-You-Waiting-For?-You-Can-Buy-One-In-The-Lobby... Tour". Yes, nothing I love more these days than going to a concert and watching car commercials for little, ugly, shit cars that run solely on clean burning Mormon sweat and say a prayer for the car behind it as it's exhaust. No 12 year old girl at this show can afford a Honda... or cares about being green. I'm even slightly older than 12 and I don't even care. I didn't take pictures of all the ads and Honda projections on the walls, cause I thought I'd be replicating their ad campaign. Somewhere... there is a guy wearing prescription-free Oliver Peoples glasses who just said "You might hate the ads, but you just talked about Honda! BOOM! The system works!"





Moving on to the music. Let me just say from the start, sometimes I amaze even myself with how limited my musical scope is. I'd like to think I was pretty diversified, but in reality I just have 16 gigs of Radiohead and Neil Finn on my iPhone. Granted, I do KNOW who both of these bands are. And I know a song or two from each. Both facts I can blame on my friend Thomas. That's all beside the point... the music... the music... yeah. I could tell that these bands know how to play their songs. They were using professional equipment. There was no one whispering in their ears which chord came next. No fake books. It was all in their heads. These bands have really practiced hard. I say well done. And any critic who attacks them, well... they probably don't know what they're talking about.





One strange fact I feel I should point out is how some people photograph so different than they actually look. I photographed Stevie Nicks a while back, and in person I couldn't even recognize her, but in the photos "Oh, that's Stevie Nicks there." It's kind of the opposite for Paramore singer Hayley Williams... when I photographed her before, and tonight as well, I get these shots that 'resemble' her, but they never seem a perfectly accurate representation. Maybe that's just me.



In a weird way, I think I'm less familiar with Paramore, the headliner, than Tegan and Sara. I don't really know what's actually 'weird' about that, but I feel like I've had more chance encounters with T&S over the years. In fact, a few years back, in a fantasy world, I almost had a cartoon show called The Zoo make it on the TV box... Tegan was going to voice one of the main characters on the show. But no, I never actually met her. Still, at that point, I did some research on them. That's just being responsible tho.





Actually, the one song I really knew from the whole night started as I was being escorted out after shooting T&S's set... "Walking with a ghost". Oddly, that was the only thing that sounded a bit off. Maybe it was me... but it sounded just a bit discordant. Like someone was off in the land of their own time signature. But, it still rocked, and the crowd loved it.





Being a photographer is always an interesting experience. Sitting in the hallway before Paramore went on, there was a huge line of fans waiting to meet one of the opening bands who was signing autographs. And amidst the young girl normalcy of the line comes this gangly drunk guy asking for random people to sign his autograph book. "This book has a lot of power" he'd tell the young girls. He even asked a fellow photographer to sign it. And I think he also asked him to write in a powerful message. Talk about pressure. You don't want to let a drunk weirdo at a concert down. I turned away and got my phone out when he was near me. Not because I didn't want to sign, God knows I've just been waiting to sign something with my new signature, but because the only advice I could think of was "Whatever you do, don't let someone throw up in your mouth. Buy Japanese."

Slayer / Megadeth @ Dodge Theatre

SLAAAYYYEERRRRRR!!!!





Slayer fans are serious about their band. While sitting in the press holding bay waiting for Megadeth to finish their set, Slayer fans were roaming the halls shouting "Slayer!!" at each other as they entered the restrooms or cooled their devil horns down with a fresh beer.





I really don't think there are more dedicated music fans than the metal fans. These people were shouting at each other as they passed, ready to fight for Slayer's honor if anyone spoke negatively or mentioned a lesser band. I think the alcohol helped with their courage as well. In fact, out on the floor of the Dodge theatre, which already has a slippery gloss coating over the concrete and on this occasion, spilt beer and jalapenos... I'm surprised these people could manage to stay vertical. But, as if to prove their love again... the crowd on the floor started a giant mosh pit as Slayer took the stage. I really don't know how more people don't end up dead at metal concerts.

Just take a look at this guy... he's partied out, again! Imagine this dude on the floor with you.







One great thing about metal shows, from a photographers stand point, is the metal posing. I'm not making light or complaining, but I really felt that if these guys COULD get closer to the camera, they'd have their crotch sitting on the camera lens. Joking aside, they do make for some pretty great shots. And with metal songs required to be longer than 6 minutes at the minimum, the 3-song limit to shoot is stretched from the normal 9-12 minutes to about a half hour!





There is always this uneasy gathering of photographers before the trek down to the stage. Sizing each other up. Checking out each others gear. Figuring out who to avoid. Making alliances. Then we march down. On this night, during the march down to the stage I notice a really tall dude with a mullet standing near the photographers entrance. He's wearing shorts, and is outfitted in photography gear, and he's standing with his legs spread WAY too far apart, arms crossed. This man is too confident. Then I realize it's actually Randy Johnson, the "Big Unit"... world series MVP pitcher for the AZ Diamondbacks. Craziness. I've never photographed alongside another photographer before. Which was especially interesting because he was actually kneeling down the entire time. And with a 6'10" dude kneeling, there are legs practically everywhere. I managed to not trip over him, but that wasn't the case with the other photogs. I'm not a sports fan or else I would have said hello, but it was cool none the less.







This was a fairly easy shoot. The lighting was good, with the exception of all the red lights... cameras don't respond well to lots of red. And the performers played right to the cameras. There was lots of room to move around. Really, I can't say anything bad about the show. It was fun to shoot.

Scorpions @ Dodge Theatre

Does rock come any harder and more awesome than the Scorpions?? No I don't think so. When you think of the best hard rock driving song, you instantly think "Rock You Like A Hurricane"... and you'd be right. The best song to pump your fist to? Naturally you say "No One Like You". Hey, I can't argue with that logic, we're on the same page here. The greatest song to accompany your animal-based, adult comedy cartoon by the same name... while driving... and pumping your fist... "The Zoo". Of course... I just about to say that, slow down!





Yes. Needless to say, last night was a total f'ing rock fest! Right from the start. The back-lighting as drummer James Kottak climbed on stage and put his sticks in the air got the sold out crowd going nuts. Moments later, his drum kit ascends 20 feet in the air, and the rocking begins in proper top form. During my three song allotment, I didn't notice a single person sitting down. These people already knew their asses were in the process of getting rocked off... and they were glad of the pain their German freunde inflicted.





Granted, I probably sound like a pretty legit Scorpions lexicon. You're probably thinking, "This guy really knows his stuff. He's probably just as much of a rocker as they are. I can't believe his wife's luck." Go on then. But honestly, I'm actually only really familiar with the radio hits from the Scorpions. But, I am REALLY familiar with them. Except for all the lyrics... I swear it goes German on me in some parts of "Wind Of Change". But that doesn't change how hard it rocks. And that doesn't mean I can't whistle right along, and air guitar all the solos. (If you're my friend on Facebook you can check out a video I made of me playing the intro to No One Like You with a loop pedal... it was my homage to the band)((Loop pedal... meaning in take I played the opening chords, then on the same take laid down the first solo, then played the harmony right on top.))





It's been a while since I've shot from the floor at the Dodge Theatre. It seems the acts that frequent that venue tend not to like a camera right in their ear... so they usually like to push us back to the sound board. But ze Scorps didn't mind. There was no pit to speak of, but I was able to hang out on the sides of the stage, and shoot from the perimeter behind the first 5 rows of seating on the floor. It wasn't a bad deal! Oddly, well maybe not 'oddly', but there were 11 photographers last night! Generally the number of photogs tells you how legit a band is. And while it wasn't Jobing.com Arena... the Scorpions still managed to dominate Arizona, and "occupy" that special place inside a hard rocker's heart.







On one brief side note... the photo pass for the Scorpions was enourmous! It is AS big as the Metallica pass I got... but it's a tie. Who could possibly top that?

Robert Plant @ Dodge Theatre

Sometimes I think I'm the only person, or at least the only pseudo-musician, in the world who doesn't love Led Zeppelin. I'm not about to slag them off or anything, but I've just never had a connection with them. That aside, I was still jazzed to shoot Robert Plant last night at the Dodge Theatre. The man is an icon of rock, you have to give him that.





Excitement waned a touch, as it does, when I was told to "bring a long lens". (In nerd world, that means we would be shooting from far away... most photogs need to know in advance so they can rent a ridiculous lens to get them closer in.) ((And as a point of fact, they are actually physically long as well. And heavy to boot.)) But we're all seasoned veterans of the bring a long lens world... it's nothing new. Sir Plant is getting on in years and doesn't want a telephoto lens shoved in his face. Fair enough. However, upon arrival I was told we'd be actually now be shooting from the balcony of Dodge Theatre. Just imagine the very back of 5,000 capacity venue... then go up in the air 50 feet.





Needless to say, the photos weren't about to be anything remarkable. Then add to that a real lack of light on stage and it's sort of a shite sandwich from a photog's point of view. But you know... that's part of the game of it. I heard all the other photogs griping during the set... some of them with fairly low-end gear. And I'm not taking the piss with that comment. To be fair, in a situation like last night, the inexpensive gear really couldn't cut the mustard. With my 5D, I was shooting at ISO6000! My 100-400mm f4.5-5.6 was balanced on a monopod, which was leaning on the balcony railing, and I propped my body up against the piece of glass that separated the VIP suites... it's about AS stable as one can make it. I still had to have my shutter as low as 1/20 of a sec at times. That is a long time for a shutter to be open. Any judder on my part, or a twitch on stage, and the photo is blown. I'd like to imagine the experience is akin to hunting a small animal with a sniper rifle. Slow breaths, track the movement, learn your prey, then breathe out and squeeze the trigger... pray to Jebus you got the shot.





In the end... after our three songs we're up, I was at least fairly confident I got all that was possible to get. This thought was confirmed on the whinging-photographer packed elevator ride down from the top floor down to the lobby. I try not to complain in public, or at least not in front of my contemporaries... but apathy isn't very attractive. And fitting in is what it's all about right?