Alright, 2020, here we go. Let’s review the year, emoji style:
🥳😄📷🤩🥰🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂📷😊🧐
😕
🙁
☹️
😣
😫
😭
😷😴😷😴📷😷😴😷😴😷😴😷😴😷😴😷😴😷😴😷😴😷😴😷😴😷😴😷😴🙏🏻😷😴😷😴
That pretty much sums my 2020 up.
First off, let’s just acknowledge the obvious. 2020 has been a brutally disappointing year for all of us. But the live music industry has been hit especially hard. Large gatherings of people in tight spaces is pretty much the last thing anyone wants during a pandemic, so live events were one of the first things to shut down in 2020 due to COVID-19, and will be one of the last industries to start up again in 2021. Countless musicians, touring crew, and venue staff have lost their livelihoods this year. As someone who doesn’t rely on photography as a significant source of income, I’ve been pretty fortunate in that regard. But many others have been struggling, and need our help. Check out www.saveourstages.com for ways you can help!
Alright, so what did all this mean for me personally? I only shot 3 shows in all of 2020. Three.
In January I shot my first K-pop boy band, Seventeen, and it was an unexpectedly fascinating experience. I’ve never quite witnessed the sort of fandom that these bands ride upon. Long before the show started, the mostly-full, mostly-female arena was loudly singing along to all the pre-show music, waving their light sticks and signs. The production was top-notch, and the dancing and vocals as well. K-pop is on the rise around the world thanks to groups like BTS, and I’ll be sure to cover more of it in 2021.
Seventeen
My second show of 2020 was an old favorite, rockers Colony House from Nashville, TN. They brought their “Looking For Some Light” tour to San Francisco’s August Hall, and I covered the show for RIFF Magazine. These guys are flying under the radar as one of the best young rock bands out there, and I am glad for every chance I’ve gotten over the years to cover their shows.
Colony House
My third and last concert of the year was something that I may never get to experience again, a drive-in concert. After a few months of COVID-19 lockdowns, restless promoters and artists around the nation began to look for alternative ways to get out of the house and bring back live music in a safe, socially-distanced way. The first such show in the Bay Area was held at the Alameda County Fairgrounds and featured a trio of talented tribute bands paying homage to Journey, Van Halen and ZZ Top. I hobbled around the fairgrounds on a recently broken foot (perhaps not the smartest move on my part, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to shoot live music!) and took more shots of the audience than I did the bands themselves, because clearly that was the story. It was a fun experience, but certainly no substitute for packing into venues and festivals again once this pandemic is finally over.
Drive-In Concert
The rest of the year was pretty uneventful, literally. Nowhere to go, nothing much to shoot except for a quick trip to Lake Tahoe with my family for a respite during the relatively calm summer months. I briefly considered life as an extreme sports photographer, should concerts never happen again.
Perhaps the most exciting thing I did this year related to concert photography was when I finally opened my first photography exhibit. Showing my work in public is something I’ve been pondering and dreaming about for the last couple of years, but it took me awhile to find the time to put it all together. Needless to say, in 2020 lack of time was no longer a good excuse. So over the spring and summer I purchased a professional printer and got to work producing prints of some of my favorite concert moments, curated around the theme “Tell Me All Your Thoughts On God…” I wanted to show my work off, but I also wanted to have a unifying theme that tied all the artists and their images together, and sparked conversation about the content of the music we all consume, often passively, on a daily basis.
During a break in the COVID-19 lockdowns in early November, I finally installed the exhibit at Inklings Coffee & Tea in the heart of downtown Pleasanton, California, in their large event space known as the “Common Room”. The Common Room is a space often used by students and “work from home” types during the day, and hosts music and other groups at night, at least when there isn’t a pandemic going on. It features high ceilings and lots of empty walls begging for art, so I was thankful that the staff allowed me to take over the space with my photography. I’m extremely proud of how it all turned out.
Unfortunately due to the holiday spike in COVID cases, the county health department again ordered businesses to close indoor spaces like the Common Room, so as of December the exhibit is not accessible. But I’m looking forward to better days in early 2021, and the exhibit’s eventual reopening. In the meantime, I’m working on a virtual walkthrough of the exhibit for those who aren’t in the Bay Area, or who want to see the exhibit without waiting for the restrictions to end. More to come.
All in all, it wasn’t the year any of us expected to have. But if nothing else it’s reminded me of the importance of community, including the powerful sense of community that’s experienced among fans at an incredible show. I can’t wait to get back to it in 2021, and can’t wait to see all of you again in the front row!