2022 In Review: Legends, Myths and Fandoms

While late 2021 marked the return to concerts following the pandemic shutdown, 2022 is when touring really got going.  There were still a number of tours cut short or modified due to COVID outbreaks within the tour crew, but for the most part 2022 felt normal again.

For me, 2022 was a year where I checked a few boxes on my photo bucket list, and shot some of the biggest and most important artists I’ve ever had the pleasure to photograph.  At the top of this list, undoubtedly, would be Sir Paul McCartney.  The man needs no introduction, he is a living legend.  It’s incredible that he still tours with the kind of passion that he does.  I had the chance to photograph the first of two nights of his Got Back tour in Oakland, CA, and he played a 36-song set list.  Thirty six!  And as they used to say, the set list was “all killer, no filler”.  Paul is the only artist I’ve seen that can get away with using only his own music in the pre-show.  I felt very lucky to be one of the photographers covering this tour.  His team was unusually accommodating to photographers and made our jobs easy, which only increased my respect for the man.  To see my photos from this show, check out RIFF Magazine’s review!

Another highlight was when I had the chance to photograph the legendary Pearl Jam for the first time.  I grew up in the grunge era and Pearl Jam was everywhere on the radio during those formative years of my life, making this one a pretty special show for me.  It’s amazing to see how the fans have stuck by them over the years, and their new music sounds just as vital as their older material.  For this show, I made the grave mistake of leaving a crucial piece of my gear at home - my step stool!  For shows of this size, more often than not the photographers are positioned back near the soundboard, which means you’re probably shooting over the heads of the audience.  A step stool is essential if you want to have any hope of keeping people’s heads out of your photos, and I didn’t have mine.  Instead, I had to get up on my tip-toes and brace myself against the metal barrier, and pray that nobody taller than 6’ would be in my sight-line.  For the most part things worked out, though I do wish I could have that show back - with my tallest step stool, of course.  My photos can be seen accompanying a review on RIFF Magazine.

In the same vein as Pearl Jam, I also finally got to see (and photograph) The Smashing Pumpkins this year.  Heavy nostalgia with that one!  The band looked and sounded incredible, though it turned out to be one of the hardest shows I’ve shot in recent memory because we had to shoot from behind the soundboard, and couldn’t use step stools.  Somehow, it all worked out though.

The Smashing Pumpkins

The largest tour I shot this year would belong to The Weeknd.  Originally set to tour arenas in the summer of 2020, and then postponed and eventually cancelled due to the pandemic, this tour got a post-pandemic upgrade from arenas to stadiums after The Weeknd’s unrelenting success with the hit “Blinding Lights” and a memorable Super Bowl halftime show in 2021.  This show took place at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, home of the San Francisco 49ers, and it took every advantage of the upsized venue.  Truly one of the biggest productions I’ve seen, it was breathtakingly beautiful to photograph even as it did justice the dark and ominous mood of his music.

The Weeknd

It wasn’t all big stadium and arena shows this year, however.  I also had the chance to photograph a few old favorites.  In the spring I had the chance to catch Lord Huron’s latest tour at the Greek Theater in Berkeley.  Their latest album Long Lost is a brilliant concept album centered around the idea of memories lost to “time’s blur”.  These guys have a real knack for creating a deep mythology around all of their records, and to promote this record they created an old-timey radio show personality who reminisced about (fabricated) artists on a fake record label whose music and “memorabilia” they hid across Spotify and eBay, respectively.  Their shows keep this mythology in the background, letting the music speak for itself, but it’s no less fun to capture visually.  I’ll never grow tired of photographing these Michiganders.

Lord Huron

Another band I photographed yet again this year was LANY - my fifth time shooting them.  I’ve been shooting their shows since they were just getting started opening for most established bands in small clubs, and now they’re headlining some awfully big rooms around the world.  What endears me to a band like LANY is that unlike most bands, they allow photographers to shoot their entire show.  Shows like this really give me the chance to tell a story with my photography and capture a lot of unique angles and moments that rarely happen in the first three songs.  For this show, LANY’s frontman Paul Jason Klein borrowing cell phones and clothing items from the crowd, climbed high up onto the scaffolding for a song, and welcomed a fan’s newborn baby to the stage, which he cradled precariously while singing.  Epic show.

One first for me this year was being part of RIFF Magazine’s coverage of the three day BottleRock festival in Napa, California. BottleRock has been on my radar for awhile but I haven’t had the desire to brave the crowds and traffic until now, and I’m glad I finally did.  It wasn’t always easy navigating the many stages and the swarms of other photographers, but I got a chance to shoot some legendary performers for the first time like Snoop Dogg and Ice-T, some old favorites like Twenty One Pilots, and some up-and-coming artists like Ron Artis II and the Truth and OTTTO.

2022 was a great year for fans who were starved of live music during the pandemic.  I think I’ve grown more appreciative of the community of live music over these years, and especially so after being denied access to live music these last couple of years.  I shot artists with passionate fandoms this year, including former One Direction heartthrob Louis Tomlinson and K-pop boy band ATEEZ, and I’m always thrilled to document those shows because of the intense love I feel when I publish those pictures on social media.  I’m looking forward to more of these shows in 2023!

Fans of Louis Tomlinson, aka “Louies”

Want to see a few more favorites? Check out the slideshow below!

Or revisit my “Year In Review” for previous years: 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015

2021 In Review: Finally, Concerts!

Finally, concerts.

My last “real” concert in 2020 came on February 29, and aside from a drive-in tribute band show later that summer (a true pandemic experience), I had very little to do until finally bands began to hit the road again in late summer this year. Without a doubt, the most boring year I’ve experienced in my life.

But we’re back!

The Black Crowes

I shook off the rust by shaking my money maker, so to speak, with The Black Crowes. I grew up listening to their music on the radio and knew many of their songs, but I must admit, I had no idea how good these guys were live. I’d always noticed how excited people seemed to get when Chris Robinson would come through town with one of his various incarnations, but it didn’t really hit me just how good he and his band might actually be. And truly, I was blown away. I couldn’t have asked for a better return to the photo pit.

During the pandemic I took the plunge and finally switched to mirrorless cameras, specifically the Nikon Z 6ii. The Black Crowes were my first show with the new bodies, and I was very, very pleased with the result.

I had some growing pains with the new gear during the first few shows I shot this year, but thankfully I was able to cut my teeth on some very well-lit, exciting shows, which made the process a bit easier. As I declared in my earlier blog post detailed my experiences with the Nikon Z system, I’m completely sold on it. It’s hard to imagine going back to a DSLR now!

2021 was, like 2020, an abbreviated year for shooting concerts. Touring didn’t really start back up until summer, and didn’t hit its stride until the fall. I didn’t end up shooting a ton of shows this year, but the ones I did I made count. I shot some of my biggest shows yet this fall, including the massive Hella Mega Tour featuring Green Day, Fall Out Boy, and Weezer.

I also had the opportunity to photograph the first night of Metallica’s 40th anniversary shows at the Chase Center in San Francisco. I had never seen Metallica live before, so was a bit unsure of what to expect. What I discovered is that after 40 years, they still rock harder than anyone else, and their audience is devoted to a degree that I truly didn’t grasp until that night. Fans traveled from all over the world to attend the festivities that weekend, which included shows at other venues by bands associated with Metallica, and they were treated to unique shows featuring deep cuts and rarities in addition to some of their biggest hits. Not many bands can get their fans to travel internationally during a pandemic for a couple of shows, but Metallica’s fans are something special.

Metallica

I also had the chance to shoot some old favorites. I shot Bleachers and LANY for the fourth time each, and in both cases was allowed to shoot the entire show from the audience, rather than the usual 3 songs from the pit or soundboard. These were especially fun shows since both bands played at larger venues with wrap-around balconies, which leads to some fun new angles to play with when you’re allowed to roam the venue like that. Wish I could shoot the whole show more often!

The biggest surprise of the year had to be Black Pumas. I knew there was some buzz around this band after their debut was nominated for a GRAMMY award, but I hadn’t listened to their music much before I shot the first of their two night stand at The Masonic in San Francisco. Lead singer Eric Burton came out on stage and wasted no time jumping into the audience, where he spent almost ten full minutes. At one point I leaned over to the roadie who was patiently waiting in the pit to help Burton get back on stage and asked, “does he always do this?”, to which he replied with a hint of amusement, “it’s always an adventure…” Yeah, suffice to say I will be sure to catch their show from now on when they’re in town.

Black Pumas

All in all, 2021 was a great year. It felt good to get back out and see shows again, and experience the unique communities that form at each of these shows. Every show is different - a Louis the Child audience is different from an Elvis Costello audience, which is different from a Metallica audience! - but in every show there’s a palpable feeling of community and belonging. I love these fan communities, how they come together and bond over their favorite bands if only for a few hours before dissipating back into normal society, and after the year a half of pandemic loneliness, I’ve never appreciated them more.

Here’s to an even better 2022, and hopefully an end to the pandemic!

Want to see a few more favorites? Check out the slideshow below!

Or revisit my “Year In Review” for previous years: 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015

2020 In Review (Global Pandemic Edition)

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!