It's Live!

My website is live! Click here! There will be some tweaks here and there, but it's there! This blog will still be here for all my post-concert ramblings (and the occasional photo from the archives). Much thanks to my buddy James for the work.

From the Vault: The Decemberists

A photo from Terminal 5 from last year that I've never posted... I thought I should share this because the Decemberists just got #1 on the Billboard charts! (And then I remembered this photo because I had found it a few days ago while sifting through archives for images for my upcoming, proper website.) (View larger here.)

Tokyo Police Club and Two Door Cinema Club at Terminal 5

This is a strange coincidence: the first time I saw Tokyo Police Club was during Coachella 2007, and this very weekend, it turns out I'm going to Coachella this year. Anyway.

More photos (and words by Geoff) at House List. Even more photos on Flickr!

The Vaccines at Bowery Ballroom

Newest band out of the U.K. I hate the word "hype," so check out the band for yourself by watching a clip from Later... with Jools Holland below. See a few more pics on House List.

Rural Alberta Advantage at Mercury Lounge

And the first concert of the year goes to... Rural Alberta Advantage! I need to apologize to the drummer for momentarily blocking him from exiting the stage during the encore for the acoustic finale in the crowd (below); I thought the band was just doing quick step-in-and-out-of-the-crowd thing a la Win Butler. Anyway, I might have to check them out again when they return to New York in March? There are some more photos on Flickr, and some on House List.

Best of 2010

Twenty-ten was a year of some damn good concerts. I started out in January with old favorites and fellow Columbia alums Vampire Weekend and concluded two days ago my new favorite, Yelawolf. Though I didn't go out much during the first half of the year while slaving over my thesis, I made up for that lull with a mind-blowing Bonnaroo adventure.

My top 5 favorite concerts this year (photo or no photo) are

1. Robyn at Webster Hall (twice)

2. Miike Snow at Terminal 5 (who I fell in love with during Bonnaroo)

3. Daryl Hall and Chromeo at Bonnaroo

4. Delorean / Tanlines at Bowery Ballroom

5. Diamond Rings at Mercury Lounge

and Pissed Jeans at Cake Shop (my perennial must-sees) as an honorable mention because I always like checking them out.

The following images are some of my favorites from 2010:

Crowd During Dropkick Murphys | Bonnaroo | June 13

Pissed Jeans | Cake Shop | June 18

Goldfrapp | Hammerstein Ballroom | June 23

Crowd During Ted Leo | Siren Festival | July 17

The Dead Weather | Prospect Park Bandshell | August 3

Local Natives | Governor's Island | August 7

Crystal Castles | Terminal 5 | August 21

Scissor Sisters | Terminal 5 | August 25

Pavement | Central Park | September 22

MNDR | Terminal 5 | October 7

The Drums | Webster Hall | October 20

Guided by Voices | Terminal 5 | November 7

Kate Nash | Terminal 5 | November 19

And here are some passes:

And finally, I have some photo-related resolutions for the new year:

1. Shoot more

2. Shoot more outside of concerts

3. Shoot more non-Bowery stuffs

4. Make website

5. Upgrade lens

Happy holidays!

Yelawolf at SOB's

I've been listening to Trunk Muzik 0-60 nonstop!

Bear Hands at Bowery Ballroom

I went to check out Bear Hands yesterday and take some snaps for House List. I'm not too familiar with this band, aside from the snippets I heard during CMJ during the Maker's Mark, Fred Perry, and Insound.com event at Stratosphere Sound. The photo below is from that day (also, check out the "outtakes"):

Drummer wasn't there that day... Why is it so hard to photograph the drummer?

Anyway, the lighting was pretty tough that night. The stage alternated unrelentingly between overblown red hues and dimmed lights. Though there were sporadic bursts of white light, the night was pretty atrocious. In terms of tunes, Bear Hands was pretty catchy at times. (However, I need to take another listen, since I tend to focus on the visual and not aural when I'm shooting.) The second opener was Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. - also enjoyable, but the visual elements were really distracting.

Photos for House List are here, and the rest of my Flickr set is here.

From the Vault: Mew Outtakes

One of the things I like most about Flickr is its analytics function and the ability to check out popularity trends in your images. For me, I like seeing what band photos have disproportionate amounts of "favorites" or views (i.e.: Vampire Weekend). Well, long story short, another person favorited a photo I took of Mew a year and a half ago for a Sup Magazine feature, and it occurred to me that I have outtakes that never saw light of day. And I know that my pics of Mew have been "image macro"-ed and Tumblr-ed, so I figure I should post these up for people to check out. If anything, this is an excuse to gawk at handsome Danes ;)

For the ENTIRE Flickr set, click here. Check out the Sup Magazine feature here (while you still can).

Diamond Rings at Mercury Lounge

More at House List.