Some fun at Natachee’s Supper’n Punch with David Beebe, Allen Hill, The “Dazzling” Pete Gray and Jim Henkel
Archive for the ‘Concert photographs’ Category
Crimson ProjeKct Warehouse Live July 8, 2012
I almost missed this show entirely. Horribly under-promoted and under-attended. Adrian Belew, Tony Levin, Pat Mastelotto representing King Crimson rounded out with Tobias Ralph, Julie Slick and Markus Reuter.
The “project” has been touring as the opener for Dream Theater but since Dream Theater didn’t get booked in Houston we were treated to three hours of fantastic music, including an all King Crimson encore.
The first band was Stickmen featuring Tony Levin, Tobias Ralph and Markus Reuter. The second band was Adrian Belew with Pat Mastelotto and Julie Slick. The encore was all 6 of them.
Judas Priest @ Cynthia Mitchell Woods
October 15th @ Cynthia Mitchell Woods
On assignment for The Houston Press.
Photos used in this article: Saturday Night: Judas Priest At The Woodlands
Motley Crue, Poison and the New York Dolls
On assignment for The Houston Press. the review of the show can be found here. This one was shot using the Minolta 70-200G all the way from the sound board
Bald Heretic Photo Show
I was invited by Thomas @ Sig’s Lagoon to have my own photo show at his shop. We decided to feature only pictures I have taken over the years at The Houston Continental Club which gave me a lot to choose from…
He even commissioned local Houston poster artist Carlos Hernandez to do the promo posters
The show is still hanging at Sig’s and should be there through the end of September.
Jimmy Buffet – May 5, 2011
Jimmy Buffet @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. On assignment for the Houston Press. The review can be found here
Arc Attack
The main thing I wanted to see at the Gloworama event was one of the performances by Arc Attack. Imagine two custom engineered hand built Tesla Coils that throw out electrical arcs up to twelve feet long, each one acting as an instrument with a sound reminiscent of the early days of the synthesizer. Each “arc” of electricity carries the sound of the music. During the show, the MC engages both the crowd and the Tesla Coils by walking through ½ Million Volt sparks wearing a chainmail Faraday suit. Spectacular!
And if that’s not enough, after the MC does his thing a guy in another Farady suit comes out with a modified electric guitar that plays through the singing Tesla Coils
This was a challenge to photograph. I used my vintage Minolta 35/2 lens to capture the action and I am pretty pleased with the results.
BB KING – Verizon Wireless Theater
Photos of the BB KING concert on October 9th @ Verizon Wireless Theater in Houston
Rediscovering An Old Friend
When I first got into shooting with a digital camera, I picked up the Sony A100 and the 50mm f/1.4 lens. Due to the crop sensor on the A100, the 50mm translated to a 75mm focal length making it just a little too tight for the kind of photography I was doing so it really didn’t get all that much use. A shame, really. This lens is fast and sharp and the images were outstanding. Even so, I found myself leaning on my Sigma 30mm f/1.4 for that added wide focal range (equivalent 45mm on the cropped sensor) that allowed me to capture more of the scene I was shooting.
Now that I have upgraded to the full frame Sony A850 the Sony 50mm f/1.4 is finding its way back into rotation and I am reminded of how great this lens is.
KISS Alive 35
There is no band I know of more iconic in terms of sound AND appearance than KISS. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, you know ‘em when you see ‘em and you won’t confuse KISS with any other band in existence. In the mid 70′s I went to every single show they toured, starting in 1975 and ending in the 1983 when they showed up with Wendy O Williams and the Plasmatics as an opener.
When I heard they were coming to Houston for their 35th anniversary show I really, REALLY wanted to photograph the event. It took some wrangling, but I eventually scored press credentials to provide photos for Craig Hlavaty’s review in The Houston Press.
I’ve shot a lot of small and mid-sized concerts, but this was my first big rock show. I was really appreciative of Technology Bytes co-host Groovehouse’s presence at the show. He had an extra photo release form which I needed to fill out plus an extra set of ear plugs which really made the difference.
The opening act was a band called Buckcherry and we got to shoot their first three songs. I wasn’t all that interested in their performance, but it was an opportunity to get a feel for the layout and I treated it as a warm up. We were only allowed to shoot the first three songs by KISS and I was sweating it a little. The typical scenario is three songs and even it’s not a lot of time to settle in and get your shots.
For this show I carried both my new Sony A850 and my Sony A700. The former mounted with my Zeiss 24-70 and the latter with my Tamron 70-200. Both lenses served their purpose and I was glad to have them. Overall, though, the A850 with the Zeiss wide angle was the most useful rig for this show.
I gotta hand it to KISS, they really put on a show. For the first two songs they played it up for the photographers and gave us plenty of opportunities to get some fantastic photos. I’ve never had a band do that before and it was a real treat. Be sure and read Craig’s review of the whole show at The Houston Press for the set-list and other observations.
Here are a few of my favorites from the evening. Click any image to see a larger version.
Jackson Browne @ Verizon Wireless Theater
On assignment for the Houston Press. Read their concert review online.
Aftermath: Jackson Browne Doesn’t Do “Rehab Versions,” Does Do “Free Bird” at Verizon
Click any image to see larger version:
Zappa Plays Zappa – 2009
Zappa Plays Zappa, a concert where Dweezil Zappa plays the songs of his father. This show gets better and better each year.
Fab 40
The Fab 40 pay tribute to the original Fab 4 with a free, live performance of “Abbey Road” on Saturday, September 12 at Discovery Green.
40+ (probably closer to 50) local musicians – handpicked by Beatles enthusiasts David Blassingame and Steve Candelari – performed the Beatles’ album “Abbey Road” from beginning to end.
It was an ambitious project. Nearly felled by illness, loss of critical instruments and the weather, it went very well despite all this.
You can see a slideshow of all the photos I took that night by clicking here.
Roky Erickson
Roky Erickson live at The Continental Club. Review of the show can be found here
David Beebe
David Beebe performing at The Big Top on Friday night
