Tag Archives: alternative

Of Montreal @ The Pheonix May 3rd, 2011

Hey all, Of Montreal, what a band, what a show! I had the pleasure of getting to see them and be allowed to take the camera in for photos only, no video, no audio and no flash. Fine by me, thats what I like, that’s what this site is all about!

Anyway, I had heard of this band from a pro photog’s website, Todd Owyoung at ishootshows.com (great concert photography site for inspiration, tips and more). The band looked like they put on a good show, visually as well as musically of course. You see, I had never heard of them. It just establishes my point that there are so many great bands out there to see and hear nowadays that it is difficult to keep up on everything. I did the myspace and website search to hear some of their stuff and was immediately dead-set on checking them out if they came to Toronto.

So May 3rd was it, at the Pheonix Concert Theatre in Toronto, which is a great venue. This was a very entertaining performance, I had a blast taking shots, meeting fans, enjoying the music, lots of fun for the band and the audience, with great stage antics by several non musician members, from a psuedo (aren’t they all) WWF wrestling match, to some more adult oriented entertainment ;),  reminded me of bands like the Tubes and Flaming Lips amongst others. I would put this in the ‘sexual-spastic-psychadelic fantazmical rock n’ roll show’ category if I had one like that. I am now a fan and will check them out again next time round.

I’ll let the pictures do the talkin’ now, enjoy

Mike

Your comments are encouraged and appreciated, thanks

Of Montreal

Of Montreal

Of Montreal

Of Montreal

Of Montreal

Of Montreal

You can check out the full gallery here

Zeus @ a soldout Horseshoe Tavern

Mike Obrien I like this band, I like their music, fact is it would appear, so do a lot of other people. There was a good sized crowd at the Horseshoe this Friday night in December. Getting to the front of the stage proved to be rather difficult if not impossible without pissing anybody off. So I watched the show from the back with two friends for a bit, then decided I had to try, at the very least, to get some closer  shots.Rob Drake

I managed to squeeze to the side of the stage and had some rather challenging angles to deal with. One looking mostly at the keyboard stand, another one with mic stands obstructing my view and I couldn’t even get a clear shot of the guitar player on the far side of the stage. The stage area isn’t the largest so the musicians where a bit cramped.

Carlin NicholsonI lucked out a bit when the side stage bouncer allowed me past a barrier to get to the VIP and musicians stage entrance area. This wasn’t the greatest view either but I took some shots from here and, not wanting to block anyones else’s view in this location, I called it a night, put the camera away and enjoyed the rest of Zeus’ set.

The one thing I would note to myself and advise others after this, is that when going to club or bar without a photo pit area that you have access to, is to get to the venue early, especially when it’s a popular band, and grab a couple beers, scout out your spot and stay there (and hope you don’t have a weak bladder).

Gallery : Zeus @ The Horseshoe, Toronto Dec 3rd, 2010

shot with my trusty Nikon D90 & Tamron 28-75