Drunk In Public (The Levellers and Sonovagun) @ The Red Lion, NYC – 6.8.08

Drunk In Public is an acoustic side band featuring members of the Levellers, and they play smaller venues & pubs. Usually the band consists of Mark, Simon and Jon of the Levellers and Rev Hammer. Mark Chadwick and Jon Sevink of the Levellers came over to the United States last weekend to go to Irish musician Dan Donnelly’s wedding. The next night, they decided to play a small, drunken show at the Red Lion in New York City. They played with Dan Donnelly, Roy Harter of Sonovagun and 2 other unknown gents. It was an amusing, chaotic show but I had blast watching it unfold before my eyes.

The last time I was at the Red Lion, it was 2 or 3 years ago when Mark Chadwick and Dan Donnelly played a small set of Levellers song and Clash hits. Drunk in Public were suppose to go on at 10pm but didn’t start playing until 11:15pm. There were sound problems and just when you thought it was fixed, it wasn’t. You could tell the band was getting frustrated already, but you could also tell they were either hung over or drunk. Mark was making funny jokes saying that the band wasn’t called Drunk In Public anymore but “Localized Chaffing” from all the walking they did that weekend. They started off “What a Beautiful Day” and they were surprised they got through that one unscathed. Mark tried to sing “No Change” but just couldn’t get past the first or second verse. I really wanted to hear that song too! In the middle of the set, Mark and Jon decided to go next door for a margarita and no one knew where they went. I was getting nervous that they weren’t going to come back. Thankfully they did and actually sounded better after that. I think Desi Donnelly’s, Dan’s Dad, raised the bar for the other band members to play better. Notable songs include “The Road,” “Don’t You Grieve,” “15 Years,” “The Boatman,” “Far from Home” and “One Way.” It was an interesting show but I was just happy to hear some Levellers song live again!

Photography-related, this place was DARK! I knew it was gonna be dark so I just tried to prepare myself with shooting in the high ISOs. Dan Donnelly was nicely light on stage, hence why he’s got all the good photos. Jon and Mark were in the darker spots on stage so I had to really increase the ISO for those guys. I brought my 70-200mm f2.8 lens with me because I didn’t want to go right in front of the stage and be too distracting. That didn’t stop the other photographers. I tried to take the majority of the shots from my table but I walked around when the band was playing “Carry Me.” It was hard getting shots of Roy Harter playing the keyboards and theremin because he was wedged in the back. I didn’t get any shots of the bassist either. I brought my 50mm f1.4 and 18-70 f3.5 lenses but didn’t use them all that much.

The Entire Gallery

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Tags: Concert Photography, dan donnelly, desi donnelly, jon sevink, levellers nyc, mark chadwick, new york city, pub, roy harter, sonovagun, the levellers, the red lion