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The Kooks @ Terminal 5, NYC – 6.10.08

I’ve been a fan of The Kooks since their first album “Inside In/Inside Out” was released back in 2006. They are popular over in the UK but now they are just as popular over here in America. They have a new album out now called “Konk” and one of their stops on their tour were two nights in New York. Originally, the band was only going to play on June 11th (today) but they added another date when the concert sold out quickly. When that concert was added, I decided to get tickets & try to score a photo pass. I did get a pass and manged to get some great photos of the band!

When I arrived at the venue, the line was down 56th Street and haven’t seen the line that long at Terminal 5 yet. I parked my car at the most expensive parking garage in the city and sat on line. Does anyone know of a cheaper garage in walking distance of the club?? Anyway, I knew the crowd was gonna be a bunch of teens and that’s pretty much what it was. A bunch of loud, talkative, screaming teenagers and then a bunch of “white hats.” It seemed anywhere I tried to stand, there would be annoying people near me. After I got out of the photo pit for The Kooks, I sat with my girlfriend all the way in the back by the bar. Its actually a good spot to see the stage. I thought the band sounded good live, and played a lot of the songs I wanted to hear like “She Moves In Her Own Way,” “Do You Wanna,” “Shine On” and “Eddie’s Gun.”

Just like the Morning Benders’ set, the lighting was bright and dramatic. So that meant a good thing for photographers, or at least me. I’m sure if I had my older lenses, I would have had trouble with the lighting but perhaps I’m just getting better at using the right exposures and f stops, etc. The photo pit was crowded and really hard to move around. My camera bag was in the way for the Morning Benders set, so I asked my lovely girlfriend to hold on to it while I shoot this set. I just don’t feel comfortable leaving it on the floor or on the side with security. I mainly shot this set from the far left and far right of the stage and stayed out of the other photographers’ way. I also stayed there because I was using my 70-200mm f2.8 lens a lot. At the end of the third song, I broke out my 18-70mm lens to get a few wide angle shots. I didn’t really succeed at that except 1 or 2 good photos. Anyway, enough of that. Check out some of the photos below:

To see all the photos from this set, click here.