Young Dubliners @ Highline Ballroom, NYC – 7.26.08

I’ve been a fan of the Young Dubliners for 8 years but this was the only 2nd time of seeing them live. Bassist Brendan Holmes, who’s also a fellow photographer, hooked me up with passes for the evening so that was really nice of him. My girlfriend Kristen had a class in CT earlier in the day, so I had to travel to NYC via CT. Well, first had to go to Suffern where my twin brother lived then down to NYC. The doors opened at 6pm but the concert didn’t start til 8pm. We arrived at 7:30pm and we were shocked that there weren’t that many people there. The band hasn’t been to NYC in awhile so that surprised me. Tables were setup for eating and since I was really hungry, I had to get some food. The band came on around 8pm and rocked out regardless of the size of the crowd.

I’ve never been to Highline Ballroom before, but felt it was weird that they put up tables for a band like the Young Dubliners. Maybe they were trying to do that to get some money out of the concert? There was a wide open area up front for dancing, which no one did until the end of the show. That ended up being my photo pit for most of the evening. The band played a lot of the songs I heard last year and it was great to hear them again. Fans even got treated with a new song or two. The most notable songs of the show included “Touch the Sky,” “Brown Dog,” “Don’t You Worry,” “Come Back Home,” “If I Should Fall From Grace with God” and “Rocky Road to Dublin.” I forget which song, but guitarist Bob broke out a great guitar solo that lasted for a few minutes. What impresses me about the Young Dubs is how skilled each member of the band is. After the band got done with their 80+ minute set, all the members of the band came out to talk with the fans. We all chatted with Brendan for 5 minutes and everyone was gonna go to a pub, but sadly I couldn’t go. I had to wake up early the next day to go to the Warped Tour. So I was the party pooper this time around. Next time…

Like I said above, the whole front part of the club was my photo pit and I had free reign to take pictures during the whole show. Since everyone was sitting down, I felt bad for standing in their way taking pictures of the band. So I sat on the floor and used my telephoto lens, but I did use my wide angle lens a lot too. I just seem to be using the wide angle more and more lately. Now that I know what kind of photos the wide angle can bring, I’ve been using it more. I still need a faster wide angle lens though. There was section on the sides of the stage I liked going to. I don’t really get the chance to shoot from that angle that much. Overall, I was happy with the photos I got from this set.

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Tags: 2008, celtic, celtic punk, celtic rock, Concert Photography, highline, highline ballroom, july 2008, new york city, Photography, the young dubliners, young dubliners, young dubs