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Mustard Plug (Ska is Dead Tour) @ Starland Ballroom, Sayreville, NJ – 11.15.09

The Mighty Mighty Mustard Plug were the second to last band of the Ska is Dead tour 4 in Sayreville NJ. They were clearly one of the favorites at the show, and the crowd didn’t stop crowd surfing until they stopped. I was looking forward to taking pictures of Mustard Plug because I never shot them in a club setting before. It’s always been at outdoor festivals (New England Ska Fest 98, Warped Tour).

The times I’ve shot Mustard Plug, I always try to capture bassist Rick Johnson. He’s a man that loves jumping, bouncing and doing all crazy crap with his bass guitar. He gives awesome rock poses, and I finally managed to get some awesome shots of him. It was tough at times to get photos of Dave the singer because he was going back and forth from crowd, to stage; he just wouldn’t sit still. That’s a good thing for the audience, tough for photographers. I’d rather take a singer that’s animated instead of being boring and sitting still. I managed to get an excellent shot (and probably my favorite of the night) with my 70-200mm f2.8 lens while sitting outside the photo pit. It looks like Dave is singing in front of the moon (you can see that shot above).

Like the other sets, I shot this set with my wide angle lens and telephoto lens. I tried to get photos of all the members, but found it hard to get clear shots of the horn section. Either the microphones were in the way or their instruments were. I think the only person lacking photos was of Colin. But I’m happy overall with the shots I got of Mustard Plug. I just wish the lighting wasn’t so damn red.

My favorite shots of their set:

View the rest of the photos here.