Carbon Leaf and Stephen Kellogg played during Thanksgiving weekend at Bowery Ballroom in New York City. This show was my 3rd Carbon Leaf show since May. I’ve been a fan of the band since 2003-ish (?) but haven’t seen them live until the first May show at the Highline Ballroom. The band opened for The Sixers, but played an excellent 1 hour set!

I already wrote up an extensive review over at ReadJunk.com, so check that out if you want to know more details about the show.

For the entire show, I sat up on the right balcony and got a prime spot. I didn’t really feel like competing with all the women that were taken up the first 2 rows down below. So the balcony was fine, and actually turned out better than expected. I shot primarily with the 70-200mm f2.8 lens, which is a lens I just love! I wish I got in a little closer to get some closeups of the band, but the shots I got were fine. Like the other CL show I shot, I focused on Barry because he makes great singer faces and gets into the songs. The band were close together so it was easy to get them all in the same shot. I don’t normally get the chance to get those type of shots. I did use my wide angle lens for a song just to get an overall photo of the club.

The band’s lighting was nice, which I’m assuming it’s better than Bowery’s house lighting? I never been to Bowery Ballroom before this show but I really liked the club. I think if I can get a spot up in the balcony from now on, that would be ideal. Although, the old man that I am, just from leaning on the metal railings, killed my arms for 2 days at least. But anyway, Carbon Leaf were excellent and definitely a band you need to see live. Each show they change up their setlist, which is always a nice treat. Be sure to pick up their new album “Nothing Rhymes with Women” on Vanguard Records too!

Here are my favorite shots from their set:

See the entire gallery here. If you’re interested in purchasing any prints, let me know as well!

Tags: 2009, 70-200mm f2.8, Barry Privett, bowery, bowery ballroom, bowery presents, Carbon Leaf, Concert Photography, folk rock, nikon d300, nyc, Vanguard Records

This entry was posted on Friday, December 11th, 2009 at 5:18 pm and is filed under Concert Photography . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.