Another year is quickly ending, and with that, my concert photography season has ended as well. I don’t have any scheduled shows happening right now until March but things could pop up. I usually like to take off these months just because I don’t want to worry about driving in the snow. This year was interesting in that I didn’t shoot as many shows as I would have liked, but the ones I did shoot were a lot of fun. You can read my Year in Review list over at ReadJunk.com if you have a few minutes. Like always, it’s tough to select 20 photographs that were your favorite/best photos of the year but I tried my best. Below is my top 20 best concert photos of 2009:
(more…)

The Toasters were the last band for the Ska is Dead Tour 4 at the Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, NJ. The only original member left is Bucket, while the other members are from various ska bands. Don’t let that bog you down because the Toasters still sound great!
(more…)

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).
(more…)

Voodoo Glow Skulls were up after Deal’s Gone Bad, and talk about something completely different! VGS has always been a ska band I’ve liked. In fact, they were one of the first ska bands I listened to back in ‘96. That night, they brought a lot of energy and just fast paced ska punk music!
(more…)

Deal’s Gone Bad from Chicago play soulful ska & reggae. They will make you shake your ass, and get your groove on! I never saw them before but liked what I heard! I definitely want to check out their albums now. They were also fun to shoot as well.
(more…)

The Ska is Dead tour made it’s way to Sayreville, New Jersey Sunday afternoon. The show was held at Starland Ballroom, which I shot there once before in their parking lot for the Mighty Mighty Bosstones & Dropkick Murphys show. Hub City Stompers were the 3rd band on the bill.
(more…)

Last time I saw English Beat, it was at the Chance in Poughkeepsie, NY. They put on a great live show and I really wanted to photograph the band. Thankfully Dave Wakeling and the English Beat wrote me back and I got the okay to shoot the show. So thanks to Dave for hooking up a poor bastard like myself. While this set was REALLY HARD to shoot, I still had a blast of a time photographing The Beat.

(more…)

I’ve been trying to see Bad Manners for over 12 years now. I finally got the chance to and they didn’t disappoint at all. In fact, I’ll declare this and say they are one of the best live bands I’ve seen. They make you dance like an idiot, even if you don’t know their music or not. Of course I know their music though. The band just sounded really tight! If you missed this set, you really missed out!

(more…)

I’m finally back with NEW concert photos! It’s been a long hiatus but i’m back and ready to post. This show (English Beat, Bad Manners and Big D and The Kids Table) was at The Fillmore at Irving Plaza in New York City, one of my favorite clubs. Big D and the Kids Table was the opening band for the evening.

(more…)

The last time I saw The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, it was about 8 years ago? Has it been that long?! I honestly don’t remember the last time I saw them but it definitely felt like they never left. The band came out in their signature ugly plaid suits, and I was even sporting an ugly plaid shirt as well. I was pumped to see the band again after all these years. This was the first time shooting the band, and thankfully got my photo pass 10 minutes before the band went on.

(more…)