Passion Pit at the Gibson Showroom for 107.7 The End's End Session, Seattle, WA 06.27.2012

Thankfully, I was asked to photograph the recent End Session for Seattle's 107.7 The End radio station. I wasn't familiar with Passion Pit and hadn't had the opportunity to see the Gibson Showroom before. Win win for me!

Lets start with the venue. This is a gorgeous location. The room is all set up with different Gibson equipment. I'd have to guess that it holds about 100-ish comfortably for a little intimate show. There are guitars and artwork handing on the walls and a beautiful piano when you first set foot into the venue.

Passion Pit was a wonderful surprise as well. During sound check Michael let the team know that someone needed to press a key on his keyboard so it didn't time out or he'd lose his settings. Sadie got the assignment. She dutifully sad on Michael's stool and hit a key every minute or so for about 15 minutes. 

Two of the five band members were present for the 4 song acoustic set. Vocalist/keyboard/guitar Michael Angelakos and guitarist Ian Hultquist charmed the crowd with their performance and their humor. At one point Michael completely went blank and forgot the words during 'Sleepy Head'! Thankfully he wasn't shy and asked the crowd for the next line. Listener 'Sarah' called it out and he dedicated the rest of the song to her. He said he didn't care if you had sung a song 8,000 times, you'd forget the lyrics at some point. 

You can watch a couple of the songs from the End Session at http://www.1077theend.com/VIDEO--Passion-Pit-Endsession/11684737?pid=250350

Collective Soul - Dosage Tour - Neptune Theatre - Seattle, WA 06.17.2012

This blog is nothing but biased today. Collective Soul is my all time favorite band. Hands down. They are rocking', they are positive, they can be moody, they can be sung along with and they are truly nice Southern gentlemen.

Thankfully, Mike and I met Will and Ed at their Gretch/Fender performances at NAMM in January. I hit it off with Will and we became Facebook buddies. When the tour was announced, I new that I wanted to see it, but I also wanted to shoot it. Will hooked me up with the full show for photos instead of their normal first 2 songs. He also gave me my very first Plus 1 of my own so I brought one of my girlfriends with me.

Once we got inside to set up, I saw Will and was able to visit for a few before he had to get back stage. He let me know then that I had the whole show and the name of the tour manager if there were any problems.

Last night was a unique show in that they did not have an opening band. This show was all about spending a evening with Collective Soul. The band came on stage at 8pm and let us know how the show would flow.

1. Perform the 1999 album 'Dosage' in it's entirety.
2. Take a little break
3. Come back and sing the songs we (the fans) love

I did have to laugh a little during the Dosage portion of the show. Ed apparently doesn't remember all of the lyrics. He had a music stand up there with him to be able to reference if he needed to. There was a little hiccup after the second song. Security tried to cut me off but we talked and the lead security guard found the tour manager and it was straightened out. I missed out on a couple of songs while he was verifying, but that was better than missing out on the whole rest of the show!

They took their break and it was time for some hits off of the rest of the albums including songs like Gel, Hollywood, Precious Declaration... Love, love, loved it. I had made my way to the balcony during Precious Declaration so I could be positioned for some fisheye shots from above. They exited one more time before coming back for an encore that consisted of December and ending the night with Shine.

What a great venue. I hadn't been there yet and I will definitely go back. Great restoration and a welcome addition to our historic venues.

Collective Soul Photos!

• 1. Dosage
  1. Tremble for My Beloved 
  2. Heavy 
  3. No More No Less 
  4. Needs 
  5. Slow 
  6. Run 
  7. Generate 
  8. She Said 
  9. Compliment 
  10. Not the One 
  11. Crown 
  12. Hits
  12. Welcome All Again 
  13. Better Now 
  14. Forgiveness 
  15. Gel 
  16. Hollywood 
  17. Why Pt 2 
  18. Precious Declaration 
  19. The World I Know 
  20. Encore
  20. December 
  21. Shine 

Judas Priest, Black Label Society & Thin Lizzy at WaMu Theater, Seattle, WA 10.29.2011

This show really was a blur for me. We got there too late for me to grab a seat and get a little video. I tried, but it was really hard. All I got was Thin Lizzy. So I gave up and just did some listening and some people watching.

Black Label Society never fails to impress me with their merch presence. They have fans all over with their gear! We ended up going back stage afterward to meet a couple of the guys. It's cool how the WaMu Theater has indoor parking for the tour buses. I've seen fenced in parking for buses before, but not completely indoor parking. BLS photos are here.


Priest is Priest. They put on another great show. I still don't understand how Rob Halford can stand up in all that leather! Those capes have got to weigh a ton!!! Priest photos are here.

The highlight to the whole show for me was DJ Lady Starlight spinning the tunes between bands. She was great. Some may know her better as Lady Ga Ga's DJ. She can hold her own though! See Lady Starlight photos here!

Journey, Foreigner & Night Ranger at the Key Arena, Seattle, WA 10.21.2011

Another classic concert tonight. This time we saw 3 pop-rock bands from the 80's. I have seen the original line ups for both Night Ranger and Journey back in the day. Journey was the first concert I went to without my parents. It was a little odd seeing Journey without Steve Perry, but Arnell did a great job with the vocals. He needs more practice on stage though. He's a little bouncy bordering on cheerleader. You can see Mike's Journey photos here.

Journey's Deen Castronovo solo

Foreigner sounded great BUT there wasn't 1 original member on stage. Mick Jones may still be in the band, but he was either injured or ill and wasn't on this tour. This means that it was a cover band!

Foreigner 'Hot Blooded' & 'Dirty White Boy'

I loved Night Ranger the best. I can sing along to almost every song. They had the most energy and clicked with the crowd the best.

Night Ranger 'Sister Christian' featuring Deen Castronovo on drums

Tomato Battle Seattle @ Pyramid Alehouse with Super Geek League 09.24.2011

This blog is like no other. It starts with 300,000 pounds of rotten tomatoes being thrown at each other, beer drinking, costumes and ends with a music concert. Who would you expect to headline a tomato battle? None other than Super Geek League with Titanium Sporkestra opening for them.

My team at work decided to do this activity as a team building event. It was beyond fun!! Mike and I had on Super Geek League hazmat suits so we could just throw them away after the battle. That was a brilliant idea!

People gather around the tomatoes and once the word is given - All Hell Breaks Loose! Some of the tomatoes are green though. I got one of those right between the eyes. Thankfully I had on a pair of goggles so they took the brunt of the hit. Mike rented a Go Cam so he has some great footage of the mayhem further inside the crowd.

We stopped once the bands started to play, but others were over in the tomato pit for hours! I couldn't handle that smell for that long.

Titanium Sporkestra

Tomato Battle footage with Super Geek League at the 13:49 mark

Redhook's Birthday Party with Devo, The Psychedelic Furs & Tom Tom Club @ Redhook, Woodinville, WA 09.17.2012

This was a day that I was really looking forward to. I've seen Devo live several times and they NEVER disappoint. I was there for The Psychedelic Furs. But first we had to have a beer (we were at the Redhook Brewery for goodness sake!) and a great sandwich. We (or I, really) had to paint part of the birthday sign. We had to visit with Michael Pilmer (Devo's everything guy) and we had to wait through the very opening act - Mitten.

Mitten was OK, but I only liked the Depeche Mode cover they did. Other than that, I could have passed. Next up was Tom Tom Club. They were better, but their set was too long for a group with 1 actual song. They did more covers than originals and that annoyed me.

Tom Tom Club - 'Punk Lolita'

I was getting antsy for the P-Furs. They are a true part of my New Wave history. They sounded the same. There was no age to Richard Butler's voice at all. He was just a silky as ever. Yip, I even teared up when they took the stage. 

The Psychedelic Furs - 'Love My Way'

The Psychedelic Furs - 'Pretty In Pink'

Now it was time for Devo. The bad news is that it started raining REALLY HARD and our cameras were getting soaked. Since we had seen Devo several times before, we headed out after the 4th song. We'll be seeing them soon again. Time to save ourselves and our cameras. If you have never seen Devo live, make a point to do it. They jump around on stage like they are still in their 40's!

Devo - 'Peek a Boo'

KISW's Pain In The Grass at the White River Amphitheater 08.27.2011

Big festival = Long blog. Be sure not to miss Korn at the very bottom!!! There are photos of each band along the way.

KISW's yearly festival Pain In The Grass was a star studded affair this year. The lineup always starts with a local band. This year, Witchburn got the call. I had the duty of photographing the fan/band meet and greets so I didn't get photos of some of the bands from the pit. Unfortunately, I didn't get to photograph Witchburn or Hinder. I did get to see the Hinder guys though when it was their turn with the KISW faithful.

The full line-up this year was:

Witchburn

Like a Storm

All That Remains

Chevelle

Duff McKagan's Loaded

Hinder

Five Finger Death Punch

Queensryche

Korn

Witchburn took the stage while I was doing my first meet and greet of the day. Local Sabath-y band lead by the amazing Jamie Nova on vocals and Mischa Kianne on lead guitar. Add Jacy Peckham and Dana Sims on bass and drums respectively and you have a Seattle force to be reckoned with!

Like a Storm started off their set with an intro using a didgeridoo. I loved seeing those rockers salute their home of New Zealand with that instrument. They were super nice guys too and enjoyed the radio interview. They made their way into the VIP bbq area and continued chatting with the fans for quite a long time.

I was a little confused by All That Remains visually. They are all over the place with their look but I always like it when a band is just themselves and not what a label might want them to be. I was even more surprised - and impressed - when it ended up being Jeanne Sagan that does the death metal parts! Again, they were really nice back stage and had fun with the fans.

Chevelle - I'm sorry, but they bore me live. The don't move much and they just don't do anything with a big stage. 

Loaded - I love them. I love everything about this band. They rock hard, they are really nice and down to earth guys. They promote their hometown of Seattle. They have a good time playing and are grateful for it every day. Duff is quite the doodler as you can see by the photo of him using Isaac as a piece of paper.

Hinder - Sadly, this is a band that I wanted to shoot, but I was back doing meet and greet photos when they were on stage. I did get to see them do their radio interview though. I also had a little chat with the drummer at the meet and greet about his hair. It happens to be about as wild as my son's hair. I told him that my son had asked to get his head shaved once so he could just start over. Cody said if that's all it took, he'd be all over it!

Five Finger Death Punch - Talk about an electric band on stage! They are anything but boring! They commanded the stage and the crowd. They are very proud of the military and thanked the military fans in the meet and greet very warmly. I have to admit that I have a HUGE crush on Chris Kael. I don't know why, but I usually end up having little crushes on the bass players more than anyone else. Gotta love Jason Hook wearing custom Fox FFDP shirts. 

Queensryche - QR actually played twice today. They had a VIP acoustic show an hour before gates opened then the actual show later. I'm not a fan of rock opera type bands. I do like to see QR perform though. They put on a good show. Parker Lundgren ads some youth to the lineup. They rest of the guys still have "it". Full set of photos is here.

KORN - I had never seen Korn live. Holy cow! I had no idea what I was in for!!! I'm going to start off by thanking Fieldy for the AMAZING camera time that he gave me. I know I'm not the only one who got face time with him on stage, but I'm glad I'm one of the one's who did!!!! 

I was disappointed with the meet and greet though. They do not come out as a band to meet people. They come out one at a time and sign. Then each one does a group photo with the fans except for Jonathan. He comes out and signs, but there are no photos allowed. Full set of photos is here.