April seemed to fly by, and before I could stop my head from spinning, May was here. Kicking off the month strong with Canadian rock n roll heroes Billy Talent at the Edmonton Convention Centre, with Anti-Flag and fellow Canadians NOBRO opening up the night. All-girl punk bands are pretty sick in general, and NOBRO was pretty in-your-face about being a chick in this day and age. Anti-Flag was notably not in the mood to screw around; The Pittsburgh punk icons dominated the stage and had the audience in the palms of their hands for the entire duration of their set. Extremely impressive, if you ask me. However, I gotta say, it just floors me how good of a band Billy Talent is. Every time I get the opportunity to see Billy Talent I’m always thinking exactly that: “Fuck this band slaps”. Despite this show being one of many to fall victim to pandemic rescheduling, there room was quite full, and that was a heartwarming sight to see.
It’s been a hot minute since I’ve seen Opeth and Mastodon, let alone on the same stage. Needless to say, catching these 2 bands at the Edmonton Expo Centre was must for me. I’ve been a big fan of both of these bands for some time, and I absolutely loved Mastodon’s latest release “Hushed and Grim”. Mastodon murdered a semi-crowd pleaser set, only playing a handful of new tunes and a bunch of bangers that had people going ape shit on the floor. If you’re a fan of Opeth, you’ll understand how pumped I was when I learned that they were planning to play “Ghost of Perdition”. This song came across the setlist during my allotted first-3-songs of shooting time, and I could feel a lump in my throat. I mean, can you blame me? That song totally slaps and they rarely play it. Don’t come at me for getting stoked, okay?! Anyway… Despite the hella challenging light show that this gig put forth, the performances were absolutely killer, and Khemmis was an undeniably suitable opener for this bill.
Calming down on the genre front for the weekend, I was please to have Alberta’s sweetheart, Corb Lund in front of my lens in an intimate setting at the Starlite Room, which was a very special opportunity. This was the second of three back-to-back-to-back sold out shows that Corb played over the weekend, and the house was so full, you couldn’t fit a fart in there. (It’s okay, you can giggle at that last remark.) Opening the night with singer-song writer Mike Plume who told stories of playing gigs with Corb, and played songs about life, drinking and being Canadian. The crowd ate this right up, and was red-hot for Corb to take the stage and bring the house down with his unconventional country tunes.
Returning to shoot a proper show at the Winspear Centre for the first time in something like, 4 years? I don’t even know how long its been, all I know is that it’s been a minute since I last got to be near that stage and in the room as a whole. Even better, with Shakey Graves on the stage to boot. The guy knows how to work a room, and it’s just so cool to watch. Between telling jokes that had the near sold-out Winspear Centre in stitches, to totally crushing just about every song he spat out into the microphone; Shakey could write a book about keeping people engaged when you’re the only one on stage. I absolutely adore this man’s music, so photographing him in this gorgeous room was such a pleasure, along with Winnipeg’s Begonia leading the charge with her contagious bubbly personality and super soulful singing.
Upon receiving the green-light to shoot Canada’s pop-punk princess, I couldn’t help but think that 9 year old me would have been screaming. I was looking super forward to shooting Avril Lavigne, however this one in particular ended up being quite bittersweet from a photographers perspective. This was intended to be a soundboard shoot, which in most cases kind of suck due to the distance from the stage and the overall lack of mobility, but upon arriving at the arena, it got so much worse. Unfortunately, we shutter bugs were placed double the distance farther back than we were originally supposed to be at, which posed a problem for many of us that evening. I know what you non-photographers might be thinking: “Dana, what about that giant white lens you run around with?” Well, the giant lens you usually see me with is awesome and works well for 99% of the shows I photograph. However, when I’m stationed at the soundboard (or in this case, Timbuktu.) a little more lens oomph is needed. I’d love to break down the sizing of lenses and how the significance of lens length matters in these situations, but that would just put you to sleep. If you’re REALLY that interested in learning more about it, send an email or slide into my DM’s. You do you. I digress, we photographers were stationed way far away from what we had anticipated, and that really took the piss out of my excitement for this show.
Now, just to get something straight, photographers seem to always have something to bitch about. Whether it’s shit lighting, or having to shoot from the soundboard, there’s always something that’s just unpleasant impeding the path to success when it comes to doing our jobs. Now, before you fellow shooters get your ginch in a twist over my truth bomb, hear me out! I bitch about these things ALL the time as well, but there’s always a bit of reasonable thought behind these complaints. In this case however, even the most seasoned shooter would have felt the pain in the ass that this situation posed. Why we were all stationed so far away, I don’t know. But I do know that it was lame, and unfortunate considering Avril killed her performance and the opportunity for better photos was totally swiped away. But, what can ya do. In the words of Ray LeFleur: “the fuckin’ way she goes.”
I ended the month of May shooting with my dudes in Sparrow Blue. I always love getting together with these guys, whether its a press shoot or for a gig, it’s always a pleasure. For this press shoot, we kicked it in 99ten, then wandered upstairs into The Common. Both of these spots have so much potential for great photos, so I’m glad the guys were able to nail down this location for our photoshoot. For this one, I used 2 soft boxes for a few of the shots, and then shifted gears to a simple bounce flash. If you want some more details on my gear for this shoot, hit me up here. Overall, the guys always kill it when we do our photoshoots, but I needed to include a photo of Jon from this gallery, simply because it’s like he can read my mind when we shoot; He does exactly what I need him to do without even having to tell him, not to mention he has hella style, and brings his A-game to every shoot we do. I know the guys are cooking up some juicy things for everyone, so if you’re into bluesy rock n roll, you’ll want to keep an eye on them.
Thank YOU for taking a hot minute (or two) to read my May recap blog! Got questions regarding what I shot throughout the month of May? Send me an email HERE with your concert photo questions, let’s nerd-out! But until then, stick around to get the scoop on June’s recap!
