March 2017 Recap

March was whack. While I was wrapping up a production contract with The Windsor Public Library, I was also living at St Andrew's Hall/The Shelter on the weekends shooting all sorts of cool bands. It was busy, but I really can't complain.

Astro Lasso, Plaid Brixx, Cute is What We Aim For, and We The Kings at The Shelter - March 4

The setup for photographers at The Shelter leaves us all at one side of the stage, resulting in shots that are all from more or less the same angle, and the sides of everyone's faces, at that. Less than ideal. But I managed to grab a few good ones from this show anyhow.

Dinosaur Jr. and Easy Action at St. Andrew's Hall - March 11

While by this point I have some experience with The Shelter, Dinosaur Jr. and Easy Action were my first time shooting at St. Andrew's Hall. I loved it. The lighting was great, the bouncers were cool, and I was able to get all the angles I wanted. Plus, the bands themselves were unbelievably rad. At this show I also found my favourite person ever to photograph - Easy Action's bass player Ron Sakowski. All the shots of this guy look amazing, The way his flowing hair and beard caught the light with the fan blowing them around was nothing short of majestic. My social media followers were digging those pictures as well, eventually comparing him to the Rock and Roll Gandalf meme from ages ago. It's a fitting comparison.

Empire Muscle Boxing Fundraiser - March 16

Sport and concert photography are really different but also fairly similar. I've got no control over my subjects, little control over the environment, and everyone makes weird faces. I still enjoy both, though! This mont I was back at Empire Muscle in Windsor to shoot a boxing class fundraiser.

Moose Blood, Trophy Eyes, Boston Manor, and A Will Away at St. Andrew's Hall - March 19

I first saw Moose Blood at Warped Tour in Toronto in 2015, and I loved them instantly. I went two weeks later to the show in Detroit and loved them again. Since then they've visited Detroit a few times, but I was never able to make it. So when the CJAM 99.1 FM music director forwarded me an invite to their show at St. Andrew's I was beyond thrilled. This would be my first chance to see them since the release of Blush, and it was going to be awesome. So of course, it totally was. They were fun as hell to watch, and I was also really digging the openers. I'm actually looking forward to catching a couple of them again later on this summer when Warped Tour comes back through Detroit!

Adam Gontier and Elsie Binx at Diesel Concert Lounge - March 24

I went through a phase in high school where I was all about Three Days Grace (who didn't?) and I had the chance to see them once at Rock on The Range in Columbus, Ohio. This solo acoustic set by Adam Gontier was something completely different, though. One of the most low-key tours ever, while on stage Gontier admitted that he didn't have a set list and was open to crowd requests about halfway through. He got part of the way into the first request before deciding he didn't actually know that song well enough to play it. It was actually a really cool performance to see, and I'm glad that I was able to catch it.

Also on the bill that night was EBX, a band I've shot and written about many times in the past. This was my first time seeing their acoustic set though, so that was neat!