In the first of their three-date residency playing to their hometown crowd, Wilco thumped the Pageant with a big dose of hot, smoldering rock.
Setting the tone for the short residency, Jeff Tweedy led the band through an epic, catalogue spanning set:
1. Sunken Treasure
2. You Are My Face
3. Hummingbird
4. Ashes Of American Flags
5. Company In My Back
6. Handshake Drugs
7. Pot Kettle Black
8. A Shot In The Arm
9. On And On And On
10. Misunderstood
11. Far, Far Away
12. Impossible Germany
13. New Madrid
14. Jesus, Etc.
15. California Stars
16. Walken
17. I’m The Man Who Loves You
18. Heavy Metal Drummer
Encore 1:
19. Spiders (Kidsmoke)
20. Hate It Here
21. Kingpin
Encore 2:
22. Passenger Side
23. Red-Eyed And Blue
24. I Got You (At The End Of The Century)
25. Casino Queen
26. Outtasite (Outta Mind)
Photographer’s Notes:
Wilco’s performance on May 15 was the first of a short, three-day residency at the Pageant to wrap up their Spring 2008 tour, and I was interested to see what sort of production the band would have on stage.
I shot from a very narrow pit with one other photographer, with just barely enough room for us to get by one another.
During the first three songs, frontman Jeff Tweedy mostly stayed at the front of the stage, occasionally reeling back from the mic or stepping back to play near drummer Glenn Kotche.
I found most of the best angles of Tweedy came stage left, in part due to the performer’s stance and also by default, since that position also most clear of speaker monitors.
Lighting:
Lighting for the first song saw dull green and blue effects from behind and warm white light from high in the front. The second dong saw splashes of white light in the background, juxtaposed with a bit of red, while strong blue with yellow accents dominated the third song.
Overall, the front lighting changed very little, leaving the majority of the work to the backlighting.
Exposure & Metering:
I shot around f/2 and 1/160 at ISO 3200 for this set. Strictly speaking, the lighting wasn’t as dim as I thought it might be, but I decided to shoot at ISO 3200 for added depth and color fidelity.
Luckily, movements of the band were calculated and few, so I was able to let shutter speeds slide a little more without the fear of too much motion blur.
Lenses & Gear:
I shot almost exclusively with primes for this set with the D3, relying heavily on the Nikon 50mm f/1.4 and Nikon 85mm f/1.4.
Due to the quality of the light, I wanted to stay with as low an ISO as possible. While I could have shot at ISO 6400 and f/2.8 with zooms, I knew the deep shadows and color mix would benefit from the lower sensitivity.
Generally speaking, the two-prime combo covered the event nicely, and I didn’t really want for much more than the lenses offered.
10 Comments Add your own
1. Celso | May 21st, 2008 at 6:11 am
Another well done job! You really are an astonishing concert photographer!
2. Todd | May 21st, 2008 at 8:14 am
Hi Celso, thanks much for the kind words. Glad to hear you enjoyed this set. It was certainly an interesting shoot, considering the primes and limited options, but still fun nonetheless.
3. tom | May 21st, 2008 at 8:33 am
Wonderful, majestic set Todd!
4. Todd | May 21st, 2008 at 8:36 am
Hey Tom, thank you. Sorry we couldn’t meet up for this gig. What did you think of Friday’s show?
5. chris | May 22nd, 2008 at 11:53 am
The lighting looks really nasty, but there is some great color separation going on in a number of the shots.
6. Todd | May 22nd, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Chris, the lighting was pretty bad. Luckily I thought that might be the case and brought my primes. This shoot definitely would have been more difficult with “only” f/2.8 zooms.
The weird color contrasts in the background lighting was the only saving grace.
7. Zach | May 22nd, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Hey dude, any shots from the Radiohead concert? I loved that show and I can’t wait to see the pictures you got from it.
No rush………………
8. Todd | May 22nd, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Hey Zach, the Radiohead shots are coming. Probably. Just a little bit longer ;)
9. Chris | May 23rd, 2008 at 6:08 pm
Hey Todd, great set. Favorites are 1, 5, 12, and 13 after the jump. Also enjoy 19 and 32 from the set at the bottom. Of all of them I think I like 1, 13, and 32 the best. It is interesting how 1 is split into 2 different colours exactly. In 13 he looks like he is getting prepared to do something big and enjoy the look on his face, and feel in 32 the dark background juxtaposed with the bright light on him makes for a strong photo.
Don’t particularly enjoy #8 after the jump because the foreground is a little more distracting than usual, his face isn’t showing a great expression, and feel it’s a dad bit soft. Other than that, amazing!
Also see you are shooting Panic! and Motion City soon. Definitely jealous you will get to be there. The Hush Sound is playing with them too — you shooting them as well?
10. Todd | May 24th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Hey Chris, thanks for the feedback and your picks for this set. Lots of weird color combinations during this show.
I should be photographing the Panic/MCS show next Friday. I almost always photograph the entire lineup unless the lighting is particularly horrible for a band – and even then, I usually try!
speak up
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