In a triumphant performance played with uncontainable zeal, Canadian heavy metal band Anvil rocked a rabid and earnestly appreciative crowd at the Pageant on the Anvil Experience Tour. For this music photographer, it felt like an honor to photograph these rock legends, and I had a blast.
Photographer’s Notes:
I loved photographing Anvil at this concert. There’s something entirely refreshing about photographing a band with decades of history who are still so obviously relishing every single second on stage. And for anyone familiar with the Story of Anvil, it’s clear why: Lips, Robb, and Glenn are just living the dream.
While the 2,000-capacity Pageant was far from sold out, what the crowd lacked in quantity it more than made up for in quality. Fans threw up the metal fist and sang along with every word, thrashing along with every double-bass kick Robb launched at them.
There was a very narrow pit for this concert, and it was so close to the stage, in fact, that I was relieved to see that the mic stands for Lips and Glenn Five were set back about a meter from the front. Had the two musicians been set up right at the front of the stage, the acute shooting angle combined with the pair of monitors at each station would have made for a much tougher situation.
On the flipside, drummer Robb Reiner was relatively far back from the front of the stage, and, behind his kit, was the most difficult subject of the trio. In addition to the far position, Robb’s other obstacle for clean photography came with a relative lack of light at the back of the stage.
Overall, lighting for this show wasn’t terribly bright, but neither was it unmanageable by any means. Treatments largely consisted of hazy color backlighting and dimmer warm incandescent light from in front of the stage.
My exposure for much of the set hovered around 1/80 and ISO 3200 to 4000 at f/2.8.
I used all three of my f/2.8 zooms – the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8, 24-70mm f/2.8, and 70-200mm f/2.8.
With a crowd full of dedicated and enthusiastic fans, this show was ripe for catchflash in many respects. Here’s one example of Lips getting the benefit of flash from a P&S in the crowd.
While I could have used flash for this show, I preferred the look of the stage lighting. There was no shooting limit for this concert, so I snapped away quite happily with the stage lighting and enjoyed this rare luxury.
This entry was posted on Sunday, January 31st, 2010 at 8:46 pm and is filed under Music Photography and tagged with anvil, concert photography, Glenn Five, heavy metal, lips, live, music photography, Robb Reiner, Steve "Lips" Kudlow, Steve Kudlow. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
It was a honor photographing Anvil – totally gracious rockers; 1 of the best shows of 2010 so far. http://bit.ly/9UMr6Y
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My name is Todd, and I love the rock show. My work has appeared in publications such as Rolling Stone, SPIN, the New York Times, Alternative Press, Metal Hammer, Entertainment Weekly, and Billboard Magazine. I'm available for worldwide travel for editorial and commercial assignments.
Looks like pretty standard Pageant lighting, but you always make the best of it. See you at Switchfoot on the 15th?
Hey Chris,
Yeah, pretty standard for the Pageant, but I have the feeling that the guys gave them just a little more “juice.” I’d like to think so, anyway. Will have to check into Switchfoot, but hopefully will see you there.
Another great set Todd. These guys deserve great photographs and you’re just the photographer to take them!
Hey groovehouse,
Thanks for the kind words. I have to admit, I haven’t yet seen the film, but I’m familiar with their story, and I did feel an even greater push to do Anvil justice in photography.
This was also the first show I’ve been to where fans were calling out “Thank you!” at the end of the show. It was touching to see how much the band seemed to enjoy the stage, but also how dedicated and appreciative their fans were as well.
Incredible photos! Definitely captured the essence and the energy that is Anvil. Its great to see guys living their dream and still humble to the end. Sounds like someone else we all know, eh?
So no real photo restrictions? Was that the band’s doin? Or the venue?
Either way, badass as usual.
Hey Raul,
Thanks for the comment and kind words, glad these images capture Anvil for you.
The venue didn’t hand down any special restrictions, and they always enforce whatever the tour hands down in my experience. So, it was pretty much anything goes from the pit.
Oh to have been able to shoot them with the “standard lighting” that the Pageant has! ;)
Hey Graham,
Thanks for the comment. “Standard” lighting is all relative!
Hey Todd
great set, I met and shot them at the movie premiere in NYC, what a nice bunch.
I can def see where your quote regarding the lighting came from when comparing these shots to some of your other sets.
best
Paul
Hey Paul,
Thanks for the comment. Sadly, I couldn’t stick around to meet the band, but I could tell straight away that they seemed like genuinely nice and down to earth rockers. A rarity in these days, so I’m happy about their renewed presence – even if it is 30 years later.
Great shots, as usual, Todd. Great to finally meet you and shoot with you too. And if YOU thought the pit was narrow…
Todd – My son and I met you for the first time at this show. Your pictures of this and your other shows are awesome – keep em comin.
Hey Greg,
Nice meeting you at the show, glad you saw the images. Thanks for the kind words.
I am really glad to have found your flickr work which led me to this site. I have been a fan of Anvil since Metal on Metal (which was bought on cassette tape), and your pics of them are great.
Norge