November 16, 2008 – Bathed in deep washes and lit dramatically from below, the Alkaline Trio brought a tight, driving set to the Pageant, filled with tales of alcohol-soaked love and heartbreak alike.
Photographer's Notes:
Out of all the sets of the night, Alkaline Trio's was the most difficult, primarily due to the deep color washes that dominated their stage production.
Reds and Magentas seemed to be the order of the night during the groups first three songs, a trend that also carried into their set after I left the pit.
Aside from lighting challenges, the big speaker monitors in front of Matt Skiba and Derek Grant kept the musicians at a distance, not to mention their vocal duties, such that they rarely came to the edge of the stage.
Still, this was a fun set to photograph. I'd been a quiet fan of the band back in their Asian Man Records days, but had never caught them live, so this was a bit of a nostalgic gig to shoot.
I used the Nikon D3 and D700, utilizing the trio of f/2.8 zooms. 14-24mm, 24-70mm, and the 70-200mm. Out of those, the latter two saw the most use.
The 70-200mm was nice for tighter shots and for picking up Derek Grant at the back of the stage, while the 24-70mm was perfect for half-length portraits of Matt Skiba and Dan Andriano. While the 14-24mm brought in a few fun shots, I could have easily done without it for this show.
