Concert Photography – Pigments of Sound Sensation

March 2, 2022March 2, 2022

LIVE: Plush (with Daughtry) Gets Standing Ovation From Audience at Their First Ever Live Show (July 31, 2021)

Originally Written for Nippertown.

Clearly I’m publishing this months after it was first published. And since then I’ve been to a few more Plush concerts. So there might be some edits I make with a newer perspective. But I’m not sure. I haven’t reread this since it was written. But so much has happened since my last entry that pertains to this one, and so a little context is needed.

In October of 2020, in the midst of a pandemic, Moriah’s father and mother reached out to me about taking some photos for a secret project. Moriah was putting together a band, and they wanted some promo shots and a demo song to send to record labels. They sat around my dining room table, my cat settling into Moriah’s dad (Josh)’s lap within minutes of them taking a seat. We discussed the project, costumes, locations, poses…and planned a date for all four of these women to come together. They were so newly put together that they didn’t even have a band name yet.

January 12, 2021January 19, 2021

Madison VanDenburg Permeates the COVID-Quiet Halls of the Bearsville Theater

Originally written for Nippertown.

The pandemic has brought many challenges for many-a-musician, but some artists have found ways to connect with and perform to audiences from afar. In a COVID world, living rooms and bedrooms and even bathrooms become concert halls. And occasionally, there’s an empty concert venue all gussied up for a live stream show. Such is the most recent performance by our own Idol alumni and pop music poster child Madison VanDenburg, who took up residence in the historic Bearsville Theater in Woodstock on Sunday (01.10.2021) night for a livestream concert.

With an itch for live music that hasn’t been satiated since last March, I was more than happy to attend at Madison’s request as one of only two people who weren’t venue staff (or Madison’s team.) To wander the halls of an empty venue is spooky. The absence of an audience was certainly felt, and it wasn’t just the performance space itself that made my skin prickle. It was the echoing crunch of gravel under your feet in the sparsely occupied parking lot, the locked doors, darkened rooms, vacant lounges with empty bar shelves, and this weighty silence that wrapped around you in the half-lit hallways.

Madison on the grand piano on stage at the Bearsville Theater

March 3, 2020March 3, 2020

Dermot Kennedy & SYML || 03.01.2020

Review initially posted on Nippertown

So I generally try to go to a concert educated on the music, but this time I fell short. I attended the Dermot Kennedy show on relatively short notice, and in doing so I failed in familiarizing myself with Kennedy’s music which allowed me to attend his show with a clear, unbiased perspective. The same cannot be said for the supporting act, SYML, who I am very much a fan of. With those disclosures out in the open, let’s dive right in.

The opening act was Seattle-based Brian Fennell, or as he is known in the music world, SYML. SYML, formerly of the band Barcelona, is generally a one-man all-encompassing songwriting, producing, and performing entity. However, during an anecdote, SYML stated that he picked up a musician somewhere along his tour, a fellow Brian nonetheless. Brian offered violin and piano accompaniments to SYML’s largely mellow music.

February 29, 2020March 4, 2020

Fitz and The Tantrums || Upstate Concert Hall || 02.26.2020

Concert review initially posted for the online publication Nippertown.

Fitz and the Tantrums (FATT) has been on my radar for a lot longer than I’ve actually been actively listening to them. My father and I used to occasionally watch this show called Live from Daryl’s House. It began as a web show and later moved to public broadcast.

February 17, 2020February 21, 2020

Saint Motel is Just My Type :: February 15, 2020

Saint Motel, Clifton Park, NY, 02.15.2020

Want the abridged version? It’s posted on Nippertown

FADE IN:

EXT. UPSTATE CONCERT HALL – SAINT MOTEL MOTION PICTURE SHOW – CHILLY WINTER NIGHT

Establishing.

On the outskirts of New York’s Capital city in the town of Clifton Park, a line of concert-goers is queued up under the overhang of a strip mall-turned-concert venue. They are waiting for the doors to open so they can escape the frigid air and find their places as close to the stage as they can get. The parking lot is full of cars, full of ruts, and you can hear the sound of crunching ice chunks as cars drive over them. The green, white, and black sign above the venue door reads UPSTATE CONCERT HALL. A SECURITY GUARD takes a drag from his cigarette, then exhales into the night air, the smoke indistinguishable from the vaporized breath. The concert-goers, some of which are inappropriately dressed for the weather, jump, dance, and shuffle to keep themselves warm. They chatter and laugh among themselves.

October 18, 2019October 18, 2019

Daughtry Acoustic Trio || Troy Music Hall || 10.16.19

Daughtry (Acoustic Trio), Troy, NY, 10.16.19

Concert review initially posted for the online publication Nippertown.

American Idol alumni Chris Daughtry, flanked on either side by Elvio Fernandes (Piano) and Brian Craddock (Guitar), put his heart and soul into over an hour of some of Daughtry’s biggest hits in their purest form Wednesday night at Troy Music Hall.

September 17, 2019February 21, 2020

The Return of Finish Ticket || 09.13.19

This concert held particular significance for me, which is why it’s that much harder for me to write about it. Now I’ve spoken about the start of my concert photography with Moriah Formica, but it is with Finish Ticket that my journey truly began. FT is San Fransisco-based quartet that straddles the line between indie rock and radio-ready pop. I came across their single “Color” them on a now-defunct hidden section of Google Play called the antenna sampler. I fell in love with the catchy melodies and lyrics, and the youthful, yet mature-sounding pop. “Color” in particular fills me with sad sort of nostalgic longing for something I can’t quite place. Shortly after discovering their EP (sometime in mid 2015), a friend and I made our way to Boston to see them perform at Brighton Music Hall. It was here I discovered concert photography.

August 21, 2019August 22, 2019

Madison VanDenburg :: 08/18 & 08/19

Madison VanDenburg, Altamont Fair, NY, 08.18.19

The last time I wrote about Madison, she had just barely started her run on American Idol. Since then, she claimed the title of Second Runner-Up (or third place), and has been touring nationally and locally with her band and her fellow Idol contestants.

May 18, 2019August 12, 2019

Aly & AJ: Potential Make-Up Song

The sisters are close and this comes through in their interactions on stage with each other.

Chances are that if you were born in the early to mid 90s, like me, then you know who the Michalka sisters are. Maybe not by their surname, but by their nicknames: Aly & AJ. These sisters earned their fame in the glow of one of those Disney glow sticks. Alyson was on a show called Phil of the Future (you’re already humming the theme song, I know you are!) and AJ…well honestly I never saw anything she was in except for a Disney Channel movie called Cow Belles but I think that’s because I was aging out of Disney Channel at that point. Anyway, everyone knows that if you’re going to be on a Disney show you can’t just be an actor or actress. You have to be able to sing. Aly & AJ put out two albums under Hollywood Records, both albums were well received and you can be damn sure almost any 90s millennial knows the words to “Potential Breakup Song.”

April 16, 2019April 17, 2019

Crazy On Moriah Formica

Moriah Formica, if you live in the good old 518 area, is not a new name. She is another one of the many extremely hard-working and talented superstars to find fame, be it local or international, on a reality television music competition show. She is what Adam Levine, front man for Maroon5, has called a “pint-size powerhouse” and what country superstar Blake Shelton once referred to as someone who received an extra dose of talent when God got distracted when He was sprinkling it onto people. It’s people like Moriah that make me joke that they need to save some talent for the rest of us.