i like mob movies, mint chocolate chip ice cream, law & order SVU, the wire, twitter, photoshop layers, rasberries, hoodies, the ocean, hip-hop, elephants and everything new england patriots. pats! pats! pats! pats! pats! pats! go pats!
representing that 1st and 15th… i scrambled to contact lupe fiasco’s publicist in time for last wednesday’s show. they blessed me with a ticket and photopass (and aftershow pass?!) and below are the...
i scrambled to contact lupe fiasco’s publicist in time for last wednesday’s show. they blessed me with a ticket and photopass (and aftershow pass?!) and below are the images from the house of blues. i ran into steve osemwenkhae of mindlessphotos and we watched the show, adding comedic commentary when necessary. lots of laughs.
i’m a fan to sneaking out the door a few songs before the end (especially if i have to ride the train home), but the security dude said that the aftershow pass would allow us to meet lupe when the show was done. very good. i’m staying!
a.) B.O.B‘s set surprised me. he went from rapper dude to acoustic guitarist dude to electric guitarist dude to shirt-off-standing-in-the-crowd dude. it was like TI meets Wyclef meets John Mayer. i wasn’t expecting that. his song, BEAUTIFUL GIRLS is all over the radio. he’ll do great things.
b.) lupe fiasco‘s stage show made me tired! this dude can move! he was moving from stage left to right and back so fast. such energy. and his lyrics have depth. love it! he took the time out to appreciate the fans. brought a ton of them on stage for a full song and they all got to sing daydreamin’. hilarious. great show. don’t miss it.
and now….click on the image below to read the official examiner.com review.
for some reason, last week was packed with shows. every night. monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, saturday and sunday. too much for my shoulders. looking up to the stage with a 70-200mm heavy lens in your hands takes...
for some reason, last week was packed with shows. every night. monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, saturday and sunday. too much for my shoulders. looking up to the stage with a 70-200mm heavy lens in your hands takes a toll. i need a massage (holler). but i enjoy it, so i will not complain anymore. it’s practice for wedding season.
ALICIA KEYS @ AGGANIS ARENA
thank you to the people at sony for dealing with my constant emails. and thank you to akila robinson for helping me get approved for this show. although i did not have a review ticket for this show, i was still able to photograph the first 3 songs of melanie fiona and the first 2 of alicia. alicia emerged onto the stage in a cage, surrounded by fog. she stayed in that cage for 80% of the first song, and all of the photographers were covered in fog, trying to get their camera to focus on something. anything. a hand, some hair… eventually, miss keys stepped out to the front with her dancers, and just as i was getting warmed up, security pulled us out. one song for alicia. dream killers.
ROBIN THICKE @ HOUSE OF BLUES brandolini at vater put me in touch with robin thicke’s drummer, ronnie lawrence ‘lb’ breaux. i went in a little early, just after soundcheck, and grabbed a ton of pics of lb on the drums. thank god this worked out before the show, because the house of blues made the world’s smallest pit for this show. i mean, it was the width of me, with no wiggle room. this makes taking pictures…quite difficult. and i only had the first 2 songs (which isn’t long enough) to get thicke, lb and all the other musicians. tough. again, i’m glad i did a lot of shooting beforehand. lb was a pleasure to work with. he played the drums to the tunes the dj was playing, so i could get some pictures of him playing ‘for real’. i wanted to do the running man on the house of blues stage, but i played it cool. the sticks in his mouth were my idea. he played along. thanks chad. thanks, lb.
TOWER OF POWER @ WILBUR THEATRE
my parents wanted to go to this show. the venue promised me two tickets, so my mother bought one. i’d sit in the one she bought and my folks would sit in the 2 they gave me. error. the night before they told me i’d only have one seat, so i went alone. my father is doing OK, but there is no way he would have been able to climb up to the balcony at that place. super steep. no hand railings. not cool. i ran into rich gastwirt and enjoyed the show. i saved the earplugs from the daughtry show and used them again. it cuts down on the headaches i get after a show.
THE DONNAS @ THE PARADISE ROCK CLUB
at this point, i’m exhausted. at work on thursday, i get an email that says i’m approved to shoot the donnas show later that night. yay, but boo! i’m running on empty at this point and the weekend isn’t even here. every show i take on is another review to write. i’m a photographer first, who writes as best i can. it doesn’t come as naturally and is at times, painful. luckily, i ran into some very knowledgeable fans who had pretty much traveled the country, going to donnas’ shows. i just made their statements the review. it’s better than me giving a generic overview of the show. the fans of the artists know the most and it’s cool to have a more personal account of these concerts.
HIM @ THE HOUSE OF BLUES
i literally dragged myself to the train station on sunday night for this one. i had a ‘portrait mayhem’ event on sunday from 10am-4pm, where i set up a studio set and photographed 2 babies, 2 kiddos, one dog, one band and 3 others. can we say, too much? i’m glad i went. i hung out with robb noxious and met Bill Baker, who was following the band for a book. good conversations. lots of laughs. my favorite part of the night? upon entering the pit, one of the kids in the front row yelled, “let’s hear it for the cameragirl!” and i did a little dance and they all cheered. hilarious.
remember that rapper who would do the yearly wrap-up of pop culture? what was his name? he was on the sprite liquid mix tour back in the day…i think. Skillz. LOL. well, this is my monthly wrap-up. i went to...
remember that rapper who would do the yearly wrap-up of pop culture? what was his name? he was on the sprite liquid mix tour back in the day…i think. Skillz. LOL. well, this is my monthly wrap-up. i went to arizona and las vegas at the beginning of the month. just before i left, i had a week of concerts that i never posted about. i’m going to try and rewind and catch up on all of the shows from the past month+, including last week!
oh wait. i did post the week before i left. look at me, being efficient. new found glory, the black eyed peas….they are posted. i even gave a little shout out to mike posner and citizen cope. ok, ok. this post will just cover the march shows.
AMADEUS (TREY SONGZ)@ TD GARDEN
i ran into my old buddy, chad brandolini of vater percussion at the new found glory show. i told him…as much as i love shooting weddings and portraits, i miss photographing music/concerts. i used to ONLY shoot concerts. i explained my new side gig at examiner.com and told him i need more hip-hop shows in my life. chad to the rescue.
chad put me in touch with drummer/producer amadeus (antwan ‘amadeus’ thompson in long form). ha. amadeus was on tour with trey songz, who was on tour with jay-z for the BP3 gig. omg. sign me up. the night of the show, i ran around the venue looking for the correct entrance with the credentials i had. finally, i gave up and hollered at chad…who had amadeus give me a call. now i had never talked to this guy on the phone before, so i was nervous. he put me at ease immediately. super nice. not an ounce of douchebag in him. not that i expected that. i just didn’t expect to be welcomed with open arms. he introduced me to the staff and band waiting in the cafeteria backstage. wicked nice. i sat while they went through their pre-show routine. trying to keep it together. ha. jay-z walked by in the hall. i secretly sh*t myself. memphis bleek walked in. i was cool. trey songz set was pretty darn good. i sang to myself while taking pictures of amadeus, who is a beast on the drums. thank baby jesus that the soundboard guy let me stand on the side of the stage, because i couldn’t get great shots of amadeus behind the drumset from the front of the stage. i’m too short. stage is too high. they killed it. and the plan was for amadeus to sneak me out to shoot jay-z. HA! it didn’t work. i was immediately removed from the pit. hova’s security doesn’t play. dream killers. amadeus could see my soul was destroyed, so he tried to sneak me into the other side. double HA! security dude had already made it over there and they were escorting the photographers out of the pit. so close. no cigar.
either way. trey songz was good. jay-z was fire. amadeus is the truth. he even danced with one of the security guards. that was hilarious. and i got great pictures from the show for them. go to his website: platinum boy entertainment. and buy a drumstick from vater while you’re at it. boom.
DROPKICK MURPHYS @ HOUSE OF BLUES
the dropkick’s come thru every year (10 years to be exact) and do a week long string of shows for their hometown. ‘i’m shipping up to boston, yeah yeah yeah.’ that’s them. their song was in THE DEPARTED. and i shot them back maybe 4 years ago at locobazooka. the one with disturbed as the headliner. i remember how crazy the crowd went for their set. this saturday matinee show was just as sick. they had a little platform sticking out from the stage so the lead singer could walk out to the people…which meant the photographers were shooting him from behind most of the time…or really close up. i got a foot to the chin. thank you, crowd surfer. security was working hard, just pulling people out of the pit left and right. good show. shoutout to mary mare!
ALICE IN CHAINS @ ORPHEUM THEATRE
i didn’t even think i was going to shoot this show. i’ve been a fan of MAN IN A BOX, since my hypercane days. it was one of those songs they’d always close with and dana would kill it on the drums. their management emailed me the day before saying i was set to go. surprise! they asked that i only post the images in the article, so i’ll respect that. i guess. chad to the rescue again. ran into brandolini and he helped me get the tickets that were not at the box office. that happens too frequently. 9/10 times everything is set. your name is on the list. all good. it’s tickets that the tricky part. there is either one, two or none…but never what is discussed beforehand. it’s cool. i go with the flow and usually have a person to call/email if something goes wrong the day of the show. i am fortunate enough to make my own deadlines, so i try not to stress out too much. AIC asked to review and approve all the images that would be posted for this, so you’ll have to visit the article to see photos from this show.
DAUGHTRY @ AGGANIS ARENA
phew. the good people at sony called me friday afternoon at work to confirm this one. i tried following up with no email response, so imagine my surprise. thanks, RCA. and thanks to my cousin akila for helping me reach out to folks over in that office. i appreciate it, cuzzo. i shot at the agganis for mixfest back in 2006. rihanna was there and had the flu, but tried to sing anyway. trooper. jessica connor is in charge over there and is the nicest venue person ever. tricia at the garden is pretty awesome also. mary mare was in the house again. and daughtry was looking very
aj mclean that night. good show either way. lifehouse was great and i missed cavo due to INSANE traffic on commonwealth avenue. parking near boston university is painful. too many one way streets. the stage lighting at this gig was perfect.
visit review: CLICK HERE!
more photos from daughtry.
i have 5 more shows to post. i’ll do a part 2. word.
it used to be the garden. then it was the fleetcenter. then it was the td banknorth garden. then…. either way, the black eyed peas + ludacris + LMFAO were WONDERFUL tonight (technically last night)....
it used to be the garden. then it was the fleetcenter. then it was the td banknorth garden. then….
either way, the black eyed peas + ludacris + LMFAO were WONDERFUL tonight (technically last night). shoutouts to all the great photographers in the house AND my hero, matthew j. lee! woo hoo!
check out the review here. to my buddies in the front row (feel free to email me your thoughts on the show and i will edit the article to include your quotes! karin@karindailey.com).
^ ^ click on image above to visit the examiner website.
crazy show last night at the house of blues. new found glory and all the supporting bands killed it! click on the screenshot below to view the official review with input from fans. thanks to everyone i talked...
crazy show last night at the house of blues. new found glory and all the supporting bands killed it! click on the screenshot below to view the official review with input from fans. thanks to everyone i talked to. shoutouts to drunk dave green and my homeslice chad brandolini. side note: i love that song by hellogoodbye that was on the radio. i like, where we are, when we drive, in your car….”
^ ^ click on image above to visit the examiner website.
i like hip-hop. i like r&b. jazz even. pop. a little rock. but metal? i’m not just blowing smoke…the show last wednesday night at great scott featuring doomriders, skeletonwitch, iron age,...
i like hip-hop. i like r&b. jazz even. pop. a little rock. but metal? i’m not just blowing smoke…the show last wednesday night at great scott featuring doomriders, skeletonwitch, iron age, howl and megasus was pretty dope. in a metal dope kind of way. check out the review on examiner.com (click screenshot below). hello to kyle! NNHS represent! KMD
^ ^ click on image above to visit the examiner website.
the bellos are good people. lisa bello, louie bello and all of their friends. malik. noel. all y’all. <3 the crew performed at the hard rock cafe on tuesday night. i brought my mama. check out the...
the crew performed at the hard rock cafe on tuesday night. i brought my mama. check out the review below (click on the image) and check out the slideshow of images. the band pretty much wrote this one for me. THANKS GUYS! KMD
^ ^ click on image above to visit the examiner website.
another fantastic show. i’ve yet to be disappointed in this lil’ journey as a reviewer/photographer for examiner.com. discovering great bands and meeting new people. jackie greene performed...
another fantastic show. i’ve yet to be disappointed in this lil’ journey as a reviewer/photographer for examiner.com. discovering great bands and meeting new people. jackie greene performed 2 sets at the paradise on Saturday. a link to the official review is below. dude was a genius on the guitar. great sound. great show. jamie mclean was crazy good as well. cowboy boots in the house. thanks to marty & tour manager, chris. (hello to my friend, “budwe” – who loved the instrumental jams during the show.) KMD
^ ^ click on image above to visit the examiner website.
Hi, Nice shots of Jackie Greene, I was shooting there as well. Also, your work on your website is very cool as well. I was just wondering something though, for someone of your skill and talent, why would you write and provide all of the excellent images you take from concerts, and “give them to a profit driven content aggregtor like the examiner.com? You understand that they allow you to keep your copyright, but that you also bascially forfeit that copyright by granting them free liscence forever to use your images and content in any manner they see fit, without your being given proper payemnt, and they can use, sell, manipulate and disseminate your artwork as they please “across the unvirse” (their words not mine). Just struck me as odd as you’re obviously someone with great talent, that likely doesn’t need to give away your ownership to a site that simply pays out pennies (if that) and prfits greatly from all of your hard work, simply for what I imagine you see as opportunity for access to shows/venues?
Please take this with the respect it’s written in. I am envious of your training, and while I love my art and what I do, do not live full time in this space.and so maybe I’m missing why this is something a profrssional is willing to compromise on…
-MS
MS, Thanks. Great show – wasn’t it!? Thank you for visiting the site as well. And now on to the better part of the conversation….
I appreciate your concern. I really do. I’ve read that and I’ve read what the venues make you sign and I’ve read what some of the artists make you sign. By the time you actually get into the show, your images have little freedom anyway. You upload images less than 500 pixels in length….you can bearly get a good print from that…
I’m sure they are making good profit off of all of the people who contribute for them, but if you flip it – they give the contributors freedom to post about what they want and when they want, backed by a legit ‘media outlet’. It does give me access to shows, but I also make sure to connect with a handful of people at the shows. I think the good outweighs the bad here – in music photography at least.
I look at it as a way to share my work and passion with people that would otherwise not visit my photography, even in it is backed by “corporate evil.” I mean, until the Boston Globe hires me….and even then, I’m sure someone has a strong opinion against them. If I have nothing else booked, why not get out there to a show? It’s my favorite thing to shoot (don’t tell the brides)…especially during the slow winter months.
Thanks again for taking the time to write.
phew! i finally got this one posted. the band allowed me to photograph the entire show AND wander around the entire venue. when you’re not limited to just the first 2 or 3 songs, you come home...
phew! i finally got this one posted. the band allowed me to photograph the entire show AND wander around the entire venue. when you’re not limited to just the first 2 or 3 songs, you come home with 500+ images. i put them into an animoto slideshow to accompany the article this time, featuring Rebelution’s tune: SO HIGH (remix). great show! loved SOJA! missed zion I because the green line train stopped for 20 mins at longwood station. at least the snow never came. KMD
shoutouts to joe and ashley! i’m shooting their wedding in june and saw them at the show! sorry i didn’t recognize you right away, joe. it was the hat!
^ ^ click on image above to visit the examiner website.
super impressive show at the paradise rock club last night. if you’ve never seen galactic live, you are missing out. what energy! what talent! it was a good time. so good, that i only...
super impressive show at the paradise rock club last night. if you’ve never seen galactic live, you are missing out. what energy! what talent! it was a good time. so good, that i only got 2 hours of sleep last night. read more: http://tinyurl.com/ye4rdzs
good night!
^ ^ click on image above to visit the examiner website.
chad to the rescue again. ran into brandolini and he helped me get the tickets that were not at the box office. that happens too frequently. 9/10 times everything is set. your name is on the list. all good. it’s tickets that the tricky part. there is either one, two or none…but never what is discussed beforehand. it’s cool. i go with the flow and usually have a person to call/email if something goes wrong the day of the show. i am fortunate enough to make my own deadlines, so i try not to stress out too much. AIC asked to review and approve all the images that would be posted for this, so you’ll have to 
love the shout out to Mr. Lee, what a great photog crush!
Keep on keepin on
love the shout out to Mr. Lee, what a great photog crush!
Keep on keepin on