Although a fair bit brighter than the Phantogram show, the venue also was a proud member of the magenta and cyan gel club. I compensated for it as much as I could in-camera, dialing the white balance down manually as far as it could go (around 2500K). In the processing I chose to keep some of the magenta cast intact – it was how the stage was lit after all and I didn’t want to be too aggressive in the adjustments. Black and white conversions also help make it a moot point.

Also having learned a few lessons from the Phantogram show, I brought the fastest telephoto lens I have in my kit, the 85mm f/1.8. Fortunately I didn’t have to shoot wide open nor crank the ISO as high as 3200, as I was getting healthy hand-holdable settings of around 1/160 at f/2.8.

The primary challenge with this show actually turned out to be positioning. With audience seating flush to the edge of the stage, I didn’t see many options initially, so I started out stage right, which gave me a straightforward – if not particularly dynamic – perspective. A few songs in I spotted an opening closer in on stage left, and moved there between songs. The early departure of a couple front row viewers then gave me the opportunity to get down on the floor for some more dramatic angles.

Overall I was quite pleased with the evening of shooting. And to think I almost didn’t go…

See the full sets of color and black whites.