On their first arena tour, and the first night of that tour, The Black Keys rocked the paint off the walls at US Bank Arena in Cincinnati. They had fans engaged from the beginning of their set with their heavy, melodic blues-rock. As a photographer, this was a fun shoot. As a fan, it was one of the best shows I’ve seen.

Shooting Notes:

With shooting trends leaning more and more toward soundboard shoots, it was nice to be able to shoot a great band from the front of the stage. Dan and Patrick are a pleasure to shoot. They put a lot of emotion and attitude into their music which made for some great shots. The lighting wasn’t anything too crazy. Aside from a quick wash of red at the end of the 3rd song, the lighting was great. Photogs were in the pit for songs 2 through 4, which provided a variety of sounds and lighting.

Coming from Sheffield across the pond, the Arctic Monkeys opened for The Black Keys in Cincinnati at the Keys’ tour opener. With a notable catalogue of their own, the Arctic Monkeys fired through a solid set.

Shooting Notes:

The shooting conditions were pretty straight forward for Arctic Monkeys. First three songs from the pit. Their lighting mostly consisted of dim pink lights with some orange accents that was a bit challenging, but nothing that cranking the ISO up a bit couldn’t fix.

Drake, who is known to be a huge UK Basketball fan, took the stage at Rupp Arena for the first time, having been there a few times for basketball games in the past. With an explosive set with surprise guests and a huge stage with a barrage of lights, Drake’s first headlining arena tour is sure to put him even more on the map than he already is.

Shooting Notes:

Unlike all of his opening acts who allowed shooting from the pit, photographers had to shoot Drake from the soundboard. I came prepared with a 400mm lens, monopod, and stool to try to get above the hands of the crowd. Challenges aside, Drake is very expressive, so with a 400mm that got me in pretty tight, his emotion helped create some great shots.

Another up-and-comer, Kendrick Lamar, hit the stage last before Drake on the Club Paradise. Along with A$AP Rocky and handful of others, Kendrick was featured in SPIN Magazine as one of the great rappers of the future.

Shooting Notes:

Similar to the other opening acts, Kendrick Lamar was a pretty straight forward shoot. It was first three songs from the pit with a nice blend of orange and blue light to accent each other.

A$AP Rocky took the stage following Chase with a pretty high-energy set with his A$AP Mob. Considered to be a rapper on the edge of stardom, A$AP has gotten a lot of press lately and subsequently developed a pretty big audience of his own.

Shooting Notes:

Like Chase, this shoot was pretty straight forward with being the first 3 songs from the pit. A$AP’s lighting left a bit to be desired with mostly blues and violets blanketing the stage, but his personally made the shoot pretty fun.

First of three openers on Drake’s Club Paradise Tour, Chase N. Cashe had a very quick set but one that seemed to impress the crowd.

Shooting Notes:

This was a pretty straight forward shoot. First three songs from the pit with some pretty basic lighting. Luckily there were no washes of colors and all the lighting had accents.

In their first tour since 2008, supporting their first new album since 1998, Van Halen played to a sold out crowd at the tour opener in Louisville at the KFC Yum! Center. With three Van Halens [Eddie on Guitar, Alex on Drums, and Eddie's son Wolfgang on bass] as well as David Lee Roth, they put on a very lively and exciting show.

Shooting Notes:

Soundboard shoots always present their challenges and frustrations. With fans standing with their hands in the air and holding cameras high, the challenge is no longer about having a long enough lens, but being able to dodge the sea of arms between you and the stage. Shooting conditions aside, the show was actually pretty fun to shoot. The whole band showed a lot of emotion on the stage and interacted well with each other and the crowd. My weapon of choice for this shoot was a 70-200mm f/2.8 with a 1.4x teleconvertor on it. That gave me adequate reach, and with a step stool I was able to get a bit above the crowd for some pretty clean sight-lines.

Before going on tour with Ben Kweller this spring, Sleeper Agent played to a home crowd in their city of Bowling Green, KY. Along with Cage the Elephant and other bands like Morning Teleportation, Bowling Green is becoming a nice Kentucky music hub with a lot of great talent. Watching and shooting the Sleeper Agent show there was great. The crowd was into it, the band was into it, and there was that feeling in the air that felt like this band is headed on to do great things.

Shooting Notes:

Shooting at small venues often have challenges, and this show was definitely no different. Usually the lighting is the biggest variable that can be the difference between horrible photos and great ones. Luckily, the lighting at The Twisted Tap was pretty good, with a variety of colors and some interesting accent lighting spinning in the background. That coupled with the electric energy of the band made for a really fun show to shoot. Small shows always have an intimacy that makes them something special to cover, and the fact that this one was in the band’s hometown was all the more special. Big thanks for Ryan, the band’s tour manager, for getting me all set up in a venue/city I had never shot in, and to the band, who put on a great show and are great people. Hopefully I can catch Sleeper Agent again before too long.

In their first game against the Gators this season UK started dominating the game early and imposing their will on Florida. Eloy Vargas, who’s game time is usually rather limited, ended up played quite a bit and matching up extremely well against a very talented center in Patrick Young.

Sporting special edition “platinum” uniforms, UK faced off against bordering-state-rival Tennessee in another tough SEC game. They took care of business pretty easily though and sent the Volunteers back to their rocky tops with heads hanging.