Yesterday (07-18-23), I rushed home from work, walked my dog, fed her, and rushed out the door to get to The Built to Last Tour, performed by Arrows in Action, Honey Revenge, and Finish Ticket at the Marquis Theater in Denver, Colorado. Unfortunately for me, the Rockies were playing at Coors Field, a few minute walk from the Marquis. Parking was hard to find, but I got lucky, found a spot, and headed towards the venue with my Leica M4 and Sony A7IV.
The Marquis was the first venue that I ever went to. I saw Dance Gavin Dance play in 2014 with a few of my friends, and it was the intro to concert life that I needed. I always think about that show when I go to the Marquis. When I got there, I went through security, got my photo pass from the ticket window, and went inside. I was a little bit early, so I wandered around searching for places to photograph from. I noticed pretty quickly that the Marquis does not have a standard photo pit that extends across the front of the stage. Instead, it is off to the side of stage left, making it easy to shoot profile but much harder to shoot straight on or a variation of it.
During Finish Ticket, I stuck to the photo pit and worked the angles that I found there (photos coming soon). Some of my favorite shots from the night are from this set, but I found myself wanting more variety and decided to move into the crowd for Honey Revenge. I took pictures during the first three songs and decided that I need to listen to more Finish Ticket. They’re a band that I haven’t heard a lot of before last night, but their live performance was fun and the music is great. The drummer from Finish Ticket, Gabe Stein, was impressive and especially fun to photograph.
Honey Revenge
Honey Revenge came onto the stage around 8:20. I found my way back into the photo pit and got ready. I said hello to security, took a few shots, and shared the photo pit with Honey Revenge’s touring photographer. I took some profile shots of each of the band members and a bunch of Devin Papadol, the vocalist (right). Papadol is an amazing musician and has an equally impressive stage presence. Her dancing, vocals, and crowd engagement got everybody in the Marquis moving. Her band members bring an equal amount of energy, Honey Revenge is not one to miss.
If you haven’t heard Honey Revenge, go listen to their latest album, “Retrovision” on streaming platforms.
Devin Papadol, Honey Revenge
Shooting film at the show was a fun challenge. I decided to shoot ~12 shots for each set on Cinestill 800T that I will push to 3200ASA (photos coming soon). I’ve never shot a concert with my Leica before, usually I use my Nikon L35AF for its portability, but I wanted to push the Cinestill further than the dial on my L35AF can go (it tops at 1000). I was worried about maneuvering both cameras, but I learned something: taking concert pictures with a rangefinder is the best. Instead of struggling with lowlight focus on an SLR, I was easily able to work with the bright Leica rangefinder patch. If I’m able to bring my Leica into concerts that I am photographing in the future, I absolutely will do so. I’m thinking about trying 3200ASA high contrast black and white film for the next show.
Arrows in Action
Arrows in Action built the crowd energy with a great playlist of 2010’s era pop hits. I found myself all the way house left about four rows away from the stage when the band came on. I decided that I wanted to shoot one song from that position, another song from a position in house right, and then my third song in the photo pit. This worked out for the most part because even though I wasn’t able to take quite as many pictures during the Arrows set, I had more variety and angles to pick from, a necessity for a concert photographer.
When I got back to the photo pit, I went in for a picture of their drummer. When I stood back up, I noticed their touring photographer, Hunter Cohen (@iamhuntercohen on Instagram) waiting for me to finish my shot. I got out of his way and he moved onto the stage to shoot more photos and videos. After the show we talked about photography (and shooting film at the show!) and it taught me two things: 1. Always share the photo space, it doesn’t take much to be friendly, and 2. Always introduce yourself to the other photographers in the pit, you’ll meet some cool and interesting people.
Arrows in Action played a long and amazing set. They started off with some new songs (go listen to “Built To Last”!), played some acoustic songs (including the fist Arrows song ever released!), and finished with a heavy energy filled set with some of my favorite AIA songs like “All The Ways I Can Die.”
I’m very happy and grateful that I was able to photograph this show. The experience was a blast and I learned a lot during the process, especially on the editing side of things. I’m starting to build presets and strategies to handle the harsh colorful lights that venues usually have. Keep posted for more images, I’ll add them as I edit!
