One of the perks of touring around and doing random shows is that sometimes you get a call out of the blue to do a photo shoot for a concert you weren’t expecting. This is the case of a show that I did on April 28th. I have a friend that does stage management and concert tech and he was in town on a tour for The Backseat Lovers. They were playing at the Brooklyn Bowl here in Las Vegas.
For those not in the Vegas area, the Brooklyn Bowl is a pretty large venue located in the Linq area of the strip, right next to the High Roller (giant ferris wheel). Since I had not been there yet, I was expecting something closer to a hole in the wall venue with space for maybe 50-100 people. When I arrived I found that it was a huge location with a line of people waiting to get in for a sold out show.
I’m going to take a minute here to explain something. Hopefully this won’t come off as a “Those young whippersnappers” moment. I am not a young guy any more and most of the music I listen to on a regular basis was recorded before most of the people in the line here were born. I had never heard of this band before. Now, it’s not that I don’t listen to new music or appreciate new stuff, it’s just not my go to.
When I got in and set up, I was based on house left right near the corner of the stage, near the bowling lanes. Thankfully this was not in the huge crowd of people in the main area and I could set down my gear in preparation for the show.
One of the standard rules for venues like this is that photographers are only allowed to take their shots during the first three songs. While I am no stranger to this rule, this was the first time where it made sense. I was allowed right up at stage level and was in front of many of the fans watching the show. I am used to stealthing my way in to get my shots, but here I was allowed to just stand up and essentially get in the way to get the photos I needed. After the first three songs, I was out and everyone could just enjoy the show.
Renata Zeiguer
The opener was Renata Zeiguer. She had a great sound and an incredible voice. My only complaint was that the lighting and fog effects were not great for shooting the event. I never expected them to go full bright lights but the stage was huge and each band member was spread out so much that it was impossible to get everyone in one shot.
Once the first three songs were finished I headed back to meet up with my friend and we hung out until the main show went on.
The Backseat Lovers
The Backseat Lovers went on and did a great show. They are an alternative rock band with a very unique sound. I ran into the same issues with the lighting and fog effects, but did my best to work around it. After the initial three songs I got the heck out of the way and went upstairs for some balcony views which allowed me to get more of the entire house.
Overall the whole show was great and the crowd was going nuts for them! Enjoy the photos!