Meow House Theatre

Dropkick Murphys played at LeLacheur Park in Lowell, MA, on July 10, supported by Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Civet.

All three bands were smashing and playing to a very appreciative audience, being “hometown” of sorts (Boston area if not Boston itself) for DKM and MMB. It was really hot that day and they must have been roasting up under the lights and from running around. Aside from not being able to stay in the pit for the first three DKM songs (more on that below), it went very well. I brought two cameras (Nikon, D300 and backup D40) and I think all my lenses, which was overkill. The two bodies were very helpful but I didn’t need the 70-300 lens at all, and probably could have skipped the 55-200. Neither was long enough to be able to shoot from my seat (which I never even went to; I stood by the pit the whole time) and they weren’t really needed in the pit because my other lenses were better suited. Actually this has made me realize I really need a 24-70 f2.8 or 28-70 f2.8. Although I really love both the 55mm f1.8 and the 85mm f1.8, but if I didn’t have time to change lenses a 24-70 would come in handy. Metering before DKM was pretty easy because it was daylight, and even the DKM lighting setup was not bad at all. Only one “red” picture! That’s highly unusual when shooting a band.

DKM thumbnails here, will have those for MMB and Civet up tonight. More event description below for people who actually read this stuff.

All pictures are copyrighted to me; please contact me for permission before using. I’ll probably let you but you should ask, it’s only polite. Don’t steal or you will die slowly. Prints available, email me at meowhousemedia (at) gmail.com. And for god’s sake, DO NOT HOTLINK to any of them.

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The Mighty Mighty Bosstones are doing this tour with most (all?) of their original ineup. After months of speculation and four years of members working on other projects, frontman Dicky Barrett announced in late 2007 that they would be playing together and this short tour in support of DKM followed. If I recall correctly, they played my employer’s Christmas party in 1997 or so and they haven’t changed much since then.

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Civet is a four-women band out of L.A., “femme fatale punk rock,” and I am sure glad I got there early enough to take pictures of them. Pity there was only me and maybe one or two of the other pass-holders. I think they missed out on something. Besides the music being quite good, those were four smokin’ hot chicks. I am Certified Straight and I don’t mind saying I was staring the whole time. Mucho caliente. Go look at their myspace for more eye candy (and music).

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I was able to get a photo pass through DKM and their publicist, thanks very much to both. What a photo pass means is that instead of being limited to shooting from the audience, holders of such passes are allowed to bring professional-quality DSLR cameras (versus small point-and-shoot cameras) and best of all are allowed to go into the “pit”–the area directly in front of the stage, in front of the front row or the barrier. This was a general-admission show, which means there are no seats for the floor area and everyone just stands. And they crowd in–WAY in–all the way up to the barrier. Anyone standing there better have a strong constitution against being crushed, or be into that sort of thing. So a non-pass-holding photographer would either be hopelessly smooshed against the barrier while holding a very expensive camera if he wanted to take pictures head on, not to mention his head being a temporary resting spot for people crowd-surfing into the mosh pit (the photo bit doubles as the mosh pit). (So it’s slightly dangerous even if you have a pass.) If you have a pass, you can go in front of the barrier and are allowed to shoot (generally) the first three songs. Sometimes it’s not quite the first there, as what happened with DKM, but usually that’s the setup. Then you have to leave the pit and usually cannot keep taking pictures from the audience. Not with your pro camera anyway. So you can see it’s very helpful to have a pass if you want good-quality, close-up pictures.

When I got there, my pass was not waiting at Will Call and the guy there said to go around to the VIP entrance and see if they had it, which they did. They actually gave me an All Access pass at first and then, thinking better of it, took it back and gave me one designated “photo.” I don’t know where the other pass people went, but since I had to go into the VIP area backstage from where I picked up the pass I ended up hanging there in between sets as it was fairly cool under the bleachers and there were tables where I could get my equipment set up. And they had free water. (Also catered food but I did not take any being that I was probably not technically supposed to be back there in the first place, even though Staff did tell me to enter through there.)

Many thanks to security for all the help too. They were all big and scary-looking but just big softies really. (Probably would hate to hear me say that.) When I asked one, upon seeing the crush of people already at the barrier 2 hours earlier than show time, “Um we do get to go up front, right?” he looked at me (non-burly female) doubtfully and said, “Oh yeah … but watch out, it gets pretty crazy …” He wasn’t kidding; they were catching surfers non-stop. I had wondered why so many security staff were needed when they had such a sturdy barrier but it was obvious later on. I had also forgotten my earplugs–you DEFINITELY need earplugs, do not make the mistake of thinking it will be all right “just this one time.” All the musicians and all the staff up front wear them–I asked security if they had any extra but nobody did so I said “Who wants to make ten bucks? $10 for a pair of earplugs, you could buy 10 pairs with the money.” Otherwise I was going to have to leave the site and find a CVS. After several people saying there weren’t any left, one guy came running up and said “You said ten bucks, right?” I laughed and said I knew there must be a true capitalist in the group somewhere. “Supply and demand,” he answered. Well it was worth the ten to me to not have to haul ass back to my car, drive out, and pay again for parking. (They were a fresh pack, if you’re wondering, and I confirmed that my buying them would not leave him without any–he had a pair in his ears already.)

Oh and congratulations to the couple who got engaged on the DKM stage in front of thousands of people. That’s a story for your grandchildren!

Foreigner with Bryan Adams next week, check here for show report.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 12th, 2008 at 2:49 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.