Spring Concert 2017

Feels great to be back shooting shows. This one was the spring concert sponsored by my college!

The student activities board hired 4 local bands for our spring concert this past weekend and they put on a great show. Most of the crowd was college students, but everyone there seemed to have enjoyed themselves.

I heard about the concert and even before knowing who the bands were, I knew I had to find out if I could shoot it. And it was awesome! Once I got to the show, I was terrified to realize I didn’t have a card in my camera. Luckily, I live on campus so I ran to my room to see what cards I did have so I grabbed what I had and an extra battery and made a run back to the fitness center, where the show was set up. I managed to make it with a few minutes to spare and just sat and waited for the show to start.

First band was a hip-hop band named Courtesy. Courtesy (also known as Sir Courtesy) is a local Pittsburgh musical act and him and his band put on a great show. The lead (Sir Courtesy) was able to bring the crowd from the bleachers, up to the designated pit area and get them movin’ and groovin’. Courtesy’s Facebook page is linked above if you’d like to check him out!

Next up was local Pittsburgh funk/hip band, Red Room Effect. The bassist, Matt Johnson, is actually a recent La Roche alumni, so of course he was able to get the band in to play a set for their current students and anyone willing to come down. Overall, Red Room Effect is a different kind of band. Their sound is not what I expected, especially considering the group prior was a hip hop band, but they were good! The crowd was rockin’ their socks off to it and it was so fun to watch. They put on an awesome 45 minute set (as did the other acts) and it was quite enjoyable to watch and shoot. Their Facebook is linked above as well if you want to check ’em out!

The 3rd band was a California, PA band, Hear Tonight. Hear Tonight is an indie/alternative rock band. Honestly, they were my favorite of the night because they have a sort of summer-ish sound to them and I love that kind of music. The other bands were fantastic too, they just fit my style best. They are similar to a few other bands I’ve shot over the past few months and have come to love. Current senior, Joe Kelsch, is close friends with their guitarist and vocalist, Jake Urbanek, (who also came to see Joe perform earlier this year.. I shot the show in a prior blog post); so of course he had some sort of connection and was able to get the band to come play for us. The crowd loved them, clearly, considering the amount of people who ran up afterwards to purchase some of their merchandise. After their set, I went and talked to Shane, the lead vocalist, and gave him my card and he was super down to earth. They definitely gained a couple new fans after that show. My boyfriend is now asking me to play them when we get in the car! Their Facebook page is linked above as well if you want to check them out.

The final act was New Brighton, PA, pop/rock/soul band, The Brighton Boys. Prior to this show, I’d heard their name a couple times, as a few of my Facebook friends have talked about and posted about them but I knew nothing of them. Seeing as though I’d heard their name a couple times, it was really cool to be able to see them live and get some sweet shots of them as well. Like Hear Tonight, they were very crowd friendly. The crowd loved their set, especially the covers they did. They did a few older covers, like “Stacy’s Mom”, and some current ones, such as “Uptown Funk”. They were a great band to finish off the night with and I also recommend looking them up as well, as their Facebook is linked above.

Overall, I have 0 complaints about this night. The lighting was perfect, except for all the red lighting with sucks for photography purposes, and the fog was distributed well, and the bands were all fantastic. I recommend all of you to give them a listen and a like on Facebook!

(Psst… give me one too 😉 My Facebook)

Here are some of my favorites from Friday’s Spring concert! You can check out the rest on my Portfolio or my Facebook page!