Concert Photography by Larry Mills: January 2009

1.31.2009

It's getting to be that time again...

It looks as though the Santa Barbara Bowl 2009 concert season is starting to shape up. Not long after the end of the 2008 season, the Bowl announced one show, Celtic Woman, for May 2nd of 2009. With that in mind, I had an idea of when the season would start... May. They have since added Katy Perry, Flight of the Concords and to boost the start of the season, New Kids on the Block will be making an appearance in April.

I can't say that I'm super stoked on the line-up so far but I am interested in checking out Flight of the Concords. Other than that, there's gonna be a lot of happy teenie boppers and soccer moms for the first part of the season. The Bowl never ceases to amaze me with the acts they bring, so I'm looking forward to some more announcements.

1.04.2009

Old find...

I have a drawer full of unlabeled CD's and DVD's with images on them... I assume all photographers do. After finishing a scan job for a client this evening, I needed a sleeve for the disc I burned (I ran out days ago and haven't bought any yet), sooo... I went into the "drawer of unknown" to poach one. While rooting around I came across a disc that was labeled "Skary B-Day" hmmm?... I loaded it into the computer and found this classic triptik I made of Skerik from the band Critter's Buggin.

The band played a gig at the Mercury Lounge in Goleta, CA (I'm guessing around 2003) and it happened to be Skerik's Birthday that night. Dawn, the owner of the bar, presented him with a cake and I grabbed these three shots of him being himself.

Click for larger view...

1.03.2009

SB Independent's Year in Pictures...

The latest issue of the Santa Barbara Independent weekly news paper hosts a selection of 2008's best pictures, most of which were taken by the papers photo editor (and a buddy of mine), Paul Wellman. As I flipped through the pages, I was surprised to find that I too had made the cut. A shot I took of Blitzen Trapper here in SB, at Muddy Waters Cafe, was published in the "Performing Arts" section of the feature.

1.01.2009

Another one bites the dust...

Well, 2008 is officially history. The past year, as far as music photography goes, was one of the best I've had yet. Besides my usual haunts, The Santa Barbara Bowl and SOhO, I found myself shooting at some legendary venues such as... The Fillmore in SF and The ROXY in LA. I also had the pleasure of shooting the Vans Warp Tour, the Joshua Tree Roots Music Festival and the West Beach Music Festival. This year I photographed some legends, so-called no names, pop stars, people you may have heard of and one of the most talked about tours, Radiohead. Plus... one of the more exciting things I did this year was present my portfolio (in person even - thanks Tom!) to the folks at Rolling Stone Magazine.

I'd like to throw some thank you's out (in case people actually read my blog) to Eric Shiflett and ALL of the other folks at the SB Bowl, Moss Jacobs and Anna Suarez at Nederlander, Gail Hansen and Alan (the soundman) over at SOhO, Barnett English and Curt Mathis at the Joshua Tree Music Festival, Ben Baruch at Wagatail, Jeffrey at Club Mercy, Kayceman at JamBase, The Santa Barbara Independent, Erin Kelly at Rolling Stone, Tom Tomkinson, Paul Wellman, Tim Bramlette, Patty Clarke and most importantly my wife, Amy, who puts up with my shit and supports me 100% in all that I do.

Below is a small sampler platter of images from 2008 that I slapped together for you to check out. They are from some of the more memorable shows, for me, that I photographed. I wish I could publish them all!...

Radiohead - SB Bowl