The Fray

The Fray
Originally uploaded by rachelparker

Look at that! I'm on a roll!

The Fray stopped by Dallas at the end of January to promote their newest self titled sophomore album. Selling out the House of Blues and stopping by Kidd Kraddick, so needless to say my day was Fray filled. The guys were very nice, taking lots of time to meet the fans that came up to see them at the morning show. The performance that night was good. I thought lighting was going to be horrible at first when it was a wash of reds and then they had these awesome lamps onstage light up synchronized to the music, and that was really cool, especially while shooting. It was odd though not knowing so many of the songs they were performing. They were great songs though. Fantastic album. Go pick it up, it's in stores now.

Here are some of the shots from the day.


Some Kidd Kraddick shots. See more at http://kiddlive.com


More to come soon!
Rachel

AC/DC

AC/DC
Originally uploaded by rachelparker

Rock Legends AC/DC stopped at the American Airlines Center last month. I was lucky enough to shoot them, didn't think we were going to send a shooter, so it was a pleasant surprise. The first number was incredibly smokey. Definitely a tough situation to shoot through. Other than that it was fantastic. Angus and Brian were rockin' it.




Lots more to come as always!
Rachel

Marc Broussard

Marc Broussard
Originally uploaded by rachelparker

Ok so this will be it I think till I get back from out of town. I am almost caught up. Were in the year 2009.. that's always good. The first show I went to this year was Marc Broussard who I love to death. He was fantastic. I'd put it in the top 3 out of the handful of times i've seen him. His fans were dancing like I've never seen them dance before. Lighting was pretty good too. Yay House of Blues lighting guy.. yay! He's gotten much much better in the recent months.

Marcs openers were Josh Hoge and Sons of William. Who were both great as always. They even joined him on his most popular number "Home."

We also spotted Miranda Lambert's guitar player Scotty Wray at the show.

But hey on to the photos!


Sons of William & Josh Hoge


Ok enjoy! Still to come AC/DC and The Fray.
Rachel

Kidd Kraddick: Last show of 08

Gym Class Heroes
Originally uploaded by rachelparker

So Kidd had a bunch of musicians in for the final show of the year. It was in the "performance hall." Big Al dressed like an Elf and bands playing. Cant get better than that. Not to mention the Veronicas thought my "Commando Roll" was awesome.

Here are some shots from the show.



Ok I know that was like the most lame entry ever. And I neglected to put up Colbie & All American Rejects photos from December, but hey they are up on kiddlive. Ok I have some shots from shows in January I'm gonna try and get up.

Rachel

November Part 3: Usher, Coldplay, and Graham Colton

Usher
Originally uploaded by rachelparker

Ok this will be my final installment for November. Then we can move to December which will be all Kidd Kraddick stuff because that's pretty much all I shot that month.. plus a couple symphony related things.. well and kids with Santa at a daycare for the owner whom I know.. exciting huh?

So the end of November I shot Usher for Sony Ericcson. That was cool being there for the tour sponsor. I shot the meet and greet as well as the performance, so we set up while soundcheck was going on so after I got done moving lights I just set my stuff down and watched the rest of soundcheck.

Usher had these catwalks that made it near impossible to get into the front barricade thanks to having to walk through the crowd. Fortunately the fans were nice and let me through. Lighting was great. It was pretty much one song, they said first 2 but I wouldnt count the first songs as an entire song since he wasn't on stage for most of it, however the second song love in this club had this entire dance break added into it. Here are some shots.



Next I got to shoot Coldplay! What did I learn from this experience.. well that Chris Martin loves to run around onstage like a lunatic, it was great. I also think that next time Coldplay comes to town I should get a ticket and go because what I got to hear from the concourse while editing photos was great. Here are a few from that



And lastly I shot Graham Colton at the House of Blues Pontiac Garage. It was an acoustic gig with Michael Tolcher, Bryan Greenberg, and Tim Brantley. It was great as usual, Graham did a lot of older material and some cool covers with the other acts, even a version of "Dancing in the Dark"



Ok that's all for now! Yay november is done! I will have all the Kidd Kraddick stuff soon! Then a couple gigs from this month that I shot. :)

Rachel

November Part 2: Kelly Clarkson & Reba McEntire, Amy Grant, and the Latin Grammys

Kelly Clarkson and Reba McEntire
Originally uploaded by rachelparker

So I wasn't joking when I said I was busy in November!

In a span of 3 days I was in Houston for the Latin Grammys, back in Fort Worth the next day shooting Amy Grant, and then off to Little Rock for Kelly & Reba. Talk about exhausted after that!

So we'll start with Kelly and Reba since it's the main thing pictured. Yes I'm playing favorites. The show was amazing, I'd say even better than the show in Bossier City. Not to mention the addition of Stuff Like That There was a great. Kelly hadn't done that song in a long time. We had a blast, and stayed at the Peabody and watched the ducks march on the carpet the next morning.





So the night before that I shot Amy Grant performing an entire set of her older material at the Fort Worth Convention Center. Her stage set up and lights were way better than I was expecting. It was a pretty good shoot.



And the night before that I was in Houston shooting the Latin Grammys. It was my first award show, red carpet experience. It was probably the worst night ever for my flash to be moody and it was. When we got into the Media room where they pose with the awards it was all good because I just set it to manual and bounced the flash. It was a good learning experience. Here are some shots.




Ok so part 3 to come with Coldplay, Graham Colton, and Usher.

I hope everyone's year is going well so far!

Later
Rachel