I have been a fan of the Minneapolis band Quietdrive for several years.
I originally saw them at small colleges, first as Sneakers 2 Bombs (singer Kevin Truckenmiller’s and guitarist Matt Kirby’s previous band), and eventually as Quietdrive. They always had a ton of energy and filled up the stage with presence. As a concert photographer, I see a lot of bands perform, and it takes a lot for a live show to impress me. Quietdrive’s shows have always managed to do just that.
It has been almost a year since I last saw QD live, since they have been hiding away recording their soon-to-be released album, Deliverance, which is currently available for pre-order on www.quietdrivemusic.com.
I was very excited about this particular show. Aside from craving a Quietdrive show, the show was a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society in honor of Fred Kosch, the father of Phil Kosch, a good friend of mine as well as guitarist of the band Treaty of Paris, who headlined the event. The line-up for the show as phenominal (other set reviews and photos to come!), and a lot of friends were sure to attend.
Quietdrive was main support, but they played with an energy that would have been worthy of the headline spot. Since they often stop at Chicago while touring, they had a fantastic crowd reaction, which was further increased by Truckenmiller’s tendency to stand on the edge of the stage and reach out to fans.
Quietdrive filled their 45-minute slot with a full set of memorable songs. Fan favorites such as “Time After Time” and “Rise From The Ashes” were performed, as well as songs from their upcoming CD, including “Deliverance” and “Daddy’s Little Girl.” While I did miss “Rush Together,” a past standard which included a violin solo, I have very few other complaints about the set.
Shooting Notes
The lighting for Quietdrive’s set was depressingly dim. There were occasional flares of white light toward the end of the show, but 3200ISO, 1/100, and f/2.8 barely cut it for the majority of the set. It was difficult set to shoot, mainly because auto-focus was having difficulty locking on in the dark, red conditions, and the band is too mobile to attempt to manually focus. However, in the end, I feel that I managed to get a strong enough set to do their performance justice.
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