Relient K @ The House of Blues

11.12.08 | 2 Comments

Relient K recently headlined the “Uncle Fest Tour” with Ludo, This Providence, and House of Heroes. The Christian rock band from Canton, Ohio sold out the show, with hordes of teenagers and church groups in attendance.

Honestly, I can’t say that I know any of Relient K’s songs, and therefore, I went in without very many expectations. I am a fan of piano rock, so frontman Matt Thiessen’s tendency to go back and forth between the piano and mic scored big points with me. Their quick cover of The Addams Family theme song (because it was The Uncle Fest Tour… get it?) was also kind of endearing. I wish that they interacted as a band a little more (bassist John Warne was wedged between the piano and the wall and never really emerged), but overall, they put on a good show.

How do I know it was a good show? Well, simple. At the House of Blues in Chicago, the concert hall is on the second floor of the building. When a band really gets the crowd going, the crowd starts jumping. When the crowd starts jumping, the floor starts moving. Literally. The crowd was jumping so hard and with such enthusiasm for Relient K, that I was have trouble framing my pictures because of the unsteady ground.

That is a good show. One could say that they literally shook the earth.

The set (from setlist):

I Need You
Come Right Out And Say It
Who I Am Hates Who I’ve Been
Addams Family Theme
High of 75
Mood Rings
The Lining Is Silver
Devastation and Reform
Head>Heads / 80s or Chap Stick
Sadie Hawkins Dance
Be My Escape
The Only Thing Worse Than Beating A Dead Horse Is Betting On One
At Least We Made It This Far
Forgiven
Which To Bury, Us Or The Hatchet
Let It All Out

Shooting Notes

Having shot in bright white light for Quietdrive’s set at the House of Blues a few days prior to the Uncle Fest Tour, I was a little disappointed with this lights this time around.

Relient K’s set had a lot of color washes – blue and red, namely, which is the nemesis of any concert photographer. However, unlike a lot of other venues when they employ these color schemes, the lights were actually relatively bright. Getting enough light into the sensor wasn’t necessarily a problem, but producing clear, contrasted photos was. Still, I can’t complain too much, as for once, I wasn’t pushing 3200ISO the whole time. Also, there were the occasional bright bursts of glorious white light, which one doesn’t always get at other venues.

Relient K moved around a lot, but they stayed in their “zones.” They performers had no problem standing on monitors or other assorted stage props to propel themselves closer to the audience, but they didn’t interact with each other that much. That allowed for some good close-up wide angle shots, but not a lot of scenery change.

I used what is quickly becoming my standard set-up – the 16-35mm on the 5D for wide wide shots, and the 24-70mm on the Mark II for isolating performers. I stayed on 1600 for a large portion of the set, wide-open at f/2.8, with shutter speeds ranging from 1/60-1/125.