Butch Walker is hands-down one of the best performers that I’ve ever seen.
He can captivate the audience to the point of a hush coming over the crowd, where you can literally hear a pin drop during his acoustic songs. But then, in the next breath, he can the venue clapping along to an upbeat song. His voice is powerful, emotional, and unique. He interacts with the audience by telling jokes or calling people out; shows are not a performance, they’re one big party.
The show tonight was no exception. It was an hour and fifty minutes (Butch sets are always glouriously long) of powerful ballads, “rock-out” songs, some rockabilly, and a few outstanding covers. Some favorites tonight included Joan, Don’t Move, The Best Thing You Never Had, and The Weight of You. Also outstanding was the cover of Tiny Dancer, which made everyone in the audience feel like they were in a tour bus in the seventies. And finally, in true Butch Walker fashion, he spent the last song down in the audience, singing to his fans on a closer level.
Butch just released a fantastic CD entitled Sycamore Meadows, and a new EP (on iTunes) called Here Comes The…EP, which features a collaboration with Pink. If you haven’t gotten them already, you really should.
Shooting Notes
This show had plenty of beautiful front and back lighting, as House of Blues shows are apt to have, so actual shooting was a piece of cake. My general settings were 1/400 (to accomdate Butch’s occasional fast movements and the weight of the 70-200mm), f/2.8, and 4000ISO). I was farther away from the action than I generally like to be, so I shot 95% of this set with the 70-200mm.
Surprisingly, there was no gate for this show, which is almost unheard of for packed shows at House of Blues. This is where the difficulty came in. I wasn’t able to get inside when doors opened, so I couldn’t get a clear shot of the stage. Luckily, Butch fans are amazing, and a bunch of great people were kind to me and allowed me to squeeze in with them (if you were one of these awesome people – don’t forget to email me at tasha@redwallphotography so I can send you a present!)
Since there was no gate, and the place was packed, I was stationary at the side of the stage, but I think Butch packs enough charisma and energy to make even straight on shots look good.
Oh, and if you’re shooting this tour – the piano is on stage left, with the back toward the audience. At this show, the first three songs were on the piano and keyboard, so you’ll want to be as much toward center as you can be to get a clear shot of Butch.
Note: These are just a few shots that immediately caught my eye. Be on the lookout for more photos soon!
