It’s been a great year for the Arkells. In just 7 months, Arkells have won a favourite new artist CASBY Award (short for Canadian Artists Selected by You) from Toronto radio station 102.1 The Edge, the Juno Award for New Group of the Year and for their May 15th show, were hand-picked to open for Them Crooked Vultures at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.

You may be wondering why I don’t have pictures of Them Crooked Vultures posted as well. Well, it’s because of their insulting release form which you can see here. I turned down a chance to shoot them back in October when this photographer’s release form first came up. The sad thing is, a lot of (mostly new) photographers will have no problem signing such a contract because they still get the chance to photograph some music idols which in turn, makes it harder for these contracts to disappear. Of course it’d be great to shoot John Paul Jones or Dave Grohl, but that contact is a full on rights-grab, having me sign over my copyright to the band. The publication I shoot for (AUX) would be able to post the images from the concert but I wouldn’t be able to do a single thing with them afterwards. They couldn’t go up on flickr, on this site, or be included in my portfolio. And don’t even think about trying to sell a print either. There’s been a big discussion over this release form on flickr, and you can read it here.

The point is: I didn’t shoot Them Crooked Vultures. I’ve been a fan of Arkells for a while and was more than happy to be able to shoot one of their biggest shows yet. In fact, the first time I saw them was back in Hamilton and they were still called Charlemagne. They’ve been working hard and are (deservingly) being recognized for it. And that’s why I decided to post extra photos of their show from the other night.

Shot for AUX.

                          

Arkells @ Lee's Palace - November 27, 2009.

It’s been over a month since I’ve shot a concert at a venue without a photo pit. To top it off, the Arkells‘ two nights in Toronto were completely sold out. Shooting the opening bands is easy. Often the crowd is more relaxed and although it was packed early into the night no ones crowding the stage like they do for the headliner. By the time Sweet Thing wrapped up and the Novaks finished their set, I knew I couldn’t leave the front of the stage or else I wouldn’t get any close ups of the band.

Lee’s Palace’s stage is extremely high which makes for an awkward angle when shooting. Luckily the band and manager were kind enough to let me shoot from the stage for part of the show. Another challenging job since they had 4 camera men filming their concert from the stage that night as well. You can’t deny the energy of a sold out show in a venue like Lee’s. Making your way through the crowd with all your gear to get a variety of shots is tough but just another reason why I love what I do.

Photos: Arkells, Sweet Thing & the Novaks