Weezer At Place Bell

We're a little bit backed up on getting my concert photographs up here on The Old Blog.  I suppose we will catch up at some point, but this would be a good time to remind you that my concert photographs can be seen in a much more timely manner by visiting V13Media, which you can do by following the link.  If you'd like an even more direct route to my photographs, you can visit my personal page over there but using the following link.  “I’d love to have a fence like that for my house.”  That was the first thought through my head as I walked towards the stage at Place Bell in Laval.  It was mere moments before Weezer was to take the stage and I was admiring the scenery.  A little bungalow with a satellite dish receiver on the roof had been erected on the stage.  One side was a large telephone pole, complete with shoes hanging from the wires.  Along the other side ran the white picket fence that I desired.  Before I could continue putting together a Home Depot shopping list, I quickly reminded myself that I am nowhere near handy enough to pull off such a renovation.  It was probably best to get back to the music.  It wasn’t a very hard mindset to return to.  Before Weezer took the stage, we were treated to a introduction video.  A little kid was trying to book Weezer to play in his backyard for a gathering.  Thus the name of our tour.  In a funny bit, after saying that he only had .98 cents to pay the band, their manager loudly hung up on him.  He then created a letter on golden paper using the symbols that are featured on the cover of Weezer’s latest self-titled album.  Through the magical powers of the universe, the letter ends up in singer Rivers Cuomo’s hands and convinces him that they have a show that night.  He rounds up the rest of the band, who are all entranced by the golden letter as well.  The video cuts as the band arrives at the house.  Suddenly, the area is bathed in a golden light and the stage fills with smoke.  The picket fence swings open and Weezer walk through, taking their positions and opening the show with “Shine Again”.  After that track from their latest album, it was all the way back to Album #1 for “Surf Wax America”.  This one really got the crowd going as I could feel the floor tremble from all of the jumping that was going on behind me.  Each song had a unique lighting set up, and some special hidden surprise.  For “Keep Fishin’”, an attentive eye might have noticed the silhouette of Kermit The Frog.  He appeared in the window of the stage house a few times during the song, much like he and his fellow Muppets appeared in the famous music video for the song.  There were lots of little gags like that through the night.  During “Beverly Hills”, the chorus was changed to “living in Montréal, Québec”.  After “Across The Sea”, the power lines exploded and the arena went dark.  They called Hydro Québec to report the outage, and the on hold music was “Island In The Sun”.  With the power out, Weezer played acoustic versions of “Longtime Sunshine” and “In The Garage”.  Another lyric change happen during “Pork And Beans” when Céline Dion became the artist who knows the way to the top of the charts.  It was just a super fun night.  Weezer treated their fans to all of their greatest hits, and added some local flavour to them.  I have to guess that they are doing the same in every town the visit.  If so, it’s a great little touch that gets a huge reaction.  Every little hometown mention was met with a loud cheer before everyone went right back to singing along to the song.  The final curtain came down as the entire arena continued to vibrate as everyone sang along to “Buddy Holly” and “Island In The Sun”.  Afterwards, in the spirit of a great gathering, everyone went home happy.  Perhaps a little sad that the gathering was over, but smiling from ear to ear remembering how fun it had been.  All of the photographs were taken at f/3.2 while using various different shutter speeds, ISO settings and focal lengths.  Here are the rest of the photographs that I took of Weezer while they performed on the Place Bell stage.

If you would like to find out more about Weezer and their music, you can do so by following the link.  If you would like to see the photographs that I took of The Shins, who performed earlier that evening, you can do so by following the link.  As always, a big thank you goes out to Weezer's management group at Crush Music, Evenko and Christopher Gonda at V13 Media for getting me a pass to photograph that show.  As always, it is very much appreciated.  Weezer's The Gathering Tour continues well in to next year.  Don't you dare miss it when they play in a town near you.

The Shins At Place Bell

We're a little bit backed up on getting my concert photographs up here on The Old Blog.  I suppose we will catch up at some point, but this would be a good time to remind you that my concert photographs can be seen in a much more timely manner by visiting V13Media, which you can do by following the link.  If you'd like an even more direct route to my photographs, you can visit my personal page over there but using the following link.  There was a gathering at the Place Bell in Laval a few weeks back.  A musical gathering, and those are always the best kind.  The Shins got things off to a strumming start with their hit “Simple Song”.  They had a good vibe going and the crowd was having a great time swaying along to the beat.  “Australia” followed and the band starting to take things up a notch.  There wasn’t any jumping around on stage or any wild histrionics because there didn’t need to be.  The Shins are masters of their craft and played flawlessly.  A little something that caught my photographers eye was the placement of several little knick knacks around the stage.  Patti King had some Starfish next to her keyboard.  There was a golden robot on Jon Sortland’s drums and other figures on Mark Watrous and James Mercer’s speakers.  I tried to work them into a couple of the photos.  The Shins finished up with “Sleeping Lessons”, earning a rousing applause from the fans.  It was a terrific set.  It has been a while since the last Shins album.  Their most recent being Heartworms, which was released in 2017.  The have still produced a great quantity of music that crowds all over enjoy.  All of the photographs were taken at f/3.2 while using various different shutter speeds, ISO settings and focal lengths.  Here are the rest of the photographs that I took of The Shins while they performed on the Place Bell stage.

If you would like to find out more about The Shins and their music, you can do so by following the link to their website.  If you would like to see the photographs that I took of Weezer, who performed later that night, you can do so by following the link.  The Shins have a great catalogue of music and put on a terrific show.  Don't you dare miss it when they play in a town near you.