2023 Recap
2023, by any perspective I approach it from, was a remarkable year for me in terms of photography. First off, I went to a ton of shows... 76 shows shot in total, and five I didn't (Sigur Ros w/ the LSO in Amsterdam, Rammstein in Lisbon, the Eric Arn/Glenn Jones show where I forgot to bring any memory cards (doh!), the 2nd night of GBV 40, and Dylan), in six different countries. I also covered six festivals - Desertfest London and NYC, Boston Calling, Newport Folk Festival, In Between Days, and Sky Blue Sky. The grand total of bands I photographed this year? 368. And I did a handful of shoots w/ bands for publicity photos, as well as with some artists at festivals. I hope to expand more in that area for next year.
I had the good luck of having my day job send me over to Amsterdam for over 60 days this year, and it was a great opportunity to really get to know a city much deeper than a regular tourist can. Safe to say that Amsterdam is one of my favorite cities and has a lot to offer. It was also really fun to re-connect with fellow photogs I'd met at Roadburn prior (Niels, Paul and Falk-Hagen), and to make some new friends like Kamil who graciously lent me a camera to use for a show in Germany where I also finally got to see Colour Haze and Kungens Man for the first time! I got to see some great shows in Amsterdam too; thanks to Tomoko and Meg for the hookup for the Pantera gig! The best one had to be seeing both Roy Montgomery and The Dead C, after so many years from the last time and I was super happy to chat with the guys before and after the show.
A big setback was having Dig Boston cease operations, and I want to thank Chris Faraone for entrusting me with so much leeway in covering the acts that interested me (and hopefully others!) the most. The flip side is that I'm now providing a lot more content for my old pal Jack Rabid and the venerable Big Takeover magazine and I appreciate the opportunity. I also have provided some show coverage for Culture Beat, Rob Duguay's PVD/BOS-centric blog on music so thanks Rob!
It goes without saying that none of this would be possible without the publicists and the bands who've given me a lot of trust that allows me to capture all these incredible moments so thank you! Also hats off to Sarika and her team at Desert Scene for having me as part of the teams in London and NYC to cover the event. 2024 looks even better and I am honored to be part of these great teams.
With so many shows it's extremely hard to come up with a top 10 for the year but I've definitely done dumber things so here goes; I am purposely avoiding for the most part bands I've seen a lot in the past; there is no doubt that bands like Wilco, Elder, Major Stars, Dinosaur Jr, Amenra, Converge, Guided By Voices, etc know how to put on a great show... These bands have never mailed it in and continue to be transcendent on stage. I didn't think that 2023 would be the year I saw Colour Haze not only once but twice! Truly magnificent, a band that operates in a fully organic mode, each of the four members a critical piece. This is a pretty long post so I'll also add Bill Callahan and Yo La Tengo sets a few weeks apart in Amsterdam's lovely Paradiso were both incredible shows. I caught Minibeast opening for Jon Spencer early but their show later in the year with Mike Watt's MSSV was a 1-2 hit to the back of my skull. Great to see the veterans doing new shit and not just coasting on stuff they wrote decades ago; rock is still vital!
At Desertfest London I got to see my buds Deathchant and Dommengang wring every last bit of energy out of their instruments and was also afforded the opportunity to finally see Weedpecker and Spaceslug. Polish stoner rock is on a high crest right now, do not sleep on these bands. I've seen QOTSA a few times but this summer's set (longer than their festival set at Boston Calling) was really special for me as I finally got to see them play "In The Fade," a song that means a ton to me and is even more emotionally charged in the wake of Mark Lanegan's untimely passing. Oh, and Yves Tumor? That is a proper rock star with there, attitude and presentation with songs and musicianship to back it. Wow!
I guess that's at least 10 but I also want to mention local buds GOZU and Blood Lightning, who both put out amazing records this year, and I also finally got to see Sam Black Church; yeah I was a little late on that one. Last pile of accolades must include REZN, Slowdive, Codeine, Yob, Coven, the triumphant return of Reg along w/ Mark to bring The Chameleons' songs to life, a vital part of my listening evolution. Lastly, the Twins of Evil tour was so good I had to see it twice, Boris and Melvins were a dream tour pairing and both bands exceeded what I thought was possible.
So, thanks for staying with me on this lengthy post and let's see some kickass stuff in 2024 together!
Browse HERE for way more photos from 2023:
PS - one thing I forgot I did last year was to catalog all of the reviews I wrote, so here goes for 2023:(in the spirit of completeness, I've added a couple stragglers from 2022 that didn't get published until early this year, 48 in all.):
Budos Band @ Brighton Music Hall
Dry Cleaning @ The Toulouse Theatre
Constant Smiles @ The Lily Pad
Jerry Harrison and Adrian Belew play Remain in Light at House of Blues
Boston Calling - Day 3 and Festival Wrap Up
Sisters of Mercy @ Big Night Live
The Backseat Lovers @ Roadrunner
Young The Giant - Leader Bank Pavilion
Panda Bear + Sonic Boom @ The Paradise
The Clientele @ Crystal Ballroom
Queens of the Stone Age @ Cross Insurance Arena
Tedeschi Trucks Band @ TD Garden
Explosions in the Sky @ Roadrunner
Nick Cave and Colin Greenwood @ The Wang
The Chats + Cosmic Psychos @ House of Blues
Mudhoney @ Brighton Music Hall
Squirrel Flower @ Brighton Music Hall
