Dig The Vodkanauts

Went to a music fest last Saturday, and nearly got rained out. But the rain finally let up and most of the acts went off without a hitch. You might remember some of my posts from Tropical Heatwave last year, and that's the show I went to this year. Unfortunately, I didn't like most of the bands they had this year. There was one good rockabilly group, but I couldn't get close enough to the stage to get any decent pictures. However, I lucked out when I decided to come inside and check out the oddly-named Vodkanauts. The bald guy above was belting out a swinging cover of Judas Priest's You Got Another Thing Comin', and I was hooked. These guys covered everything from Elvis to Prince, hitting the Stones and David Bowie along the way. Highlight for me was a Neil Diamond medley that had everyone in the ballroom jumping like they were playing House of Pain.

I love shooting live concerts, but I really don't have the equipment for it. I need a much faster lens, that is, one that let's in more light and lets you take shorter exposures. It's hard to capture the motion of spirited performers on stage if you have to shoot pictures that need half a second or more of exposure. But I think I got some good ones. The convert lighting was only marginal, and there were so many people in the room I couldn't get to the other half of the stage to shoot the other band members. But I got the lead singer and the guitarist. (I guess you can see the bassist and drummer in the background if you look close...)

Dig the model of the Sunshine Skyway bridge on the back wall of the stage. They had both parts back there, but only one was lit up for some reason.

Sometimes, a longer exposure works to your advantage. I don't think this shot would be as interesting if it were sharp. But most of the blurry ones are garbage. Anyhow, go see the Vodkanauts if they come to your town. They're local to the Tampa-St. Pete area, but you never know when they might branch out.