Pandemic Family Music Review
Saturday Oct 10 2020
Livestream / In house audience event
Dan Wise / Jeanne Tolmie / David P Smith / Rachelle Reath / Lisa Feeney / Joly Johnson / Rad Juli / BA Lampman
VEC is always a venue I look forward to shooting in. The stage is low and wide, it's well lit and the whole layout has a classiness to it. I don't mind the challenge of the stairs when I get there and since drinking is a thing of my past, they aren't when I leave either. Since shutdowns and restricted access shows started I've done three shows with Victoria Underground at VEC and this one. The punk shows were great. Those were purely livestreams. From my perspective its rare that I get to shoot a punk band in good light , but with video light levels , you can shoot and actually create. There's no flying beer , no elbows or boots in your face and you don't have to fear for your life. I think it has to be very odd for the bands though with adhered to start times , no feedback from a crowd, no one jumping on and off the stage, no equipment sitting in pools of beer and no broken glass to avoid. Audience or no, the bands looked happy to just be be out, playing together and talking about a changed world.
This event was a hybrid of livestream broadcast and an in house audience. A set amount of tables were setup and distanced from each other. No table to table interacting was allowed, no dancing and bathroom visits were one at a time. From my perspective it looked like all the seats were gone and the bar staff was very busy. It was nice to hear the sound of applause again and everyone in attendance looked very happy to be out and attending a show. Where there weren't masks, there were smiles. I was happy to be able to move about and shoot unrestricted in pretty decent light. Shows are few and far between now so its good to use those muscles again.
Below are a few of my favourites from the night. If you want to see more pictures of the event , you can jump over to my Facebook page for Finding Charlotte Photography. I like to post a few there so sharing and tagging is possible for the band , audience or anyone involved in the event.