Kyle Gustafson Photography

Metallica @ M&T Stadium

Kyle Gustafson — Sun, 10 Oct 2021 21:14:46 +0000

The first time I shot Metallica in 2009, it was a show int he round, and I remember feeling very rushed while I was shooting even though we must have had 20 minutes to take photos during the first three. Everyone was at different spots of the stage and there was no way to get a group shot and it all felt very hectic. This show, part of 2017 Worldwired tour, was a much more by the books affair, with photographers stationed at the end of a long catwalk halfway between the soundboard and the stage. The band interacted a lot more during this show and it was a blast to shoot, I only wish I was a bit taller so I didn’t get the video camera guy and the back of Kevin Mazur’s head in a few of these photos. Great visuals, great lighting. 10/10 would cover these guys any day of the week. SEE ALL THE PHOTOS: View them all in the in the photo gallery. BUY PRINTS: Click on any image in the photo gallery to purchase prints. Check my photo archive for more shows to choose from. FOLLOW ME: Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter or Instagram if you want to stay [...]

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Slowdive @ 9:30 Club

Kyle Gustafson — Sun, 10 Oct 2021 15:04:07 +0000

I always jump at the chance to catch Slowdive on the special occasions where they tour the US. I’ve been a fan ever since I bought Souvlaki in 1994 and heard “Alison” for the first time. This was the second time I’ve seen Slowdive in the flesh, after the band’s 2014 US tour. They sounded absolutely majestic, and even though the set focused quite a bit on their then new self-titled album, they still snuck in five songs from Souvlaki. Pygmalion, their 1995 album only got one song, but it was my favorite from hat album, “Crazy For You.” Lighting was a lot of deep color washes and some well lit patterns, a bit challenging but no complaints. SEE ALL THE PHOTOS: View them all in the in the photo gallery. BUY PRINTS: Click on any image in the photo gallery to purchase prints. Check my photo archive for more shows to choose from. FOLLOW ME: Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter or Instagram if you want to stay current with what I am shooting. Please don’t reuse these photos without my permission.

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John Mayer @ Verizon Center

Kyle Gustafson — Sun, 10 Oct 2021 14:27:39 +0000

Say what you want about John Mayer (I’m agnostic) but here is a hill I will die on: The man gives *great* guitar face. Fo rme as a photographer, he never disappoints. His shows are filled with great poses and lighting and he usually has excellent backdrops such as the city scene on this tour. While I do have a soft spot for his early single “Bigger Than My Body”, that’s probably the last music of his that I have listened to. As an added bonus he usually has great touring musicians with him, such as the legendary bassist Pino Palladino on this tour. Bonus. SEE ALL THE PHOTOS: View them all in the in the photo gallery. BUY PRINTS: Click on any image in the photo gallery to purchase prints. Check my photo archive for more shows to choose from. FOLLOW ME: Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter or Instagram if you want to stay current with what I am shooting. Please don’t reuse these photos without my permission.

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2016 Jingle Ball

Kyle Gustafson — Sun, 10 Oct 2021 14:03:37 +0000

This was a fun night. Even though I haven’t listened to the radio in years, I love covering Jingle Ball every year. I get to hear all the music that was hot from the previous year in one place, in short all killer- no filler sets. This year had a very strong lineup: Meghan Trainor, The Chainsmokers, G-Eazy, Fifth Harmony, Diplo, Ellie Goulding, DNCE, Alessia Cara, Tove Lo, Daya, and Niall Horan. Tove Lo was great (as usual), same for Ellie Goulding. I thought Alessia Cara was the strongest performer of the night though. The women were definitely the strength of this bill. I was not impressed with G-Eazy or The Chainsmokers, although DNCE were fun. SEE ALL THE PHOTOS: View them all in the in the photo gallery. BUY PRINTS: Click on any image in the photo gallery to purchase prints. Check my photo archive for more shows to choose from. FOLLOW ME: Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter or Instagram if you want to stay current with what I am shooting. Please don’t reuse these photos without my permission.

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Neil Young @ Farm Aid 2016

Kyle Gustafson — Tue, 04 Oct 2016 01:46:20 +0000

What an incredible set this was. Neil mother-effing Young! Joined on stage by Willie Nelson! He sang “Harvest Moon” DURING THE HARVEST MOON! Wow. This set was easily worth the drive and hassle of heading out to Bristow. I had only seen Neil once before, way back in the mid-90’s with Crazy Horse, back when I wasn’t well-versed with his work. I will never forget the roar from the crowd that erupted when Neil strapped on his electric guitar after performing his first five songs acoustically. The crowd went absolutely bonkers and he rewarded them with killer versions of “Powder Finger” and “Rockin’ In The Free World.” It was so cool to be so close to Neil and watch him perform. He makes has this look of disgust on his face when he’s playing guitar that is really incredible. I’ve been shooting concerts for 10+ years and I’m as jaded as they come, but this and the Mellencamp set made for an incredible night. SEE ALL THE PHOTOS: View them all in the in the photo gallery. BUY PRINTS: Click on any image in the photo gallery to purchase prints. Check my photo archive for more shows to choose from. FOLLOW ME: Don’t forget to follow me on [...]

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John Mellencamp @ Farm Aid 2016

Kyle Gustafson — Tue, 04 Oct 2016 01:13:07 +0000

I was supposed to shoot AC/DC the night I ended up at Farm Aid 2016. I won’t lie, I was bummed to miss what will probably be my only chance at shooting Angus (and Axl Rose!) but at the same time I was super excited to shoot John Mellencamp and Neil Young. Somehow I had never seen Mellencamp before and he was absolutely incredible. I was going through his back catalog before the show and I was amazed at the number of songs I forgot I knew and loved. I was overjoyed to hear “Check It Out”, “Rain on the Scarecrow” and of course “Pink Houses” during his Farm Aid set. For real “Pink Houses” has got to be up there in the all time stadium rock worthy anthems about the USA. Don’t sleep! SEE ALL THE PHOTOS: View them all in the in the photo gallery. BUY PRINTS: Click on any image in the photo gallery to purchase prints. Check my photo archive for more shows to choose from. FOLLOW ME: Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter or Instagram if you want to stay current with what I am shooting. Please don’t reuse these photos without my permission.

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Paul McCartney @ Verizon Center

Kyle Gustafson — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 01:07:37 +0000

Macca! I’ve seen him three times and shot him once before but obis. I was SUPER excited to get this assignment. He’s 70+ but still plays for 3 hours and I don’t care who you are but if you don’t melt when he plays “Love Me Do”, well, I can’t do nothin’ for you. We got two songs at the Soundboard and they went by in less than 7 minutes. Talk about FAST. I borrowed a D500 from Nikon professional Services to test it out and give me a little extra length on my 300mm. I liked the D500 but didn’t love it. I would have liked a few more days with the body to get more familiar with it, but the “no buffer” feature sure came in handy here. Since I knew we had a short amount of time to shoot, I put the camera on Shutter High and shoot as many frames as I could. Since I don’t get a ticket with my photo pass for shows at the Verizon center, I bought tickets for my wife and I to watch the full show. I decided to give Seat Geek a try for the first time and I [...]

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Janelle Monae and Erykah Badu @ Merriweather Post Pavilion

Kyle Gustafson — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 00:46:34 +0000

This isn’t the first time I’ve shot Erykah Badu and Janelle Monae at the same show. I shot both of these amazing ladies at DAR Constitution Hall in 2010 and the show was n’t that different from this year’s performance at Merriweather as part of the Summer Spirit Festival. At the 2010 show, Badu headlined, wore a bulky jacket, didn’t move much at all during her performance and still tore the roof off. Pretty much the same for this year. Janelle Monae was a dynamo on the stage, using kicking ass and taking names and making me wonder why every concert I cover can’t be this dynamic and visually stunning. I LOVE Janelle Monae. She’s my concert photography muse. I’d be very happy to follow her around and shoot her every night. I can’t imagine it ever being boring. Her performance and setlist at Merriweather weren’t that different from her recent show at the Lincoln (and truth be told I prefer her original opening number to “Dance or Die” where she came out in the hooded cape), but I was still transfixed. Another hing I love about shooting Janelle is her opening numbers are usually a big medley, so we [...]

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Prophets of Rage @ EagleBank Arena

Kyle Gustafson — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 00:26:40 +0000

I’ve often told folks that the one band that was at the top of my MUST SHOOT list for a long time was Rage Against The Machine. I saw them a ton in the 90’s (I was at this show and it was BANANAS) and have always wanted the chance to capture their energy through my lenses. The Prophets of Rage show August is probably as close as I’ll come and I am totally fine with that. I know this tour has been getting mixed reviews but I’m very happy to say this show was everything I wanted and more. I’m a HUGE fan of Public Enemy and Chuck D in particular so this was right in my wheelhouse. And I was totally impressed by the performance B Real put in. Perhaps I has under-rated him due to the latter part of his Cypress Hill career, but man, it was so cool to hear him do “Hand on the Pump.” Tom Morello was a whirlwind of limbs and riffs over on his corner of the stage. I had a hard time tearing myself away from him to shoot everyone else. He kept posing and giving everyone great shots, so I [...]

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Duran Duran @ Verizon Center

Kyle Gustafson — Tue, 10 May 2016 00:39:02 +0000

Not sure how I made it to 2016 before seeing Duran Duran, but that’s the way it worked out. That’s a shame, but this was a really great tour to see them on. Chic opened and they were freaking amazing. Then Simon Le Bon and company took the stage and gave us a hit-filled 19 song set that absolutely played. I was thrilled to hear “A View To A Kill” and a snippet of “New Moon on Monday” and we got to see Nile Rodgers play “Notorious” and “Pressure Off.” No complaints here. Shooting them was a blast, even though Simon kept putting his hand in his pocket for some reason. Also, my Nikon D3s died while I was shooting Chic, so I had to shoot this set with just one camera. I went wide for the first two songs and then tried to get a few close-ups during the third song. SEE ALL THE PHOTOS: View them all in the in the photo gallery. BUY PRINTS: Click on any image in the photo gallery to purchase prints. Check my photo archive for more shows to choose from. FOLLOW ME: Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter or Instagram if you want to stay current with what I am [...]

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