Was this a sold out show? If not, the energetic crowd packed into the Knitting Factory Concert House this Friday night could’ve fooled me. In fact the last show I had the pleasure of shooting at The Knit Reno which was this packed was Tech N9ne this past summer. Nevertheless, there was plenty of room for dancing, provided you’re comfortable with slamming skin against your neighbors, but hey, after a couple of those stiffly-mixed drinks from the darling bartenders, all is well … especially when RJD2 is headlining the evening!
Excitement was in the air when RJD2 took the stage. Adornments including an all-black jumpsuit with neatly arranged pins, a welding mask and MPC (drum machine / sampler), the later of which attached directly to RJ’s crotch, on a spinning, ball bearing-laced adapter were affixed to the famed hip-hop producer / DJ’s frame while he belted out the most pleasing of dirty, dust-filled beats, samples and drum lines throughout the evening.
In addition to the MPC, I was able to count no less than (3) turntables, a crate of vinyl records (presumably the same used in making Deadringer), several mixers and more buttons, knobs, sliders and faders than most DJ’s would know what to do with … all in use throughout the evening in re-creating (and re-imagining) favorites like The Horror and Good Times Roll (encore). The crowd (present company included) absolutely loved it. Ramble John (RJD2) even came out after his encore to shake hands and trade smiles and pleasantries from the adoring front-row fans. Yep, I was the first to shake hands with the legend known as RJD2 after his Reno 2012 performance … and it was grand.
Opening acts included local favorite Who Cares (Sacramento/Reno) and Lunice (Montreal), which did more than an ample job of warming up the crowd with danceable beats, rhymes and BASS.
As per geeky camera-speak, this was my 2nd show shooting with my newest piece of glass, Nikon’s AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED attached to the now 1-year old Nikon D7000 body which seems to come with me wherever I may go. Shutter speed and aperture were fixed at 1/250th of a second and f/2.8, respectively, for the evening while ISO jumped between 3200 and 6400, depending on presence of usable light, which is always the greatest asset to any live music photographer. All shots were taken in the RAW (.NEF) format and processed minimally using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3.
Before moving on, I highly encourage readers to click on the individual gallery links below and checking out all of the (fabulous?) shots now posted to IShootReno.com:
VIEW THE FULL RJD2 GALLERY HERE
VIEW THE FULL LUNICE GALLERY HERE
VIEW THE FULL WHO CARES GALLERY HERE
Camera(s) Used:
Lens(es) Used:
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