The opening act was a new artist I’d never heard of, a gorgeous and very talented Laura Izibor. She was a great opening act, but Laura will be headlining her own shows sooner than later.

INDIA.ARIE hit the stage and immediately commented on the energy in the venue, and the vibe the crowd was giving off – both very positive and enthusiastic. The subsequent show demonstrated INDIA.ARIE’s multi-instrumental talents, starting with her vocal talents that range from sweet and soft to powerful and soulful. But she also incorporated a keyboard, a guitar, and a flute. She engaged everyone of her band members, from the bassist to the background singers. She even brought her mother on stage for a very touching song that included the background singers and INDIA.ARIE singing and improvising on how they knew God existed. Bordering a bit on cheesy and panned, this part of the show managed to avoid going just over the line. Women in the crowd were wiping tears from their eyes and even men were spotted embracing their spouses and girlfriends in a way typically not demonstrated in front of their peers.

The show was over two hours long, and it never got old. The show was extremely well balanced and organized to keep the audience on their feet, figuratively and literally. At one point in the show INDIA.ARIE noticed a man in the crowd signing very passionately, and between songs invited him to take the microphone and sing to her in front of the stage. The picture on the left shows her calling for him.

In terms of photographing this show, I was lucky enough to have a photo pass. My big brother, Jeff, works security at Showcase Live and was able to get me access and permission from the club management. Aside from the usual issues shooting in a club and having to get around the spectators, there weren’t any other problems. In fact, I might consider Showcase Live to be a nearly ideal venue to shoot in, simply because of the lighting, which is impeccable. Every corner of the stage allowed me to get in nice and tight, with an ISO ranging from 400-1250, shutterspeeds well above 100 in most cases, and with my aperture wide open. Most of my shots were taken with my Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM, but I also incorporated my EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM for some of the wider angle shots. A second shooter, Eric Greenberg, also had a Canon 40D and was also mostly shooting with the 70-200mm, but he had a whole bunch of other lenses with him, and let me borrow a Tokina wide-angle fisheye lense, 10-17mm which was a lot of fun. My next purchase is definitely a fisheye, despite some strange conviction in the past to not get one. Some things I just need to get over!

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