UK indie pop singer Ellie Goulding brought her Delirium Tour to Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD on Monday night performing for an “army” of her fans. With a full band and back up singers and dancers, Ellie took the stage with a gold drapery hanging as her back-lit silhouette showed through the drapery during “Intro (Delirium).” Then as the dancers pulled apart the drapery to reveal Ellie, she began performing “Aftertaste” off of her recent album, Delirium.
The most emotional and powerful performance of the evening was “Army” in which Ellie asked the crowd to pull out their phones with the flashlight on before beginning to sing. She stood there for a minute, taking it all in. She then explained that “Army” is dedicated to her best friend, and suggested her fans hug their best friends right as she began to perform the recent single.
The show took a bit of a political turn after Ellie spotted a fan holding up a “Fuck Donald Trump” sign written in rainbow colors. She didn’t say much, but she pointed it out and had the fan show it to everyone. Also, with the show being just two days after the horrific Orlando shooting, fans held up “love conquers hate #orlando” signs, which Ellie took and held up on stage, as well as a rainbow flag that read “love has no labels” that she held pressed against her chest while performing “Anything Could Happen.” Her last encore song, “Love Me Like You Do” was a tribute to the victims, displaying hands in a heart shape in rainbow colors on the screens. She later posted on social media a photo from encore stating that her performance at Merriweather “was only about love.” These actions show how beautiful of a person Ellie Goulding is inside and out.
Aside from the emotional performances, Ellie Goulding’s performances are upbeat and fun. She is a phenomenal live performer. Merriweather Post Pavilion turned into a huge dance party for much of her set. Her set consists of 22 songs and are a good mix of her popular music from the recently released, Delirium, to her first album released in 2010, Lights.
Ellie Goulding set list:
Intro (Delirium)
Aftertaste
Holding on for Life
Goodness Gracious
Something in the Way You Move
Outside
Devotion
Keep on Dancin’
Don’t Need Nobody
Explosions
Lights (sung as a ballad)
Army
Lost and Found
Figure 8
On My Mind
Codes
Don’t Panic
We Can’t Move to This
I Need Your Love
Burn
Anything Could Happen
Love Me Like You Do
Opening for Ellie Goulding was the energetic Brooklyn based indie duo, Matt and Kim.
We have had the honor of covering Matt and Kim every time they have come to the D.C./Baltimore metro area to perform since 2013. Last night’s show was the largest crowd we have seen them perform for in our area other than popular music festivals like Firefly Music Festival in Dover, DE.
Matt and Kim were the perfect start to the evening. Matt said, “we’re here to warm you up” as he encouraged the crowd to get up and dance. Not only do their catchy and ever so popular dance tunes force people to move to the beat, but it’s also their energy and personalities that really make Matt and Kim performances so unique and fun. Their energy stirs excitement from everyone. From how Kim will look straight into the crowd with the most excited look on her face as she is pounding her drum kit to when Matt jumps off his keyboard stool, they are always engaging the crowd and having a good time.
Matt and Kim recently released a new EP back in April titled We Were The Weirdos. Surprisingly, they didn’t perform any of the four songs from their EP during their set. For the first time, they added a cover to their set, which was “Umbrella” by Rihanna.
Jennifer-What a phenomenal set of concert images! It looks like it was an amazing show!ReplyCancel
Anna Arpasi-Wow!!! What amazing images! You really captured the energy of the show!!ReplyCancel
Laura Matney-Wow this looks like it was an amazing concert! Great lighting in the shots too!ReplyCancel
Lauren Swann-My friend went to that concert and LOVED it! So may fun images of what looks to have been an amazing show!ReplyCancel
Emily-You are the coolest! I’m a little jealous that you get to be this up close and personal to so many really awesome shows. Great concert pics!ReplyCancel
ashton-LOVE your adventures in music. These photos rock. So jelly.ReplyCancel
After a five year hiatus, Good Charlotte announced that they are back with a new album and a short tour! Their sixth record, Youth Authority, is due out this July. To kick things off, they announced a four city tour hitting Philadelphia, Washington D.C., New York and Boston. With Washington, D.C. being their hometown show, you know it was going to be a good time. Good Charlotte is Joel Madden (lead vocals), Benji Madden (lead guitar/backing vocals), Paul Thomas (bass), Billy Martin (rhythm guitar), and Dean Butterworth (drums).
The sold out show at 9:30 Club had people lined up hours before the doors were set to open as fans eagerly awaited the chance to see Good Charlotte back in action. Doors opened at 7:00pm with Good Charlotte slated to take the stage at 9:15pm.
At 9:18pm the lights dimmed and the crowd erupted as Good Charlotte took the stage and immediately started the show off with one of their most popular songs off of their 2002 album, The Young and the Hopeless, “The Anthem.” They played different tracks off most of their albums, and even included a few extras that the fans had been requesting. Most of the requests being songs that they hadn’t even played in about 6-10 years. Fan favorites like, “Seasons,” “Mountain,” “S.O.S.,” “East Coast Anthem” and “Waldorf Worldwide” were belted out, and the fans sang along to every word.
Good Charlotte brings so much energy and love to their shows. When you are at their show you always feel appreciated. They make sure they always thank their fans. Good Charlotte tells their fans how much they mean to them and how if it weren’t for them they wouldn’t be where they are now. Their music speaks to many different varieties of people – so no matter how you dress, how old you are or what’s going on in your life, you are always welcomed in as part of the Good Charlotte family.
Good Charlotte Set List:
The Anthem
Story of my Old Man
My Bloody Valentine
Girls & Boys
Riot Girl
The Motivation Proclamation
Hold On
Makeshift Love
The Young and the Hopeless
Little Things
40oz. Dream
The River
Dance Floor Anthem
I Just Wanna Live
Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous
Waterparks, a pop-punk band from Houston, Texas, took to the stage first. The band was formed in 2011 and is comprised of Awsten Knight (lead vocalist/guitar), Geoff Wingington (backing vocalist/guitar), and Otto Wood (drums). They have been quoted stating that one of their musical influences is Good Charlotte, along with Sum 41, Blink-182 and Green Day. Waterparks released a new LP in January, titled Cluster. They are set to perform on every date of this year’s Vans Warped Tour.
If you’re from Maryland (and more specifically if you venture to the Westminster area), you may recognize the name Parks Landing; but we are not talking about the now permanently closed seafood restaurant that may come to mind when hearing that name. We are talking about local indie band Parks Landing, who named themselves after the late restaurant. “The band’s name is an inside joke that gathered way too much steam. We couldn’t decide on a name, and Niki used to work at a restaurant called Parks Landing that recently closed. We thought that since they didn’t have a use for the name anymore, we could go ahead and run with it,” explained Dan Ciarrocchi, Parks Landing’s guitarist.
Parks Landing is comprised of Niki DiCarlo (vocals), Dan Ciarrocchi (guitar), and Tom Colegrove (drums). Dan’s idea to start the band originated right after leaving a full time job at a marketing firm in February 2015. Music had always been a part of his life, but had been neglected while he fixated on the normalcy of having a full time job. Once he left full time employment, it was time to open the door that led to Parks Landing and assemble a band. Dan and Tom knew each other since college, and have been playing together on a casual basis for a couple years. Niki was a friend of Dan’s brother in law, the two had met and exchanged information but didn’t know each other well. Dan randomly texted her on a weekday afternoon asking her if he could talk music with her, which led to them writing songs later that day.
The band released their single, “Little Plane,” on October 12, 2015 on Bandcamp. The music and melodies definitely give off indie pop vibes while Niki’s vocals have a hint of an alternative flair.
On November 9th, Parks Landing released their first music video for “Voices in My Head,” which was directed and produced by Taylor Morden of PopMotion Pictures.
Their debut EP titled Little Planes was released on November 21st, 2015, and can be purchased locally at The Sound Garden in Fells Point. Little Planes is also available digitally on iTunes, Amazon MP3, Google Play and Spotify.
We are excited to be the first to announce that Parks Landing will be performing at the LAUNCH Music Conference and Festival! LAUNCH brings musicians and music fans from around the world to downtown Lancaster, PA on April 21st – 24th for a weekend full of live music, networking and instruction. Check out Parks Landing on Saturday, April 23rd at the Federal Taphouse starting at 9pm. Also on the lineup for LAUNCH are Bayside, Ice Nine Kills, and more!
Parks Landing will be announcing more local show dates soon!
Singer, songwriter and actor Josh Groban filled the historic DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. with his indescribably beautiful voice last night on his Stages tour. The tour is titled after his most recent album released in April 2015 of show tunes from Broadway musicals.
Joining Josh Groban as a guest on this tour is the Tony Award winning actress and singer Lena Hall. Her voice is absolutely stunning and she was just radiant in all sequined outfits. She sang on a few duets with Josh, then had two solos of her own – one in each act. One of her solos that really showed her rock and roll vibe was her cover of Paul McCartney’s “Maybe I’m Amazed” during the second act. This cover also really highlighted the talents of Josh Groban’s guitarist Tariqh Akoni who shredded it during the many guitar solos throughout the night, but especially this one. On the piano was Mark Stephens. Josh Groban also had the National Symphony Orchestra backing him throughout his set as well as for two songs had the Madison Singers from JMU harmonize with him.
His concert drew quite the crowd for a Monday night show, with audience members ranging in age from pre-teens to senior citizens. Excitement was in the air, as some fans’ faces lit up as they entered the hall because they were just in the same building as the talented Oscar and Grammy nominee. One fan, named Julia, ran up to the stage with a note for Josh. Just before the bouncer was about to take her away from the stage, Josh noticed it and said “it’s okay, what is that?” He took and read the letter asking if she could sing “The Prayer” with him, which he excitedly agreed to and the two sang a few verses together. It was such a sweet moment and she was so good that you could see from Josh’s reactions that he was enjoying her performance.
In between each song, we got to enjoy a little bit of that Josh Groban humor. But one moment that particularly had everyone laughing was right before starting to sing, a girl screamed that she loved Josh Groban. As he started his next song on the set list “Children will Listen / Not While I’m Around” from Into the Woods and Sweeny Todd, it was almost like he was answering her with the beginning lyrics “careful the things you say….” Just about everyone got it as he was chuckling to himself.
Josh Groban describes his Stages tour has a high five to his six year old self, who dreamed of singing the music from the Broadway musicals that have really inspired him from that age. Josh is amazing live – just absolutely phenomenal. The Stages Tour is so captivating, even for those who don’t like show tunes. It’s beautiful music sung by a beautiful and passionate artist. To see when Josh Groban is coming to your town, click here.
Destinee-This is so awesome! That takes so much talent to photograph events like this! I love Josh Groban, too! ReplyCancel
Laura-Looks like an amazing show and I love all of the colorful images!ReplyCancel
Emily-I think it’s awesome that you get to take all these band/artist photos – what a fun way to be creative and stay fresh. These are great images!ReplyCancel
Carly Fuller-Wow you got to photograph my dream husband. So. Jealous! What an amazing concert and photographs at the historic DAR constitution hallReplyCancel
Tara-So fun!! These are awesome shots and who doesn’t love them some Josh Groban??ReplyCancel
Lor lip -Saw Josh at KINGS newly renovated in Brooklyn. We had VIP seats, way too far away to see his gorgeour face and expressions. Show amazing HOWEVER he sang zero of his hit songs. Would have loced to hear The Vow or Surrender.
One can always hear showtunes , many do this. Even though his latest album most in the crowd wanted his hits, even one in Italian.ReplyCancel
Twenty One Pilots fans, who refer to themselves as “The Clique,” flooded D.C. streets for night one of Twenty One Pilots’ two sold out shows at Echostage that kick off their Blurryface Tour. The line to get in wrapped around the block from the venue, with fans counting down the minutes until doors opened. “The Clique” is filled with extremely dedicated fans, showing their love for the band by wearing the band’s t-shirts — some cover parts of their body in black paint like singer Tyler Joseph does often when performing or outline their eyes in red paint like drummer Josh Dun.
The alternative band from Columbus, Ohio, has seen amazing success since the 2013 release of their third studio album, Vessel, with their shows selling out in minutes, performing at many huge music festivals, and have received numerous AP Music Award and MTV VMA nominees. Now with the release of their fourth studio album, Blurryface, their tour sold out in seconds and the duo recently performed at the 2015 MTV VMAs with A$AP Rocky.
The energy and theatrics that Twenty One Pilots has on stage during the entirety of their set is phenomenal. As standard practice, Twenty One Pilots took to the stage in masks and performed the entirety of “Heavydirtysoul” in them. Tyler sang into a glowing microphone that was hanging from the top of the stage. Also as standard practice at a Twenty One Pilots show, Tyler uses the entire stage as if it was his own personal Parkour gym. He often jumps off and onto things like the platforms, speakers and his piano, as Josh tears it up on his drum set. These two were up to their usual antics throughout the set – like Josh performing on a mobile drum set over the crowd as they hold him up, and Tyler often jumping into the crowd.
I always recommend to everyone to check out Twenty One Pilots, no matter what their musical taste is. Their music is so universal, and it’s so hard to describe it as one genre. The lyrics are so meaningful, I feel anyone can relate to it. The energy at their shows and from their fans is unrivaled.
Twenty One Pilots Setlist:
Heavydirtysoul
Stressed Out
Guns for Hands
Migraine
Polarize
House of Gold
We Don’t Believe What’s on TV
Can’t Help Falling in Love (Elvis Presley Cover)
The Judge
Lane Boy
Forest / Pantaloon / Addict with a Pen / Screen / Ode to Sleep / Semi-Automatic
Doubt
Message Man
Holding Onto You
Ride
The Run and Go
Tear in My Heart
Car Radio
Goner
Trees
Echosmith took the stage prior to Twenty One Pilots, starting off strong with the latest single “Let’s Love” off their studio album, Talking Dreams. Echosmith is made up of The Sierota siblings — Sydney (vocals/keyboard), Jamie (vocals/guitar), Noah (vocals/bass), and Graham (drums). However, Jamie is taking a few months off from touring as he and his wife, Ana, are preparing for the arrival of their baby boy! Josh Murty is filling in for Jamie on this tour, and doesn’t disappoint. They did have a shorter set than expected though, only playing several songs. How they performed “Bright” was like a giant acoustic duet with the crowd. Echosmith is gaining a lot of fame – they’ve been on huge festival lineups, Sydney was a surprise guest at a Taylor Swift concert, “Cool Kids” is frequently on the radio, and Echosmith also is featured on a song by EDM artist Zedd – all just within the span of one year! They own the stages they perform on, and Sydney is just the cutest with her pink Wagasa (traditional Japanese paper umbrella) that she always pulls out while performing the album title song “Talking Dreams.”
San Francisco reigning indie rock band Finish Ticket started off the night with a set of four songs total. Although short, they got the crowd pumped for the proceeding acts. They performed four of the five songs off their EP, When Night Becomes Day, that was just released on September 4th. Finish Ticket has a great sound and have good live energy, I’m excited to see them grow – the Blurryface tour is definitely a great tour to open for right after releasing an EP! The Clique was very accepting and excited about Finish Ticket and their performance, which means great things will be coming their way.
I am so excited to see these guys back on the scene and on tour in support of their latest album, “VII: Sturm und Drang.” They opened their set strong with “Walk with me in Hell,” as soon as they hit their opening guitar riff the crowd exploded. Everyone was packed in the pit chanting side by side with vocalist, Randy Blythe. As their set progressed they played a good mix of songs throughout their discography and featured a couple off the new album including “Still Echoes” and “512,” and ending their set with fan favorite, “Redneck.” They put on a great, high-energy show and definitely got the crowed hyped for Slipknot’s set.
Slipknot
Also just having released a new album, “.5 the grey chapter” earlier this year, Slipknot is back on the road with a killer support system. After listening to the new album and catching their set earlier this summer at Carolina Rebellion, I was stoked to see their headlining set and see what they had in store. As their curtains opened with XIX playing over the loud speakers, one by one vocalist Corey Taylor and the boys made their way to the forefront, the music stopped and they came in with the intro to Sarcastrophe and they were off. It was like an explosion, everyone went running in opposite directions. The thing I love so much about slipknot is they have such bold personalities and they really don’t hold back on stage and its infectious. Everyone in the venue that night was up, on their feet, moshing, singing along and having a great time. I highly encourage everyone to go check them out, if nothing else their show is a kick ass, in your face experience.
I was pretty stoked to hear that Letlive would be opening the show on this tour. Every time I have seen these guys it has been a completely new show with a whole new set of on stage antics. Vocalist, Jason Butler is quite the spectacle, he does everything from sumersualts to climbing in the rafters and jumping off the speakers. These guys have an insane amount of energy and passion about their music, it’s hard not to get into their sets.
Killswitch Engage
After their reunion with vocalist, Jesse Leach Killswitch has been touring relentlessly, picking up slots on various festival lineups and touring with a wide range of bands. This time finding their way to The Fillmore in Silver Spring MD in support of Rise Against. First seeing the line up I thought it was a little strange, Killswitch is notorious for being a very loud in your face metal band, where as Rise Against leans more to the punk genera. It ended up working out really well, Killswitch seemed to have a very strong fan base represented and definitely picked up some new fans throughout their set. As they came on stage, they opened their set with a fan favorite, “My Curse” the crowed exploded. What I love about this band, is they are always full of energy, Jesse Leach has a commanding stage presence and a powerful scream, then there is Adam Dutkiewicz. Adam is an over the top personality, he is constantly running around the stage, shouting whatever comes to mind. These guys consistently put on a great show and I’m looking forward to see where they go next.
Rise Against
I was so excited when I heard Rise Against was coming around, whenever they come around on a club tour, one thing is always guaranteed, a packed house and a killer show. They came out to a stage set with R I S E illuminated against the back drop, and one by one they came running out. They opened their set with “The Great Die-Off” off of their latest album, as their set progressed, they played a healthy variety of songs throughout their discography. One of my favorite guys to watch is guitarist, Zach Blair, he is always moving around the stage, jumping off the risers and connecting with the crowd. Vocalist, Tim Mcllrath has such a commanding presence it’s hard not to sit up and take notice. Rise against put on a phenomenal show, definitely a band to go see if you haven’t already.
Oh we just love it when “Weird Al” Yankovic comes to Baltimore! Just two years prior, we covered his show at Rams Head Live. This year, he performed to a sold out crowd on his Mandatory World Tour at Pier Six Pavilion. I am not going to go into much detail of the show out of respect of “Weird Al” and his fans who have yet to see him live. The show is full of surprises for the crowd, including amazing costumes, and it’s best to leave it that way – as a surprise!
This year has been an amazing year for “Weird Al”- his fourteenth studio album, Mandatory Fun, won the 2015 Grammy for Best Comedy Album and was his first album to be number one in the United States. During his two hour set, he performed a multitude of his parody songs from his recent album like “Foil” (parody of Lorde’s “Royals”) and “Handy” (parody of Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy”) and did throwbacks to the songs that made “Weird Al” a house name years ago, like “Fat” (parody of Michael Jackson’s “Bad”) and “Amish Paradise” (parody of Coolio’s “Gangster’s Paradise).
Take a look at our images from Weird Al’s first three songs of his incredible performance at Pier Six Pavilion. To see more, buy your ticket to see him live ASAP! You won’t want to miss seeing all of his amazing costumes, performance surprises, and the videos he plays in between songs! His show is extraordinarily fun for everyone!
Last Thursday night, Alain Macklovitch, or better known by his stage name A-Trak, stepped up to the turntables on his Gold Gone Wild tour as Araabmuzik was about done his set. The two spun for a little bit together until about 10:40pm. The lights dimmed and A-Trak started to mix on his own. The crowd was full of anticipation of the music that A-Trak was going to mix for them. He told the crowd that he doesn’t play the same set every night on tour. He feeds off of the specific crowd’s energy, and from that he decides what songs to mix and how to mix them. That is one of a few reasons as witnessed last night that makes A-Trak one of the most down to Earth EDM artists. Before his set, he was seen hanging between the barricade watching Araabmuzik spin. After being spotted by several fans, he didn’t run from them – he hung out, took selfies, and held brief conversations with them. Impressive for an artist about to take the stage in less than twenty minutes!
Canadian DJ A-Trak is not just an EDM DJ / turntablist, he is also a record producer and one of the founders of Fool’s Gold Records, in 2007, and Alain and Nick Catchdubs. They are known for blending hip-hop and electronic dance music together in an amazing harmony. A-Trak has an extensive and impressive background as an artist. He backed Kanye West on tour in 2004 and worked with Kanye on his 2005 and 2007 albums. In 2009, he and Armand Van Helden were commonly known as Duck Sauce, and together they made chart topping hits like the song “Barbara Streisand” and “aNYway”. In 2013, A-Trak came in 7th place in America’s Best DJ competition. This year, he has recently released his latest single “PUSH” and is touring several different countries.
A-Trak’s sold out show at 9:30 Club was a blast of energy – like a huge party full of crowd surfing, dancing, and losing yourself to the beat of the music and light show. A lot of the crowd was dressed for a rave – some sporting candy bracelets and lots of neon colors. One fan was spotted in a unicorn head! It’s undeniable that A-Trak has a hardcore fan following, and it is exciting to envision what is to come next for this music and record producer!
After the release of their newest live album, “Spookshow international live” Gingerfish, Piggy D, John 5 and Rob Zombie set out to play a handful of tour days spanning a few states in the Midwest and east coast. Whenever Zombie comes around I always try to go out of my way to shoot especially in these small club venues. While it’s a more stripped down show without the pyro and without the big robots, these guys have a larger than life personalities.
Opening the show was drummer, Gingerfish playing a “metal” DJ set. Starting the show with Motley Crue’s “Kickstart” my heart definitely set the tone for the evening. It was pretty cool watching him as he got really into his mix, he would start head banging and jumping around the stage.
As the lights went dim, and Zombie made his way to the stage and they jumped right into their set opening with Teenage Nosferatu Pussy. One thing I love about this band, every member has such a vibrant personality, I can’t just follow one of them. Joh 5 came out wearing a light up gas mask like contraption over his face as Piggy D ran from speaker to speaker eager to get closer to the crowd. Then there is Zombie, his iconic dance moves and full on dreaded head banging is a spectacle in and of its self. As they moved through their set list they hit some of their most iconic songs, including “Living Dead Girl” “Never Gonna Stop” and “More Human than Human.” Though one of my favorite moments of everyZombie set is just before they preform, “American Band” John 5 comes out with his patriotic guitar and starts playing the Star Spangled Banner picking the guitar with his teeth, then throwing the guitar over his head and playing it upside down. This man is such an insanely talented musician it is incredible to watch him show off his skills. Then finally no Zombie party would be complete without ending the show with “Dragula.” As always a killer show at a sold out club venue, I love how diverse Zombie is in his shows and at different venues definitely a show to see no matter what the venue.
Matt and Kim released a new EP after performing their second weekend at Coachella. This EP mixes Matt and Kim's usual upbeat tunes with some more mellow beats, which will help hold their fans over until their next LP is released.
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Jennifer - What a phenomenal set of concert images! It looks like it was an amazing show!
Anna Arpasi - Wow!!! What amazing images! You really captured the energy of the show!!
Laura Matney - Wow this looks like it was an amazing concert! Great lighting in the shots too!
Lauren Swann - My friend went to that concert and LOVED it! So may fun images of what looks to have been an amazing show!
Emily - You are the coolest! I’m a little jealous that you get to be this up close and personal to so many really awesome shows. Great concert pics!
ashton - LOVE your adventures in music. These photos rock. So jelly.