Cold War Kids Playing in the Dark
April 21st, 2009 | Published in Music Photography
New York, 3rd of April.
I’m not gonna lie: I was excited to see Cold War Kids for the first time live. I got to the venue at around 9pm, waited a couple minutes for my +1 and got inside.
For some reason Cold War Kids decided to play a really early show. They showed up on stage so early that I didn’t even get to drink a beer before I shoot (which is a ritual). I ran into the crowd and found my spot in the pit.
No lights. Absolutely no lights. I try to relax. “It’s just for the first song…” but the lights were still turned off when they played their second song. I pushed the ISO and opened up the diaphragm: nothing would appear on my screen. They had two lights on, two background lights: THAT WAS IT!
Besides the bad lighting, Cold War Kids seemed totally off and bored. It felt like they knew the crowd was already “conquered” and they had nothing else to show than just playing their songs and go on to another venue.
Really disappointed I went upstairs and enjoyed a couple beers with my friend. No big fuss: Cold War Kids will remain a great band, but they better drop the attitude or it’s the band that’ll drop!
I will probably be shooting them at Les Ardentes, a Belgian festival. The European crowd isn’t as nice as the American crowd so they better be aware and offer an amazing set or it will be the end of the Cold War Kids glory!
Noahm.
