June 28 2012
First, apologies for the late posting of yesterday’s images due to getting back late from the opening night of the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal. This year the opening act on the main TD stage was none other than Montreal’s own Rufus Wainwright.
Anyone not familiar with Rufus, he is a member of a musical dynasty that includes his mother Kate McGarrigle (who died of cancer aged 63 in 2010), father, aunts and sister Martha Wainwright. Martha and other family members joined Rufus on stage mid-way through the set.
There was a large crowd (as always for the opening show) present that filled to overflowing the Esplanade de la Place des Arts from the start of the concert at 9.30. Although I got there about 15 minutes before the show began, I was only able to get to about 100 feet in front of the stage before hitting a solid mass of bodies. Still, I managed to get a few reasonable shots using the 300mm lens, despite being grainy due to high ISO required.
Prior to going to the TD stage to see Rufus, I did have time to check out Haitian/Quebec singer Marie-Christine performing on the Rio Tinto Alcan stage.
Before calling it a night, I headed over to the far side of the festival site to the Scène Bell to see Hess is more. Danish musician Mikkel Hess covers a wide range of styles from Scandinavian folk to electronic. The few tracks I caught were pretty cool and I plan checking out his music more.
I plan to make a few visits over the next week, not only to hear some great music, but to work on my technique of shooting concerts.
To view images in gallery format, simply click on one of the images below.
Thanks for stopping by. Until next time.
Martin