Show Pics: Yeah Yeah Yeahs @ ACL Live (5/7)

Crushed. That is how we all felt when Sound On Sound was cancelled. Looking back at that lineup, you get a swell of what could have been, especially knowing what our local family doing the production work put into it.

One of the big gets was Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Even in 2017, it had been since the festival circuit in 2009 that I got to see them live, which I didn’t get to photograph. That ACL set was a headlining gig when the Beastie Boys had to cancel, accelerating their profile. I missed out on the 2013 SxSW NPR set shooting Iggy and the Stooges. As a music photographer, Karen O is a performer you want to shoot any chance you get (unless Iggy Pop is next door). FINALLY, the stars aligned and they made it back to Austin playing ACL Live and a photo pass landed in my mitts.

Photos and a few thoughts…

It rained. Shout out to the ACL Live security and ticketing teams to get fans into the back stairwell and out of the elements. I imagine a ton of people have colds today being soaked to the bone and then embraced by the air conditioning before full dance party kicked off.

Attendees got a documentary instead of an opening band. There Is No Modern Romance follows the group during the 2003 Fever To Tell tour. Rehearsals, hotels, breakdowns, freakouts, jams.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs came on stage playing the song that closed the movie,”Modern Romanace”, before launching broadside into hits, new and old. Karen O is an amazing presence on stage, always making eye contact, really singing to fans that sing back. Always in motion unless punctuating a moment, she is the focal point as the band works kicking off songs and plowing through percussion. I got all the shots – wide stances, jumps, spitting spray, moody AF. It was rad.