Scenes from the Gig: Bent Knee

When allowed, I take a lot of photos at shows. Some with my professional camera and some with my phone. I usually offer the best “pro” photos to the bands. A couple of the phone pics wind up on my social media pages.

What I’ve come to discover is that I leave a lot of good pictures in my phone and do nothing with them. Ultimately, they get dumped into my computer where they languish into nothingness.

As it turns out, I have a website! I can’t think of a better place to give a few of those unused photos life. I’ve been to a lot of shows since moving to Chicago, and I’ve taken a lot of pictures. Allow me to share a few of them.

Unless I note otherwise, all pictures were taken with my iPhone.

Enjoy!

BENT KNEE (Reggie’s Rock Club, August 9, 2024)

I’ve seen Bent Knee seven or eight times in three different cities. I’ve yet to attend a bad gig. This was the first time I’ve seen the band as a quartet. (Ben Levin and Jessica Kion left a couple of years ago. I wrote a piece about seeing them for the last time.)

At past shows, I always seemed I find myself on the opposite side of the stage from Chris Baum. This time, I was able to move around and get a couple of photos of him.

Courtney Swain is one of the more dynamic singers I’ve encountered in years. She’s also great for facial expressions.

Vince Welch always positioned himself toward the back of the stage as though he was trying to hide in plain sight. The new lineup moved him up front where I could finally get a shot or two of him and his almost-always neutral face.

My sincere apologies to drummer Gavin Wallace-Ailsworth, as I was unable to get really good shots of him at this gig. (There’s always one band member I miss, it seems.) He makes for great photos. I know because I’ve take. some. But this time, I struggled to find the right angle with the phone. There are better shots in my camera.