Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips performs during the 2010 Free Press Houston Summerfest in Houston, Texas.

Last weekend I photographed the 2010 Free Press Houston Summerfest at Eleanor Tinsley Park here in downtown Houston, Texas. Last year was the festival’s inaugural year and I remember feeling really excited and proud of my city for finally hosting a legit music festival as I watched Broken Social Scene, Of Montreal, Explosions in the Sky and others take the stage in the park just blocks from my place. I have been involved in the live music scene for years, whether playing or photographing and for most of that time our neighbors to the west in Austin have held the torch for the best live music scene, and even though that is still the case, the Free Press Houston Summerfest is a testament to just how much Houston can give Austin a run for its money.

This year’s festival was even bigger and better with a larger main stage, more sponsors, and bigger headliners. The festival (both this year’s and last) creatively blends a wide-range of musical genres from hip-hop and metal to indie and jazz. The main draws this year were Girl Talk, Slim Thug and Bun-B, and The Flaming Lips. For the punk/hardcore audience, Cro-Mags and Municipal Waste graced the side stage. In total there were over 70 bands, national and local.

Temperatures were sweltering on day 1, Saturday. I was able to walk to the venue with a small backpack to carry the camera essentials. There was a lot more activities and vendors compared to last year, but after a trip or two around the grounds I settled at the main stage to photograph RaRaRiot. For most of the first day I remained near the main stage photographing the handful of bands that would take the stage throughout the afternoon.

A crowd dances on stage during Girl Talk.

Popular mash-up artist Gregg Gillis aka Girl Talk headlined day 1. I had never seen him perform live, but was introduced to him and his jams back when I worked in Baltimore in 2008. I always knew his live shows were a party, but I was not ready for the craziness that ensued. Balloons, toilet paper, dirty dancing, and everything else seemed to be happening on and off stage during the lengthy set. Towards the finale of the set, Gregg leaped up onto the on-stage desk that held his only instruments; a laptop, a mouse and a mouse-pad, (complete with puppy dogs) held his hands in the air and in almost perfect synchronization, an elaborate fireworks display went off in the background. It was a perfect ending to the first of two long days of live music.

It wasn’t until I had already started walking through the gates of the festival when I looked up and saw some threatening clouds. As I leisurely made my way down the natural embankment to the main stage, raindrops started to fall on my head. Within a few minutes of my arrival, several other photographers, a few crew members and I were huddled underneath a tent backstage, watching as a torrential downpour threw a meteorological wrench into the plans of hundreds of fellow music lovers. Last year severe thunderstorms made a muddy mess of the festival grounds, but were thoughtful enough to cease just prior to the opening of the gates. This year mother nature had waited until the fans were settled into their hillside spots and onto their colorful blankets before she showed her teeth.

Festival-goers slide down a muddy hillside, during a rainy day 2.

I have to admit it. From under the (relative) safety of my tent, I had to give it to my fellow Houstonians. There was no mass exodus as the rains continued to come down. Of course there were several groups of spectators that called it a day or at least decided to wait it out elsewhere, but the majority of fans took it in stride. They held their spots on the muddy hillside and continued to enjoy the music. Some even decided dive in head first (literally) into a new event that had spawned as a result of the rains, sliding down the muddy hillside into a puddle of muddy rainwater that had gathered below. After watching a few minutes of this intriguing event from underneath my tent, I too decided to throw caution to the wind and not join them, but photograph them. In the process I think a few of my lenses and cameras paid the price, but some interesting images were made.

After a while the rain cleared and the show went on as planned. The rest of the day’s acts went off without a hitch, but like day 1, I was not prepared for the headliner.

The Flaming Lips were set to finish off the weekend of music. I had never seen them live, and although I knew a bit about their live performances, I admit I did not quite expect the sheer craziness that ensued. In a similar fashion to Girl Talk’s set the night before, there were streamers, balloons, confetti, costumed dancers, elaborate lighting, elaborate set design and of course frontman, Wayne Coyne’s signature bubble.

We were only given access to photograph the first song of the set, but after that song I moved back and enjoyed the rest of the set from the rear. As I watched the final songs of this year’s Summerfest I realized how many more people were in attendance compared to last year. I only hope that this festival sticks around, continues to grow (in the best way possible) and draws even larger crowds in years to come.

Check out the slideshow of images below and if you like what you see, please retweet!

SUMMERFEST (JUNE 2010) – Images by Todd Spoth

It’s almost been a week since I departed Houston for Austin and the live music mecca that is South by Southwest, yet it still feels like I’m recovering. It’s mostly the severe seasonal allergies, but the journey wore me out, like it does every year, but like every year, I had a blast and saw some awesome live music. A few days prior were spent in back in Houston with good friend and fellow photographer, Ariel Zambelich from the Bay Area. She took off for Austin Wednesday and I came up with some friends Thursday afternoon.

After getting our bearings upon arrival Thursday, we headed downtown and prepared to attend the Pure Volume House party that night which featured music from Travis McCoy of Gym Class Heroes fame, Rival Schools and Andrew WK. The show was free via RSVP and even though several members of our crew weren’t on the list, we had no trouble getting passes and getting in. In addition to the live music, Taco Bell was on site handing out endless free tacos and burritos and there was an open bar as well. The stage collapsed halfway during Travis McCoy’s DJ set which forced the show to move onto the floor, DIY-style. Rival Schools were amazing and Andrew WK was amazing as well. The show ended around 5:30am and was a great end to night 1.

Day 2 began with an impromptu portrait session with Ariel and her OhDangMag crew. Afterwards, we caught some jams from The Watson Twins at the Relix Magazine party and then headed over to the annual Shirts For a Cure day show at Red 7. Every year the foundation hosts a handful of awesome bands and this year was no different with sets from, The Riverboat Gamblers, Strike Anywhere, Rival Schools, Fucked Up, Recover, Circa Survive and 7 Seconds. It was great getting to see the guys in Strike Anywhere again. We shared several dates on a tour with those guys about 10 years ago and they are still going strong. Good Stuff. After the Shirts For a Cure showcase, Ariel and I headed to a nearby church where Matt Pryor of Get Up Kids fame was set to open an official showcase featuring Jakob Dylan. When the doors of the sanctuary opened about 30 or so people filed into the small, yet beautiful place filing only the first several rows of pews. Most of the early crowd was there to see Jakob Dylan, and hear his solo stuff (which I might add is no where near as awesome as The Wallflowers stuff!) It was hands down one of the coolest Matt Pryor solo shows ever. After that showcase we really didn’t have too much of a plan. We wandered the streets a bit, and finished the night up by checking out a late set by Minus The Bear.

I started day 3 by spending a good bit of time browsing the annual Flatstock show at the Austin Convention Center. Every year the best poster artists from around the country gather to display their latest work. I am a huge fan of poster art, silk screens and amazing design, so naturally this place is like heaven for me. I make it a point every year to visit and pick up a few things that inspire me. After Flatstock I headed to Ace’s Lounge for a day showcase featuring Hey Champ, Bad Rabbits, et al. Both bands were amazing live and I ended up catching a few others that were pretty impressive as well. After that showcase I headed over the Levis Fader Fort and hung out there for a bit. I saw Adrian Grenier of Entourage fame and caught an exciting performance by Sleigh Bells before the headliner, Bone Thugs In Harmony finished up the night. I wasnt too fond of the music of Sleigh Bells, but frontwoman, Alexis Krauss was a fun performer and helped me make some decent photos (see photo above). As a long time fan of the Cleveland rappers, I am a bit biased, but Bone Thugs really performed well. They managed to knock out all of their hits without playing even 1 song off their forthcoming album. This may be because they were missing 2 of their members, but even so, the set was solid. Click here to see all 5 parts of the Bone Thugs In Harmony set at the Levis Fader Fort.

The rumors of Jay-Z, MIA, and others secretly performing after Bone Thugs were squashed when the loudspeaker announced that the Fort was officially closed, but our night was not over yet. We headed to the annex at Emo’s and walked right into the Fat Wreck showcase. We were in time to see Dead to Me play, but were really there to witness what took place afterwards. The bill listed “Cokie The Clown” which everyone knew was Fat Mike of NOFX fame. Additional rumors were that NOFX (the full band) would play during this slot, however NOFX did not play. In their place was Fat Mike, dressed as a clown, performing a handful of acoustic songs and telling some of the most disturbing and awkward stories that anyone could tell. It would take me too long to explain what happened next, but click here to see the epic ending to the set. Hint: It involves Fat Mike tricking the audience into drinking his urine.

An early visit for some of the best breakfast tacos at Juan In A Million opened up our Sunday followed by a tired drive back to Houston. Another amazing SXSW in the books. I remember sweating like crazy in a t-shirt and shorts during last year’s SXSW journey, this year was a bit different with temperatures in the 20′s on Saturday night and everyone struggling to bundle up and stay warm. Regardless, each year there is a new twist, new epic sets, and new artists to discover. Each year, I set out to really photograph a ton and make a huge body of work, but each year ends the same in that I spend the majority of my time hanging out with friends and appreciating the good jams, and I wouldnt have it any other way. I did manage to make some decent photos though. Check them out below.

This is my second installment of my 2 part favorites post highlighting my favorite images taken during Houston Chronicle assignments. This post contains images from roughly mid-May 2009 through this past weekend taken from my Houston Chronicle assignments only. I am a regular contributor to my hometown newspaper and get to shoot all kinds of things. A few months ago I posted my January through mid-May favorites and I thought now was a good time to post some selects since then. Some may have made it into the paper, some may have not. They were all taken from images sent to the paper from my various assignments.

*Note: I have consolidated my favorite images from all of 2009 into one nice and neat Photoshelter gallery. View the slideshow of 57 images below!

Yes, this is one of these posts. The ones where I preface my blog entry by apologizing for my absence and saying that it won’t happen again, but it’s bound to. At least I have a good excuse. For the past month now Ive been in Brasil with a 10-day visit to Africa. There are thousands of images that I have to mull through yet and I still have a week here in lovely Rio de Janeiro so hopefully I’ll get some more good images in. Once I get back stateside look forward to loads of updates and even more images from my month away.

Before I left on July 7th, I covered Warped Tour 2009 in Houston on the 3rd. It was probably the single worst Warped Tour experience out of all of the dozens Ive been to, but the few stand out performances made up for the day as a whole.

I haven’t been doing a lot of shooting recently so naturally yesterday’s all day extravaganza at the 2008 Warped Tour was a welcomed return to shooting stills. My buddy Cameron and I made the trek out to Sam Houston Race Park, a horse racing venue that has recently started holding concerts at its location. Cameron and I attended our first Warped Tour a decade ago in 1998. Time flies. This year was the first year that there lacked at least one good act that I really wanted to see. There were plenty of bands that I made a note of seeing and several new acts that I really enjoyed, but none of them I really told myself I just HAD to see prior to the show. Regardless of the lineup, the festival’s variety, always lends itself to good captures and this year was no different. I have gotten some nice stuff from years past, but I believe this year was my strongest shooting year thus far. I have grown a lot as a photographer and artist in the last year and I have seen the result over the past few hours editing the 1500 or so images from the day. It is also of note that this is the first event that I have edited entirely in Adobe Lightroom. It takes some getting used to but everything was done sans – Photoshop. I walked out with a hand full of good moments and a sunburn. All in a day’s work. I have included one of my favorite, more abstract, images from the day above.

Not much going on tonite so I decided to mess around with a few new items. First off, I have been intrigued by the Lensbaby products for some time and since the paper has a few of the newest generation model 3G’s, I thought I’d test one out. Since the paper uses Nikon cameras exclusively I was forced to use one of my issued D2h’s which proved difficult since the LCD is tough and frankly, I’m not too terribly familiar with it. I didn’t take it to an assignment, but rather simply took it into the backyard in the harsh afternoon sun and snapped a few photos. I also used the wide angle/macro adaptor that you can purchase separately. It was a little awkward at first, however the controls became easy soon enough.

Although the process was tedious, I believe that it would have been a more pleasant experience if I was able to use it on my own, Canon, gear. The images to the left are from the Lensbaby trials. I also made a little short multimedia piece to familiarize myself with the new options of the recent release of the Soundslides program, Soundslides Plus+. Again, it is nothing special, just something I did for myself, but I thought I would post it here to you to see. Its entitled LIVE! and highlights a few live music photos of mine from the last couple years and a great song by Koufax called “Trouble Will Find You” from the Daytrotter sessions.