Horseshoes & Hand Grenades Memorial Day Weekend

Been awhile since I posted anything on here. It has been a crazy busy summer so far! So many festivals and concerts. Lots of travels as well. Lets hit the first one.  I spent a weekend on the road with Horseshoes & Hand Grenades over Memorial Day Weekend going to two festivals. Dark Star Jubilee in Ohio and Summercamp Music Festival in Illinois.  It was about 1400 miles in 3 days in the ole blue bus.  Got to see some great music besides HHG like Dark Star Orchestra, Railroad Earth and Infamous String Dusters. As per the trip with these guys many laughs as well.

Dark Star Jubilee was a great time and so well run by great people.  HHG kicked off the weekend festival.  Afterwords we all hung out wandered the grounds and took in some Railroad Earth before catching some of Dark Star Orchestra before we had to depart for Illinois.

We arrived the next day at Summercamp Music Festival and were greeted by mud. Lots of mud.   A large storm we had driven through had hit the festival grounds the night before.  We had to leave the bus out by artists check in and get taken back with equipment by Gators. Before load in time on the stage Adam and Myself went and caught The Infamous String Dusters set at the VIP tent.  HHG sound check was against the pulsing sounds of the EDM tent on the opposite end of the field where the stage was.  Awesome.  When showtime hit there had to have been three thousand people in a space where 45 minutes earlier there was not one person.  I think that says something about what these guys in Horseshoes & Hand Grenades are doing and what they provide for music and fun.  We took off shortly after that to get back to Wisconsin and our own beds but it was a great trip and I hope for many more!

Here are some photos from that trip.  There are many more on my Ty Helbach Photography Facebook page!

Dark Star Jubilee

Summercamp Music Festival

Dead Horses at legendary First Avenue in Minneapolis

This past weekend I got to travel with the band Dead Horses to shoot their set before Elephant revival at the legendary First Avenue in Minneapolis.

I have seen shows at First Ave before but never got to shoot a show there.  A little background on the venue. It opened in 1937 as a Greyhound bus station. The current floor in the Main room is the same floor from the bus station.  It first opened as a music venue in 1970 and Joe Cocker was the first to play.  It became a Disco for awhile and then in 1981 it became First Avenue.

It may be best known for Prince however.  He filmed much of Purple Rain there and the album version of the song was recorded live there in 1983.  You can search the internet for video of that night.  It is an amazing video as no one in the audience knows the song and they are all just listening. Prince is sweating and ripping it up. They hired a audio truck to record the performance and then edited it and put it on the album.

Everyone has played First Ave. Just read all the names on the stars outside.  From Prince to the Violent Femmes, U2, Husker Du, The Replacements, Soul Asylum and the list goes on.

Needless to say i was stoked to shoot a show in such a legendary place.  Had a good conversation with FOH man Myles about him being FOH for the Nirvana Nevermind tour.  Not bad at all.

 There is still a Parking spot reserved for Prince even though he has passed away.

The backstage wall is lined with past set lists of everyone from local boy Mason Jennings to Motorhead.

It was a great show.  Charlie Rose from Elephant Revival joined Dead Horses for a few tunes.  And Dead Horses jumped up for the final encore with Elephant Revival. Lets not forget that Charlie Parr was also on the bill...fantastic! It was an all around good jam.  Beers were drank and dancing was done by the audience for sure.  

There was even a sidewalk jam for 2 songs between sets!  While frowned upon by management the smiles on the faces of the fans was pretty great.

Now onto the photos. 

                               

As always big thank you to Dead Horses for taking me along.  Also big thanks to the crew from Elephant Revival for being awesome as well as the fantastic crew at First Ave. 

On tour with Horseshoes and Hand Grenades

Recently I had the great privilege to travel on 5 tour stops with the great bluegrass band Horseshoes and Hand Grenades.  We traveled from Sacramento to Las Vegas opening up dates for The Infamous String Dusters.  It was a great insight into being on the road with a band...which i fell in love with. I have always looked at tour productions when I went to a concert and wanted to run away with the circus.  Sometimes i feel more at home traveling then I do at home.  Anywho the band played 5 Venues.

Harlows in Sacramento
The Fillmore in San Francisco
Troubadour in Hollywood
Belly Up in Solana Beach
Brooklyn Bowl in Las Vegas.

Being able to shoot photos and hang out at legendary venues like The Fillmore and the Troubadour was amazing.  There are places you walk into and you can FEEL the history. Both of those venues were like that. You could feel the music that has been played in those rooms.  Big thanks to the gang from Horseshoes and Hand Grenades for inviting me along!

Go to www.hhgmusic.com to find a tour date for these guys near you! Its a heck of a good time.

Here are some photos!

you can go to www.facebook.com/tyhelbachphotography to see more photos from the tour.