Eddie Vedder and Glen Hansard - The Paramount - Oakland, CA.

To end a crazy string of concert shooting over the last month, I found myself at the Paramount Theater in Oakland, CA to snap some photos of Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder as he tours for his new solo record Ukelele Songs. I won't lie, I'd rather be shooting Pearl Jam. However, Vedder sounded great and put on a really nice performance.

Perhaps the thing that excited me most was seeing and shooting opener/collaborator Glen Hansard. I hadn't even realized that Hansard would be there until the day before the show.

If you don't know his work, you might remember an award-winnning independent film called Once. Not only did Glen star in this movie, he wrote all the music as well... which included the Grammy-nominated and Oscar-winning song "Falling Slowly".

His previous band, The Frames, are actually super super cool. I recommend looking into their 1996 album Fitzcarraldo. It reminds me of a more rockin', more intense version of older David Gray music. The drumming in particular has an awesome presence.

Technically, this shoot was a pain in the ass. The room was dim... and I mean dim. Not to mention I was told it was a soundboard shoot (brought equipment to prepare) when in fact we ended up on the front/side of the stage. Fighting digital noise was fun, and bracing the camera so I could shoot at a shutter speed of 1/30 without blurring the image was always welcome (sarcasm).

Here's a few!

Glen Hansard performs at the Paramount in Oakland. Photo by Clay Lancaster.

Glen Hansard performs at the Paramount in Oakland. Photo by Clay Lancaster.

Eddie Vedder performs at the Paramount in Oakland. Photo by Clay Lancaster.

Eddie Vedder performs at the Paramount in Oakland. Photo by Clay Lancaster.

Eddie Vedder performs at the Paramount in Oakland. Photo by Clay Lancaster.