Music

2024 WOODSTOCK TRUCK SHOW

May 27, 2024 in Concert Photography

If you’ve been following me for awhile then you know about the Woodstock Truck Show. This year was the 10th anniversary and for the first time it was 2 days! Sadly, for me, Friday I couldn’t make it out because of work so I missed out on my good friend Aaron Allen and his wife Aimee and their amazing bandmates as well as Danielle Bourjeaurd and headliners The Road Hammers. From the video’s I’ve seen and what I’ve heard from people who where there it was a fantastic night!

Saturday, Day 2, it was game on! I was charged up and ready to go.. woke up excited and looked out the window .. Rain.. lots of rain.. grey skies, thunder, lightning… my heart sunk. Thankfully after looking at the weather app it was showing the rain would stop just before the show was scheduled to start. What is the Woodstock Truck Show? well, it’s a festival the has a bunch of big trucks, we’re talking semi-trucks all waxed and shined up on display and there is a big competition for the nicest truck.

why trucks?
well, Scott Verbruggen, the man of the hour who created the truck show and works tirelessly to put it on, he comes from the Trucking world, his family has a trucking business and all his connections are in trucking, so why not have this amazing event to showcase all the trucks and the people who drive them and supply us with food, goods, fuel etc…

What is the purpose of the the truck show?
This incredible event raises a lot of money for some incredible causes: The Special Olympics Woodstock as well as Woodstock and District Developmental Services (WDDS) ALL PROCEEDS go back into the community. This event can’t happen without all the sponsors who donate funds to make this all come together, sponsors like: Brandt, Contrans, Skillex Inc., J. Verbruggen Trucking LTD., Vision Truck Group, MACK, Rhino Truck Lube Centers, Laurel Steel, KTC, Truck Centric, Orkin, Driverette, Titan Tarp and more! in the past 10 years the show and calendar comp has raised over $150,000 for these charities which is incredible!

Back you Saturday! The line-up was stacked! opening the show was Jenna Kayln (stage name) who you might have seen blow up on TikTok with her Female perspective version of Zack Bryan’s “ Something In The Orange “. For those who don’t know.. Jenna is a Woodstonian (from Woodstock). Jenna played a few covers and a few of her original songs and of course, her version of Something In The Orange.

Deborah Lynn Music hit the stage all the way from Stirling Ontario she has worked Aaron Allen writing music and Aaron has produced some of her songs as well, she has opened for Jade Eagleson and will be opening for Tyler Joe Miller very soon. What an outstanding performance Deborah gave us all, took right off into her set and looked so comfortable on stage.

Colt McLauchlin This guy came out of no where, I hadn’t heard his music before to be honest, I listened to a song or two before the show and was impressed, really wanted to see what he had live and he did not disappoint! All smiles up on that stage singing his heart out for the crowd, song after song a flawless performance. Colt comes from just outside of Petrolia Ontario, raised on a farm so you know country music is in his veins. Colt has performed on some very well known Nashville stages such as: Margaritaville, Rippy’s, Legends, Tootsies, Dierks Bentleys Whiskey Row and even Alan Jackson’s Bar.

Nate Haller .. I’m guessing this guy needs no introduction.. you know.. Nate Haller.. you’ve heard his songs on the radio, born and raised right down the highway in Waterloo Ontario, Canada! If Nate looks familiar and you can’t quite place it, well it’s probably from when he spent a few years in another band I’m sure you know.. a brother and sister combo known as THE REKLAWS. Nate broke out on his own writing hit after hit, his first big song ( one of my personal favs) Lightning In A Bottle. He’s played to a sold out crowd at the Calgary Stampede and Budweiser Stage in Toronto. Nate put on one heck of a show in Woodstock and had a fun time while doing so, even trading hats with a fan, realizing quickly that hat was soaked because of the warm weather lol.

Madeline Merlo - Headliner for the night! Madeline does not need an introduction either, she’s very well known, originally from Maple Ridge, British Columbia and now resides in Nashville. You know her songs, they’ve been all over the radio: Champagne Night, Dear Me, Tim + Faith, Makeup, Neon Love, Motel Flamingo, War Paint and many more. Madeline even did backing vocals on Cole Swindell’s Single “ She Had Me at Heads Carolina “. Such a great night ending off with Madeline under the stars in Woodstock listening to her and her band rock out bringing endless smiles to everyone in attendance.

HUGE THANK YOU! goes out to the Woodstock Truck Show, all the Sponsors, the volountee’s, the vendors, Scott and his team for bringing all this together and their endless hard work on bringing something so incredible to little Woodstock and of course all the bands who write these songs and come out to perform. I look forward to this event every single year… Lets get to the concert photos!

JENNA KAYLN

DEBORAH LYNN MUSIC

COLT McLAUCHLIN

NATE HALLER

MADELINE MERLO

Where have I been?

May 06, 2024 in Concert Photography

Soooo…… Kevin, where have you been?

Honestly, I’ve been in the same place, sort of. This blog took a nose dive because when I looked at the analytics Squarespace provides me, I noticed that no one was reading it; actually, no one was even visiting my website. Part of that is because I left it in limbo. I never updated it, I stopped writing blogs, I actually almost deleted it all together because it just seemed like I was paying for something I wasn’t using and no one was visiting. I realized I had not quite set it up right and I didn’t have any links to it via Google like I should have so it wasn’t receiving traffic like it should.

Kevin… Is your website receiving traffic now?, are people reading your blog?

* Shrug * I seriously couldn’t tell you. What I've learned being a photographer in these crazy social media times is… it doesn’t matter. Everyone is a “Photographer” everyone has a website and competing for “likes” and followers is draining and over time it will beat you down so damn much you may even want to completely walk away from photography because you feel like a failure. That was me! I watched people start photography years after me, get way more successful, end up with thousands of followers of socials and end up with a ton of opportunities that I wished I had and that made me feel like I was a failure and I should just give up. I stepped away from doing photos for people for a bit, but I kept shooting, just things for myself and slowly my love for it all came back. Here’s where we are today.

For those of you, if there are any of you, who have followed along the entire time, Might have noticed that my photography kind of changed. A lot of the conventional portraits disappeared, The Family Portraits disappeared, all the model work went away…. this is because I took a 5 year long dive into the music industry. Photographing live music is where I started in photography years ago at The Embassy Hotel in London Ontario, Canada. In those days you could just walk into a show with a camera and no one would care at all.. no applying for shows, now getting escorted around, very different from today.
So 5 years of my life dedicated to doing live music photography and band portraits, photographing Single Release Images for bands and website work, Promo work and it was incredible. Guess what happened next? after 5 years of busting my a** off, staying out till 11pm then driving home, going to bed and getting up at 5am for work…. the world broke down because of a virus that was played up 1000x worse than it was… maybe you remember that? you know.. the reason why the world is completely destroyed now and almost impossible to afford.. yeah… After that happened, it seemed like the music industry took a step back, re-evaluated the need for 10 or more photographers to be at shows and made some changes. Can’t say for sure that’s what happened, but I was getting into a lot of shows before, and now it’s very challenging to get in, almost like starting over from the beginning again, like those 5 years had zero merit. Recently, I decided that battling it out to try and get into concerts which I wouldn’t be paid to photograph was not a smart business plan and I have stepped back. Focus shifted from Live concert work into working more one on one with musicians to create their website imagery, Press Kits, Single Release work etc… This is where we are at…

Kevin… Are you still photographing other things though like engagements, Families, Couples etc…. ?

Oh hell yes! of course! I know you haven’t seen those kinds of images on socials because I wasn’t focusing on those, but I also wasn’t getting any requests for those bookings. So to clarify, YES! please reach out through my Contact Form here on the site and get booking.

So i’m going to leave you with some of the work I have been doing over the last 5 years with musicians .. most of these are Country Bands because honestly.. the rock bands don’t seem to want to be photographed or make it very challenging to be able to photograph them and Country, they love it! such a wicked family, they understand how important a photography is tied in with their music. I make a face for their music and I try really hard to match the image with the mood of the song and the title or the story behind the songs… that’s what gets me excited.

KELSI MAYNE - AS I GO VIDEO SHOOT

January 18, 2020

Some of you may know over the past 2 years I have been working with country music artist KELSI MAYNE. We met in my home town of Woodstock Ontario where Kelsi and her band were performing at the annual Woodstock Truck Show. Kelsi approached me as I was handing out business cards to other artists so they could see the shots I had taken that day. After sending the images off to Kelsi when she emailed me, she loved the shots and the rest was history.
A text message came through, it was Kelsi “ Hey Kev! how are ya… we are filming a new music video, for a new song in Aylmer Ontario, you should come out and shoot some behind the scene’s work for the video it’s going to be amazing, lots of explosions, fire, dirtbikes doing tricks and jacked up trucks ! “ … ok A. That sounds incredible.. that in itself I can’t miss seeing and B. being on set of a music video with Kelsi and the band having fun and creating… hell yes I’m going!

Call time was for 8am, on the outskirts of Aylmer, it was a bit chilly but really not that bad for winter, and as always, I was the first one there because I’m always worried about being late. Soon after everyone else started showing up…… oh and I forgot to mention, I was upgraded to one of the camera men filming the video, Kelsi’s brother, Cory was directing and filming as he is in the film industry. Here’s the kicker.. I don’t know much of anything when it comes to video, so of course I was a little panicked but hey… this is a HUGE learning opportunity, so I googled as much as I could about video and set my cameras up according, learnt some of the lingo and was ready to go!

“ AS I GO “ Is the name of Kelsi’s new song/video and let me tell you… incredible song and this video is going to be equally incredible. Fire, explosions, shotguns, Jacked up Trucks, Dirt Bikes, ATV’s, Fireworks and of course the band.. there is so much action in this video, it is going to be so stimulating to watch. Not only is the band ( Kelsi, Cory, Ciaran, Ryan and Annette ) so down to earth and amazing individuals, but everyone on set involved with this production were too. Cory, Kelsi’s brother, great guy with a clear vision of where this video was going, a hard worker definitely putting the time in. Eric, the guy who provided the location for the shoot, the daredevil driver, fire starter, wild man… such a nice dude who pretty much acted as the producer for this, getting everyone together, throwing some pretty cool ideas for the video. Kelsi’s Mom and Dad, who came out nice and early to lend a hand and show support, they are phenomenal parents and people, so kind, brought out all kinds of food so everyone on set had something to eat, brought all kinds of gear we needed to make this happen… loved them. Last but definitely not least…. all of Eric’s friends that came out with their trucks, dirt bikes and ATV’s who also starred in the video as the riders, stunt drivers and extra’s around the fire… these people had never met us before and were so welcoming and kind, couldn’t have asked for better people to work with.

All in all, this was a long day, 13hrs or so… and definitely worth every minute! The band was dead on with their performance, they looked incredible and this video is going to be insane! Keep an EAR out as Kelsi’s new song “ AS I GO “ Will be released Jan 31st, I believe and also Keep an eye out because this video is scheduled to be released Feb 21st! You definitely will NOT want to miss these!

HUGE thank you goes out to Kelsi and the band for including me, yet again, in another one of their endeavours and always staying true to bringing me out, can’t wait for more this summer. Also a HUGE thank you to Cory (Kelsi’s brother) for working with me and teaching me some new techniques, it was a pleasure. One last HUGE thank you to everyone else involved for being kind and opening up themselves, their “toys” and their time…. it was a lot of fun and such an amazing experience… hope to see you at some shows this summer.

Cheer
Kevin Vyse | Photographer

Here’s some Behind The Scene’s images I managed to snap in between Filming:

KELSI MAYNE - “ AS I GO “ Video Shoot - Aylmer Ontario. 📸: Kevin Vyse — KELSI MAYNE - “ AS I GO “
Video Shoot - Aylmer Ontario.
📸: Kevin Vyse

Big Wreck & Texas King - But For The Sun Tour 2019

November 24, 2019

Big Wreck was a staple for me in the 90’s and later when Big Wreck Front-man, Ian Thornley started his Solo project “ Thornley “ that was also a love of mine. When it was announced that Big Wreck was coming to London Music Hall I instantly applied to shoot it. Getting the opportunity to be that close, and in a smaller venue with Big Wreck was an incredible experience and I couldn’t be more thankful for the opportunity.
Ian and the guys came out strong, their heavy Drop D or C or A .. which ever it is, style with Ian’s soul quenching voice is so melodic and almost hypnotizing, there were a few moments I got caught up in the music and how dead on they sounded, I forgot we only got 3 songs and needed to shoot as much as possible. Ian had a bit of technical malfunction due to what looked like a faulty patch chord, but like the pro he is, he didn’t skip a note or lyric while his guitar tech quickly swapped out the chords and got Ian’s guitar screaming again. A few laughs from the band, a quick “ we got it figured out” from Ian and BAM, right into the next song, very professional. All in All, this show was phenomenal, the sound was bang on, lighting was a bit dark but hey… it looks good to the eye, and tough for photographers, but the show isn’t just for us.. it’s our job to take the light we have and make magic, which is the fun and challenge of it all.

Texas King came out with such energy and passion which, if you’ve seen these guys you know, is their thang! Being from London Ontario and after being out on the road for this tour, they came home to open arms, a sold out show and some big energy. Opening for Big Wreck on this tour is a huge accomplishment, which I’m sure is going to give them even more “street cred” than they already have, these guys are making a big name for themselves and it’s well deserved. Texas King has it.. they have the stage presence, a great sound and some incredible talent. If you haven’t seen/heard Texas King, look them up asap.. I’ve seen these guys a bunch of times now and every time I’m smiling ear to ear because they are just… gold!

TEXAS KING

BIG WRECK

ARKELLS

November 09, 2019

Hamilton Ontario Canada.. what have you birthed?! … THE ARKELLS!!! that’s what!

Canadian Rock band ARKELLS made their way into London Ontario to blow the roof off of Budweiser Gardens Along with Nashville’s own indy pop band COIN as the opener on the #RallyCryTour. Coin were incredible.. honestly, I had never heard of them before, although one of their songs I’m pretty sure i heard playing in a store once when i was shopping, it was their song “Talk To Much”. With their pop, new age kind of sound you can’t help but want to move. Pretty impressed with their set and for being an opener, I was blown away that they played almost an hour set, usually the opening band doesn’t get that long, but with 2 albums out, a great sound and only them and the Arkells on the bill… I’m glad they got that long because I was really getting into them. For the first 3 songs we were allowed to shoot pit, but to my surprise, once all 3 songs were over I was getting ready to get escorted out until Arkells came on, but out of no where we were told we could stay and shoot the rest of their set from the crowd which was a very welcomed surprise! Coin is a great band, their singer is a pleasure to watch, always moving and jumping, quick little dance moves, just over all fun to watch will definitely be watching for them to come back around again.

A large silver tassel curtain rose from the stage floor up to the top of the stage to make a large sparkling backdrop, a large sign hung reading ARKELLS TOURING BAND in the middle… stairs with a drum kit on top rolled out.. large pillars with rotating light heads in the background and some strobes… IT”S ARKELLS TIME!!!!!!!! Running out on stage Arkells opened the show with “Hand Me Downs” , what a great opener.. crowd participation right off the hop and boy oh boy did London participate singing all the “OH OHHHH OHHHHH’s “ at the top of their lungs putting a big ol ‘ smile on MAX’s face (lead singer). While there was no confetti at this show, you can be sure there will be some somewhere on this tour, actually I’m pretty sure there already has been.. I was ready for it and wanting it because while it’s very tough to photograph through.. it’s fun and can make an image great.. but while walking around the stage and runway I did not see cannons or the compressed air .. my heart sank a little.. but with a low stage and runway it was quickly picked back up with some nice wide angle shots and Max using the runway a lot. In all honesty .. this was my first time seeing Arkells live, and they did not disappoint one bit.. amazing performance, high energy, lots of movement .. such a fun band to hear, see and photography…

HUGE thank you goes out to Budweiser Gardens for having me out… couldn’t have had the opportunity without them.

- Kevin.

COIN

ARKELLS

ParkJam Festival

September 15, 2019

7 days of glorious music! ParkJam Festival is a new festival that started this year in London Ontario. Pretty much ParkJam was born by mixing two other events together… those two events were Trackside (an all country based festival that happened annually in London at the Western Fair Grounds, and another event called Block Party. This was the first year for Parkjam and it seemed to have gone very well. This festival is a multi-genre festival, 7 nights long with genre’s such as: EDM, Rock, Alternative, Hip Hop, Punk and Country. the break down was like this:

Rock Night - Main Stage:
The Glorious Sons, Cold War Kids, Texas King, The Beaches

Side Stage: The Honest Heart Collective, Kasador, Goodnight Sunrise

Country Night - Main Stage:
Brett Kissel, Meghan Patrick, Aaron Goodvin, JoJo Mason

Side Stage: Genevieve Fisher, Melissa Megan, Patrick James Clark

Pop Night - Main Stage:
98º, O-Town, Aaron Carter, Wannabe

Side Stage: Saveria, Trading Alaska, Chad Price

Alternative Night - Main Stage:
The Offspring, MXPX, Reel Big Fish, Seaway

Side Stage: The Anti-Queens, Snacks?, The Filthy Radicals

Hip-Hop Night - Main Stage:
Ice Cube, Method Man & Redman, Snotty Nose Rez Kids, Maestro Fresh Wes, Haviah Mighty

Side stage: Sum-01, Ngajuana, Lola

EDM Night: Deadmau5, Diplo, AC Slater, Feed Me, Ookay, Atilas, Frank Walker, No Mana, Eddie, No Fone

EDM night is 2 nights Long with Diplo headlining one night and Deadmau5 headlining the other.

Tonight is my last night shooting can’t wait to get some shots of Deadmau5. So far this festival has been incredible, so many bands, so many different types of people and music there was something for everyone which has made it so awesome to attend. The line ups moved fast, gates opened on time, everything was well organized .. even bathroom waits were very minimal. Really hoping this festival will continue on annually and continue to grow, but as I said.. being the first year, the turn outs were pretty good and I can only see it getting better and bigger year to year. Parkjam has a strong backing and well rounded individuals on the team to make sure amazing bands are brought in to make this festival solid.. can’t wait to see what next year brings and hopefully Stage Pass Media will have access to shoot again!

HUGE thank you goes out to everyone at London Music Hall and Parkjam for allowing Stage Pass Media access to capture all the amazing talent.. thank you to Demetri and Mario for the hook up, thank you to all the security staff for making everyone feel safe, all the volunteers for coming out night after night, without all their help this thing couldn’t happen.. and of course.. thank you to all the bands that came out to show everyone what they do!!! feeling incredibly thankful for the opportunity. See you all next year!

The Glorious Sons

Cold War Kids

The Beaches

Brett Kissel

Meghan Patrick

Aaron Goodvin

JoJo Mason

Reel Big Fish

Seaways

Seaway Park Jam Festival @kevinv1981 - Stage Pass Media — Seaway
Park Jam Festival
@kevinv1981 - Stage Pass Media

MXPX

This is where I would put in The Offspring, but due to legalities and contracts that were required to photograph them, I am no able to post the images here as it is my personal site, Stage Pass Media does not have it’s own site quite yet.. Soooooo.. if you’d like to see the Offspring images, you will have to check them out on the Stage Pass Media Instagram account. @stagepass_media.

Redman & Method Man

Ice Cube

DEADMAU5

Tillsonburg ON Turtle Fest

June 17, 2019

Turtle Fest…. figured there would be turtles but sadly… didn’t see one, however there were turtle themed things, lots of vendors, a vintage car show, rock climbing, busking, and much more but what was I there for? …. the bands of course!

Kelsi Mayne, Nice Horse and The Abrams took to the stage for this years Turtle Fest and everyone of these bands just killed it! As many of you know I’ve had the amazing opportunity to work one on one with the lovely Kelsi Mayne and have photographed her and her band many times in the last year live. Not only is Kelsi a sweet heart but her band are genuine people, funny, and appreciative of where they are and what they have accomplished so far. This show was another success, playing all the hits, getting the crowd going, they sounded great, looked good and even played a new tune that no one has heard before “ S.O.S “ .. now that this blog is a few days old.. others have heard it.. if you were at the Sound Of Music Festival in Burlington On. this past weekend and saw Kelsi perform, you now know that song too.

Nice Horse, damn! this all female, energetic, amazing stage presence band is incredible… this was only the 2nd time I’ve seen them & shot them, first time being at JunoFest during the Juno’s week in London at Bull & Barrel and both times i’m just blown away by their performance. Nice Horse have these amazing vocal harmonies that vibrate through your entire body making you really feel their songs. Running around on stage interacting with one another, leaning on one another, guitars and basses up in the air, their drummer, Krista comes up to the front and sings, she has a stomp pedal to make sure the heart beat of the band is always pumping.. even a single snare drum on a stand off to the right of the stage so she can stand there and beat the hell out of it….. their whole performance is an incredible one to watch.

The Abrams, a name I’ve heard many times but never experienced live until now and let me tell you.. I was floored. They carry so much energy with them, also amazing vocal harmonies.. songs that are happy, are sad.. slow and fast it’s a great mix. From the Abrams I saw a fiddler jumping all over, a singer and guitarist kneeling down, almost praising a fiddle solo, a guitarist busting out crazy solos while throwing a guitar around.. it was an awesome experience seeing these guys play with such a tight sound and so much energy.

Over all, Turtle Fest was a positive experience, I think the bands had a great time, I know I had a fantastic time and from the smiles on the faces of the crowd, the people down in front dancing and all the kids running around, dancing and laughing.. I think they all had a fun time too!

THE ABRAMS

NICE HORSE

KELSI MAYNE

JUNO AWARDS 2019

March 30, 2019

Never in a million years would I have ever thought that photography would take me to the Juno’s… but first I want to say, it didn’t really take me to the Juno awards themselves.. but very close and I am very thankful for the opportunity I was given. Leading up to the Juno Award night there is JUNO FEST, which is 100 different bands playing in 15 different venue’s across the city (London Ontario). Just outside of Budweiser Gardens in the South Parking Lot there was a giant heated tent that housed THE SIDE STAGE, which is where some bigger acts played and the Official Juno’s After Party was held. With the wrist band I was awarded, I had access to the Side Stage and all 15 venues in London, could cut the lines and get in early in order to photograph the bands playing in each venue. This wristband also allowed me to have access to the JUNO CUP, a hockey game between the Artists, and Professional Hockey players.

With out going through all the details and dragging this blog post out into a massive thing no one will ever read…. Side Stage was incredible. It was the first show I shot during the Juno’s and it started out with the incredible WASHBOARD UNION who I had not seen yet and really wanted to so it was amazing that I was able to see them (seen them twice during the Juno’s but we’ll get to that), but also photograph them! These guys are incredible, such a friendly bunch, their vocal harmonies are dead on and sound so good, their songs are lively and keep your feet tappin’. Up next was Jess Moskaluke who I had also never seen and also wanted to.. I was on a roll! she was fantastic sounded just like she does on the radio and knocked out all her hits. Last but definitely not least THE REKLAWS!!! I’ve photographed The Reklaws … 4 or 5 times now and they never ever get old.. seriously.. love them to death, their songs are contagious, Jenna is hilarious on stage and so fun, Stu with his smiles and for some reason always seems to look my way and give me a point his finger or his guitar and I love it!

Back to The Washboard Union. After they won their Juno for Breakthrough group of the year.. and I mean right after, they were performing again at The Bull and Barrel and let me tell you, that show was insane. The high Washboard was on from winning that Juno, the buzz from the crowd excited to see them and so very happy for them winning a Juno.. the place was so packed, I was lucky I got there over an hour early so I could be right up front because If I had shown up even 20 mins later than I did.. I was at the back of the building. Washboard Union was so happy to win and even happier to share their win with their fans in Bull and Barrel that night it was one hell of a party.. they have a rule where they do not drink if they are performing, but just once, that rule was broken to celebrate their Juno. Shots were brought out and Chris from the band says “ boys the medicine is here” … many thank you’s were said, so much appreciation from the band to the fans, to each other.. it was a moment i’ll never forget.

This post is getting very long so I’m just going to list the other bands I had the pleasure of photographing and I want them all to know I’m so thankful for their music, their image shares and the opportunities I’ve had to photograph:

AARON ALLEN
JULIA HAGGARTY
NICE HORSE
LOUD LUXURY
RYAN SHEPERD

There would be more on this list, such as The Trews, Genevieve Fisher and a few more but when I arrived to the venue’s at their set times they were so packed I literally couldn’t even get in the doorway.

THE WASHBOARD UNION - SIDE STAGE

JESS MOSKALUKE - SIDE STAGE

Jess Moskaluke performing at the 2019 JUNO’s - Side Stage in London, On. © Kevin Vyse | Stage Pass Media — Jess Moskaluke performing at the 2019 JUNO’s - Side Stage in London, On.
© Kevin Vyse | Stage Pass Media

THE REKLAWS - SIDE STAGE

The Reklaws performing on the Side Stage at the 2019 Juno’s - London Ontario. © Kevin Vyse | Stage Pass Media — The Reklaws performing on the Side Stage at the 2019 Juno’s - London Ontario.
© Kevin Vyse | Stage Pass Media

NICE HORSE - BULL & BARREL

NICE HORSE performing during the 2019 JUNO FEST at Bull & Barrel - London Ontario © Kevin Vyse | Stage Pass Media — NICE HORSE performing during the 2019 JUNO FEST at Bull & Barrel - London Ontario
© Kevin Vyse | Stage Pass Media

JULIA HAGGARTY - BULL & BARREL

JULIA HAGGARTY performing during the 2019 JUNO FEST - Bull & Barrel in London Ontario. © Kevin Vyse | Stage Pass Media — JULIA HAGGARTY performing during the 2019 JUNO FEST - Bull & Barrel in London Ontario.
© Kevin Vyse | Stage Pass Media

AARON ALLEN - BULL & BARREL

AARON ALLEN performing at the 2019 JUNO FEST in London Ontario. © Kevin Vyse | Stage Pass Media — AARON ALLEN performing at the 2019 JUNO FEST in London Ontario.
© Kevin Vyse | Stage Pass Media

LOUD LUXURY - SIDE STAGE

LOUD LUXURY performing on the Side Stage during the 2019 JUNO’s - London Ontario. © Kevin Vyse | Stage Pass Media — LOUD LUXURY performing on the Side Stage during the 2019 JUNO’s - London Ontario.
© Kevin Vyse | Stage Pass Media

RYAN SHEPHERD - SIDE STAGE

RYAN SHEPHERD performing during the 2019 JUNO’s on the Side stage - London Ontario. © Kevin Vyse | Stage Pass Media — RYAN SHEPHERD performing during the 2019 JUNO’s on the Side stage - London Ontario.
© Kevin Vyse | Stage Pass Media

THE WASHBOARD UNION - BULL & BARREL

THE WASHBOARD UNION performing during the 2019 Juno fan fest in London ontario just after they won their Juno Award for Breakthrough Group Of The Year! Huge Congrats going out to these fellas. © Kevin Vyse | Stage Pass Media — THE WASHBOARD UNION performing during the 2019 Juno fan fest in London ontario just after they won their Juno Award for Breakthrough Group Of The Year! Huge Congrats going out to these fellas.
© Kevin Vyse | Stage Pass Media

A HUGE thank you goes out to Rock It Promotions for hooking me up with the wristband and all their helpers at each venue guiding me through, also thank you to the Juno’s for making this such an amazing event. Thank you to the City of London for being so awesome and opening up all these venues for such an incredible and memorable experience. Thank you to Live Nation, Start.ca, Budweiser Gardens, Budweiser, Apple Music, TD Bank, Music Canada, SOCAN, VIA Rail, 3M, CBC Music, SiriusXM, Jackson Triggs, Long & McQuade … with out all of these sponsors things like this can’t happen.. and when things like this don’t happen, opportunities can’t happen.. this was an opportunity I never thought i’d have or get to be apart of… the Thankfulness is HUGE!

Cheers.
Kevin Vyse.

JUDAS PRIEST WITH SAXON & BLACK STAR RIDER

March 29, 2018

When I heard Judas Priest was coming to London there was no doubt in my mind I was going to apply to photograph this concert, it was however a doubt in my mind that I would get approval, but thanks to the beautiful people over Live Nation, approval happened.
Not really knowing who Black Star Riders was Google educated me a bit and a few of the members were in the band Thin Lizzy, which is pretty awesome. Black Star Riders hit the stage as the openers and were amazing! great sound, loud and all metal. Next up SAXON... UK's massive Metal band formed in 1977 with multiple hits.. let me tell you, they ripped the stage up with so much power, so loud and so much energy. I will be the first to admit, I did not know much about SAXON as I don't really listen to that kind of music but being there and seeing some Metal Music History still rocking out and sounding exactly like they did back in the 80's, just incredible to witness and photograph.

JUDAS PRIEST: Standing stage side listening to random people yell, scream and whistle out waiting for the band to hit the stage, I wasn't to sure what to expect. Honestly the first thing I thought about was " There's a massive sheet covering the entire stage and I know it's going to fall... do we go in the pit before it falls or after? if before is it going to fall on us and how long will it take for them to remove it before we can see the band and shoot " .... We were told we can go into the pit.... the sheet had not fallen yet.. hmmmm... ok so the lights dim, you can see colours changing behind the sheet, I could hear movement... guitars ring out and BAM!!!! the sheet drops then somehow blows off to the side of the stage very quick.. barely even touched me except for the tail end that slapped me in the face lol. There they were, Judas Priest right there on stage rocking out. Standing there taking pics, now the only thing going through my head is how many of the old great concert photographers have been right in this spot taking these images... on film.. which is insane to think about.. and now here I am doing the same thing, it's incredible. This show had amazing lighting, so much light it was tough finding exposure with it constantly changing. One guitarist with aviators on was all over the place, back and forth, up on speakers, throwing the guitar around quite a bit, so much fun to photograph and I'll be honest here, he was my main focus just because of how much action he was throwing out there. Over all this was an incredible experience, great performances by all 3 bands, I was thoroughly captivated by each band and what they were putting out for everyone. So if you're thinking about hitting one of the tour dates on the rest of this tour... don't think to long, you won't be disappointed. GO!

Big thanks goes out to Live Nation for the approval, allowing me the opportunity to photograph this concert. Also, big thanks goes out to Budweiser Gardens in London On. Canada for the great as always hospitality.

- Shutter Click.

JUDAS PRIEST

SAXON

BLACK STAR RIDERS

WE WERE THAT SONG TOUR

February 20, 2018

Brett Kissel has blown up like crazy! If you don't know Brett Kissel and you like country music then you should definitely check him out, you won't be disappointed. Another great country music artist... Dan Davidson, again, if you do not know Dan Davidson check out his music.
London Ontario, Canada these two played on February 10th, a sold out show at the London Music Hall, my favourite venue in London, and then because this show sold out so quick, they decided to add a second date to the tour.. February 18th. Great things were said about the 10th show so needless to say I was pumped to be photographing the show on the 18th.

Sitting in my car in the parking lot waiting for 6:30pm to roll around and doors to open, everyone in the line up started yelling, right away I knew Brett had made an appearance outside to see the fans so I quickly grabbed my camera, jumped out of the car and started snapping shots of him from the parking lot.. he was only out there for maybe 2 mins. Fast forward; Standing in the media pit looking out to this massive crowd, the stage lit with some dark blue light, fans awaiting the start of the show, checking my cameras to make sure I have them set up properly... the worst part is not knowing what kind of light you're going to get once the show starts... all white, not so great, not enough light horrible.. all red or all blue.. horrible ... it's just a waiting game then rolling with the punches. A stage hand comes out from stage right and shines his flashlight to the soundboard, HERE WE GO! Out walk to radio hosts to announce the opening act, photographers out into the pit for the first 3 songs.. ok.. went well.. lighting was a bit dull but thats ok, expected.. give's me a good starting point. Out come two more radio hosts and BAM almost instantly Dan Davidson's band comes out on stage, they start playing and out run's Dan, first song kicks off, lighting is pretty good and I'm feeling great, happy to be there. Let me tell you Dan Davidson killed that performance, best I've ever seen him, so much energy and the fans were singing so loud.. such an amazing thing to experience and capture.
Now, a quick little tidbit of info for you.... when photographing these shows the typical thing that happens is, photographers get to shoot the first 3 songs from each artists, after that we have to leave the pit until the next artists hits the stage. Now, some places, usually bigger venues like stadiums will have a separate room we have to go sit in so we miss a lot of the show, but typically smaller venues will just allow you to step out and off to the side and watch the show, you just can't shoot, then when the next band hits the stage you're back in the pit for their 3 songs.

BRETT KISSEL!!!!!!! crowd goes insane, ear piercing screams everyone is going wild, the energy doubles, Brett comes out with high energy like always, jumps up on these wooden crates he has out on the stage and throws his arms out to everyone to say "HEY EVERYONE, I"M HERE AND I'M READY TO PARTY WITH YOU! ". From that moment on the party really grew with every song. Everyone singing back and with Brett was so loud it matched the volume of the band, it was crazy. Ok ok... no matter how I write this you just won't understand the vibe so I'm going to stop here and let the images do some talking.. hope you enjoy!

HUGE thank you goes out to INVICTUS ENTERTAINMENT GROUP for providing me with access to photograph this show, much appreciated you guys and gals are doing great things!

DAN DAVIDSON

BRETT KISSEL

A Night With Colin James

August 20, 2017

Colin Freakin' James!

Colin was brought to Woodstock last year for the Cowapalooza Festival in Woodstock Ontario, Canada, but sadly.. he never made it on stage because mother nature decided to flood the park with a torrential down pour. Summer 2017, Colin James was asked to come back and come back he did! With clear skies, a beauty summers night, stars out and all, Colin hit the stage with powerful guitar solos, deep bass lines, technical drumming, some outstanding keyboard work and of course some powerful, strong vocals that blew me away.

With no media pass (which wasn't required anyways because it was a FREE, yes.. FREE concert in a public park ) I had to shoot from the crowd which was fine at first.. but pretty much after the first song everyone moved up and it got tight quick. Bobbing around peoples melons Colin made it pretty easy to get the shots using up all areas of the stage to put on an amazing performance. If you haven't seen Colin James, haven't heard of him even.. get out to a show, you won't be disappointed at all. - Shutter Click.

Colin JamesCowapalooza Festival 2017Woodstock On, Canada. — Colin James
Cowapalooza Festival 2017
Woodstock On, Canada.

THE MUDMEN

August 19, 2017

If you like music.. you like that Scottish, East Coast kind of vibe, great vocals, bagpipes, drums, bass and guitar with some funny in-between song banter... THE MUDMEN are for you!

These guys were amazing, had a fantastic time photographing them in my home town at the Cowapalooza festival. This festival happens every year and every Friday and Saturday night there are concerts. In the past we've had bands such as: April Wine, The Stampeders, Trooper and more. This year: The Mudmen, The McCartney Years which happened on Friday Night... then tonight: Tim Tyler and the talented Colin James! I will be heading back down tonight at 7pm to capture both acts.

Not only is there music, but there's rides for the young kids, horse back rides, all kinds of vendors and food trucks which all takes place is the beautiful SouthSide Park, Woodstock On. Canada... so if you live in the area and want to get out of the house, or want to see an outdoor concert on a gorgeous summers day... WOODSTOCK is where you want to be! As always... if you see me out shooting, feel free to come by and say hi wether I know you or not... I'm always up for meeting potential clients ;) - Shutter Click.

The MudmenWoodstock ON. Cowapalooza Festival 2017. — The Mudmen
Woodstock ON.
Cowapalooza Festival 2017.

Beautiful Freakshow Tour

April 29, 2017

BEAUTIFUL FREAK SHOW TOUR

Jack Richardson Music Awards 2017

April 29, 2017

2017 Jack Richardson Music Awards In London Ontario Canada in London Music Hall.

NEW YEARS 2016-17!

January 01, 2017

Holy Crap! where did 2016 go?

Well, we're here, it's 2017.. welcome to the future! Hope everyone had an amazing new years and didn't wake up to hung over! 2016 was a fantastic year (for me anyways.. seems like a lot of people had a really rough 2016.. and thats unfortunate), but with some travelling, fun photography opportunities, some new friends gained and some big life changes things have been pretty good. 2017 is a year I really want to push photography and get things moving in the right direction so this post is here to start 2017 off right!

New Years is also my birthday, which almost everyone forgets haha but thats not a big deal. This year I decided I didn't want to go out and do the "usual" .. hit a club or bar or someones house and get wasted, wake up feeling horrible for the next 3 days, I wanted to do something that I wanted to do. For those of you who know me, you know that I'm into concerts and that I love to photograph concerts, even though I can't ever seem to get in to photograph them anymore because i'm not affiliated with a media outlet and you pretty much have to be to get into them these days. This New Years London Ontario, Canada (30 mins from my home town) was putting on a "rockin' New Years " in Victoria Park at the band shell. This years headliner .... FINGER ELEVEN! now, I'm not a huge Finger Eleven fan.. but they have a hand full of songs that I like.. and let me tell you, after this performance I'm a fan! WOW! These guys have so much energy and from the first note of a song, right to the end, they are flawless... every song sounds like like what you hear on the radio/CD. With kids and parents on the big Ice Rink behind us, my camera in my hands front row, Finger Eleven on stage and a big fireworks display off the top of the London Life building behind us.. this New Years/ Birthday was fantastic! I couldn't think of a better way ringing in the new year then doing what I love, photographing a concert, outdoors in winter lol.. it was a little cold but hey.. we're Canadian!

OH!! Ps. ... before anyone points it out... Yes, there are no "full band shot " .. this is simply because I figured I wouldn't be able to get close to the stage as they were expecting 12,000 people so I had an idea of where I was going to shoot from, which would require a long lens, so thats what I had. When I showed up there was absolutely no one at the front lol.... so I went to the front and decided I was just going to shoot single portraits... then of course, some other crap happened like a camera guy in the cage area stood right in front of me and the crowd was so thick I couldn't move around so ... you get to see lots of images of the one guitarist and the singer.. everyone else was hidden from view. I tend to shoot the action people.. the bass player just stands there in the back so there was much of him .. the other guitarist moves around but I couldn't get shots because he was blocked by the singer, a large sub, and the annoying camera man...

- Shutter Click.

© Kevin Vyse Photography All Rights Reserved 2017 FINGER ELEVEN — © Kevin Vyse Photography
All Rights Reserved 2017

FINGER ELEVEN

Rise Against Cancer 2016

June 04, 2016

Rise Against Cancer is an amazing charity concert held once a year in Woodstock Ontario. Cover bands from the Woodstock area come out to put on a concert to raise money for Cancer. The band Sweet N' Innocent are the founders and also the headliners for the event and what a show they put on! Not only is there a concert but there is also a silent auction, pizza and lots of alcohol!
I was honoured to be asked to photograph the event by fellow photographer Rachael Little, who has been photographing the event for the past few years. Rachael was unable to photograph the event this year so she set me up with Scott from Sweet N' Innocent so he could see my work and bring it to the band so they could decide if they wanted to have me photograph their event.

These bands were amazing.. the covers were dead on, the lighting was fantastic and the crowed was pretty big, I was blown away. Everyone was having a fantastic time, singing along to old 80's covers from sweet n' innocent, and a variety of covers from other bands.

This years line up included:

SWEET N' INNOCENT

BLIND DOG JOE

SOCIAL STONE

ECHOING CONCUSSION

NEW YEARS 2015/2016

January 01, 2016

"When he woke his, body was covered in coke fizz ".

SLOAN!!!! SLOOOOAAANNN!!! was being chanted by the crowd in Victoria Park - London Ontario and when they took to the stage the crowd went wild. Playing many different songs of many albums, Canadian Icon rock band SLOAN put on an amazing show despite the -4ºC weather and the bit of snow. Once the band started to play, it was like the cold didn't matter, no one cared, people were singing along, jumping around and dancing having a great time.

Ivory Hours is another Canadian band from London Ontario who is now getting national attention. This energetic band with an original poppy sound came out to open for Sloan and were a fan favourite as many people knew their lyrics and the band mates names, constantly yelling out " LOVE YOU! " "PLAY " so and so song... also chanting for an encore at the end of their set.

Once Sloan hit the 30 min before midnight mark, the countdown clock popped up on a screen behind the band on stage. They filled the 30 mins with a few hit songs including " Money City Maniacs " complete with the siren, which told everyone what song was about to be played and made the crowd lose their minds. At the 29 second mark everyone started counting down, when 1 second hit, the fireworks went off on top of the London Life building. Sloan's lead singer and bass player disappeared off the stage and their guitar tech jumped on bass as the band started to play AULD LANG SYNE ( the New Years Song ). We could hear the lead singer singing but no one knew where from until the band pointed out he was behind the crowd on the ice rink skating around with a wireless mic singing... how Canadian is that?, EH! What a great way to ring in the new year. Happy 2016 to all! - Shutter Click.

Oh PS. I didn't think I would be able to get as close to the stage as I did, seeing as how I read that last year there was 10,000 people attending the event, so my lens of choice was my 70-200. This lens is quite long and with me being so close my images had to be individual members. If I would have backed up to get everyone the crowd was so dense that it would have just been band members heads so I stayed where I was and did the best I could with what I had.

© Kevin Vyse Photography All Rights Reserved 2015 SLOAN — © Kevin Vyse Photography
All Rights Reserved 2015

SLOAN

IVORY HOURS

Renaissance Festival!

June 14, 2014

WOW! it has been far to long since i've done a blog post, this must change.

Smashing lances, crowds cheering, beer drinking, pig roasting, sword fighting and much much more! This was my experience today as I attended the 2014 Woodstock Ontario Renaissance Festival. This event was pretty amazing, with so much to see, from fire breathing to catapult slinging, archery, sword fights and Knights upon their steeds hitting each other with 10 foot wooden lances. When I showed up, the first thing I saw was 3 people dressed up in proper old time attire in a barn with Fire Batons spinning around their bodies, being balanced on their heads while another woman twirled around on a hula hoop type contraption hanging from the ceiling, it was quite impressive.

I continued onward to the grand stand where I heard the crowd yelling and clapping, of course I had to hurry to see what the ruckus was about. JOUSTING was about to commence! An announcer came out on a horse wearing quite the outfit and explaining what we were about to see and gave us the run down on how scoring for Jousting worked. Next rode out one of the knights, an older looking fellow with shiny armour. Then another knight came out, apparently they were father and son, who would think a father and son were about to joust one another, but thats what happened! 5 bouts took place with some real hard hits, one being dishorsed, chunks of wood flying through the air... men and women running through the crowd crying and screaming.... ok ok... that last part didn't happen, but in my weird over active mind it did lol.

Here's some of my images from the day... I was only there for about an hour so I didn't get to see everything they had to offer. At some point there were sword and axe fights, some falconry and bands. There's still time, I may go back. - Shutter Click~

© Kevin Vyse Photography All rights reserved 2014 Fire Blower getting a flame to burst off the end of the baton. — © Kevin Vyse Photography
All rights reserved 2014

Fire Blower getting a flame to burst off the end of the baton.

© Kevin Vyse Photography All rights reserved 2014Lance smashes to pieces as the knights connect on horseback — © Kevin Vyse Photography
All rights reserved 2014

Lance smashes to pieces as the knights connect on horseback

© Kevin Vyse Photography All rights reserved 2014 Another hard hit from the knights shattering the lances... the knight in blue was actually dishorsed with this hit. — © Kevin Vyse Photography
All rights reserved 2014

Another hard hit from the knights shattering the lances... the knight in blue was actually dishorsed with this hit.

© Kevin Vyse Photography All rights reserved 2014First Knight came out and put his helmet on, then proceeded to ride right up to me for a close up photo op — © Kevin Vyse Photography
All rights reserved 2014
First Knight came out and put his helmet on, then proceeded to ride right up to me for a close up photo op

© Kevin Vyse Photography All rights reserved 2014 After jousting a crowd gathered on the grass as a bagpipe and drum band rocked out some tunes to promote their show later tonight. Braveheart style! — © Kevin Vyse Photography
All rights reserved 2014
After jousting a crowd gathered on the grass as a bagpipe and drum band rocked out some tunes to promote their show later tonight. Braveheart style!

Cowapolooza: THE MUSIC Pt. 2

August 18, 2013

Hope you had a chance to check out Part 1 of this blog which was focused on the first band of the night: AFTER THE LOUNGE. They are an amazing rock band!

Part 2 is all about THUNDERSTRUCK! Canada's best AC/DC cover band. Apparently they had played cowapolooza about 4 years about, but honestly, I didn't attend any of the Cowapolooza festivals until 2 years ago so I missed out, and I'm pretty bummed out that I didn't go earlier because i've been missing out. THUNDERSTRUCK is simply outstanding! They look the part and definitely do AC/DC justice. I've always wanted to see AC/DC live, but now they don't tour anymore.. well, accept in Australia but I don't have any plans on going there .. yet. Thunderstruck just blew my mind with how dead on they are with their covers, their outfits and their stage presents!

If you ever get the chance to see these guys play in a city, town, village near you, GO!!!! If you love AC/DC then you will love Thunderstruck because they are the next best thing.

Shutter Click!

© Kevin Vyse PhotographyAll rights reserved 2013 — © Kevin Vyse Photography
All rights reserved 2013

Cowapolooza Festival: THE MUSIC Pt.1

August 17, 2013

A beautiful, warm summer night in August, the sun is setting, the stage is up, people are buzzing all around. Guitars squealing, drums pounding, bass rattling chests and vocals blaring in your ears.

This was the experience you had if you were in Woodstock Ontario, Canada on Friday August 16th 2013. Cowapolooza is a festival that Woodstock puts on every year, full of music, vendors of all sorts, buskers, and small rides for the kids. Held in South Side Park, hundreds of people gather to experience this two day event, and as you can guess, the bands are what drive me to attend each year. In the past we've had acts such as: April Wine, The Stampeders, Thunderstruck ( Canada's best AC/DC cover band), and The Beagles ( A Beatles cover band ). This year Thunderstruck came back to join us and rock out the best AC/DC covers I've ever heard... a band that definitely doesn't disappoint and leaves you wanting more, as well as the band After The Lounge, London Ontario's favourite rock band with an original sound that grabs you hard and blows you away.

I suggest you check out both of these bands and get to a show near you to get the full experience.

AFTER THE LOUNGE: http://www.afterthelounge.com

THUNDERSTRUCK: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Thunderstruck/16277603667

Facebook was the only webpage I could find on these guys but they're from Toronto and just blew me away with their covers... they are dead on and have an amazing stage presence.

this blog Pt. 1 ... are the images of AFTER THE LOUNGE.
i'm still editing Thunderstrucks images, but they will be posted ASAP.

Shutter Click.