Concerts

Grouplove @ The Hamilton

Posted on October 13, 2013

WASHINGTON, DC - October 10th, 2013 - Hannah Hooper and Christian Zucconi of Grouplove perform at The Hamilton in Washington, D.C. The band's 2011 hit "Tongue Tied" sold over 1 million copies, was featured in an iPod Touch commercial and was covered on the TV show Glee. (Photo by Kyle Gustafson / For The Washington Post) (Kyle Gustafson/For The Washington Post)

I’m not that familiar with The Hamilton, having only shot two or three shows there. It’s a weird venue, with the seats, the food and the second level. The crowd just seems really far away from the band and I think it’s hard to get a good vibe in those situations. This Grouplove was actually the first time I’d seen a big crowd in this place, and it definitely helped although it didn’t totally fix that problem. Grouplove were pretty great, very energetic and engaging. I was actually a bit unprepared for this show, as I usually shoot shows at The Hamilton with a long lens from the back of the room (because there is never a crowd) but that wasn’t going to work for this gig.

WASHINGTON, DC - October 10th, 2013 - Hannah Hooper, Sean Gadd and Christian Zucconi of Grouplove perform at The Hamilton in Washington, D.C. The band's 2011 hit "Tongue Tied" sold over 1 million copies, was featured in an iPod Touch commercial and was covered on the TV show Glee. (Photo by Kyle Gustafson / For The Washington Post) (Kyle Gustafson/For The Washington Post)

WASHINGTON, DC - October 10th, 2013 - Andrew Wesson, Hannah Hooper and Christian Zucconi of Grouplove perform at The Hamilton in Washington, D.C. The band's 2011 hit "Tongue Tied" sold over 1 million copies, was featured in an iPod Touch commercial and was covered on the TV show Glee. (Photo by Kyle Gustafson / For The Washington Post) (Kyle Gustafson/For The Washington Post)

WASHINGTON, DC - October 10th, 2013 - Sean Gadd and Ryan Rabin of Grouplove perform at The Hamilton in Washington, D.C. The band's 2011 hit "Tongue Tied" sold over 1 million copies, was featured in an iPod Touch commercial and was covered on the TV show Glee. (Photo by Kyle Gustafson / For The Washington Post) (Kyle Gustafson/For The Washington Post)

SHOOTING NOTES: I ended up at the front of the stage, in front of the people seated in tables a foot or so from the stage lip and mostly shot wide the entire time. There was A LOT of gear on the stage, so it was go really wide or zoom all the way in, and I figured group shots of Grouplove would be more fitting. I tried to stay low as much as I could, but there were times I had to stand in front of the crowd and block their view. I really HATE doing that and try to be as quick about it as possible. I get my shot and get out of there. Lights started off bad in the first song but got much better in songs 2 and 3. Now that I’m a bit familiar with them, I’d love the chance to shoot Grouplove again.

WASHINGTON, DC - October 10th, 2013 - Andrew Wesson, Hannah Hooper and Christian Zucconi of Grouplove perform at The Hamilton in Washington, D.C. The band's 2011 hit "Tongue Tied" sold over 1 million copies, was featured in an iPod Touch commercial and was covered on the TV show Glee. (Photo by Kyle Gustafson / For The Washington Post) (Kyle Gustafson/For The Washington Post)

WASHINGTON, DC - October 10th, 2013 - Hannah Hooper of Grouplove performs at The Hamilton in Washington, D.C. The band's 2011 hit "Tongue Tied" sold over 1 million copies, was featured in an iPod Touch commercial and was covered on the TV show Glee. (Photo by Kyle Gustafson / For The Washington Post) (Kyle Gustafson/For The Washington Post)

WASHINGTON, DC - October 10th, 2013 - Ryan Rabin of Grouplove performs at The Hamilton in Washington, D.C. The band's 2011 hit "Tongue Tied" sold over 1 million copies, was featured in an iPod Touch commercial and was covered on the TV show Glee. (Photo by Kyle Gustafson / For The Washington Post) (Kyle Gustafson/For The Washington Post)

WASHINGTON, DC - October 10th, 2013 - Hannah Hooper and Christian Zucconi of Grouplove perform at The Hamilton in Washington, D.C. The band's 2011 hit "Tongue Tied" sold over 1 million copies, was featured in an iPod Touch commercial and was covered on the TV show Glee. (Photo by Kyle Gustafson / For The Washington Post) (Kyle Gustafson/For The Washington Post)

BUY PRINTS: Click on any image in this post or in the slideshow to purchase prints. Check my photo archive for more options.
FOLLOW ME: Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter or like me on Facebook if you want to stay current with what I am shooting.
Please don’t reuse these photos without my permission. The slideshow below has embed code you can use if you want to put these photos on your blog. Please link back to this post.


Grouplove @ The Hamilton – Images by Kyle Gustafson

Kyle Gustafson is a freelance photographer based in Washington, D.C. His work appears weekly in The Washington Post. Complex Magazine named him one of the 50 Greatest Concert Photographers Right Now.

You Might Also Like

Erykah Badu Performs at the Fillmore Silver Spring in Silver Spring, MD.

Erykah Badu @ Fillmore

February 17, 2015
Lizzo Performs at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.

Lizzo @ 9:30 Club

February 25, 2015

Gary Clark, Jr. @ Sweetlife Festival

May 13, 2013

No Comments

Leave a Reply