The first time that I saw them I think was in early 2002 when I went to see Grade, Reach The Sky, and Catch 22 on a tour of Victory Records bands. Some new band from Long Island called Taking Back Sunday were opening. The crowd went apeshit. There were a lot more females that you would get at most NYC shows at the time.  It would be the last time I would ever see them open a show. Later that year I saw them at CBGB's but this time I was going to see them. They had impressed me at the Knitting Factory and I remember saying "This band is going to break big" I was a hardcore kid (hardcore middle aged man at the time) but between knowing of Eddie from his hardcore days on the Island and the response that the band was getting and the energy they brought to a room they became a favorite. And if you know me then you realize that behind my yeti exterior I'm a mush so the lyrics always caught me. 

Those are the Knitting Factory show. I wish I had the rest. I'm pretty sure this is April 3rd, 2002. Young Adam, young Eddie, a young John Nolan in the back. 

The CB's show was in August I think of the same year. And my photos from it are awful - truly a "I wish I knew now what I knew back then" set of images...

I stayed a fan. i saw them a few times over the years but never in a place where I could shoot. Fast forward to now. My good friend James Tsaptsinos now works for KMC Music and is friends with Eddie from TBS. I went up to Rhode Island to catch the band on the Tidal Wave Tour (images from the live show to follow in a different post) and even though Eddie was suffering from a cracked tooth and swollen he couldn't have been nicer or more cordial (not always the case when you go to shoot bands out of a live setting) I set him up in front of  with his Hagstrom Guitar and Supro Amp and worked as fast as I could.

You never get a lot of time so seeing the scene and moving quickly become important. I went with two speedlights for this - one soft and one hard. The main light to camera right is a SB-5000 Nikon in an umbrella. Nothing fancy. Aimed at Eddie from about somewhere between 45 and 90 degrees to the side. The umbrella would give soft while going harder to the side would provide a bit of drama. The second light is a bare SB-5000 behind Eddie and bare. I had the flashes in manual and shooting the back light at 1/128th power to just give a hint of light that would separate him from the cluttered stage. I'm using the Nikon D5 and WR-10 to set off the flashes via radio.