What is the best lens for amatuer rock concert shooting?

[col4bin]

The band I want to shoot encourages photography (String Cheese Incident) and they generally let you bring some gear in.

[narlus]

questions to ask:

how far from the performers will you be?
what's the lighting generally like at their shows?
what's your budget?
what's your camera body?

the 1st two will tell you what focal length and aperture you will need. the next two will tailor choices accordingly.

edit - just checked yr gear list...unless you are pretty close and/or it's a small stage, yr 70-200L will probably work fine. if you want something wider, i would suggest the sigma 30 f/1.4, or canon 50 (either 1.8 or 1.4). or, you could get the 24-70 f/2.8

[col4bin]

The lighting on the stage will vary. I will be moving around the room since all of their shows are GA. When I am farther back I will use a monopod.

I was thinking about getting a 50 but I am not sure if I want the 1.8 or 1.4. I have no experience with either of these lenses. The 85 1.8 seems a bit too long for a 1.6x crop body.

[narlus]

the 85 is great for headshots, even up close. this is a picture of Franz, the keyboard player for the Hold Steady, which i took 2 nights ago. i was standing directly in front of him.

http://narlus.zenfolio.com/img/p235378089-4.jpg


for full body shots or multi-player shots, the 30 is the bomb. i'm too short to be able to be farther away from the stage to get a wide shot w/o heads in the way.

if you are set on the 50, and don't mind tossing a couple more hundred into the purchase, go for the 1.4 version, esp if you think you'll use it quite often. it's got these advantages over the 1.8:

much better construction (metal mount, much better MF ring)
faster
distance marker

i used my 1.8 for a few months before trading up.