Levon Helm's Ramble On The Road 6/20/08 Penn's Landing, Philly PA

[skifurthur]

Truly an American treasure, Levon Helm opened up for Phil Lesh in Philadelphia last Friday. Larry Campbell and his wife, Tereas Williams are also playing in Phil's band so they are on stage for upwards of 6 hours a night.

For those who don't know, Levon was the drummer and often vocalist for The Band. A few years ago he was diagnosed with throat cancer and with the help of Sloan Kettering has made a complete remission. His voice is as strong as ever and he is playing up a storm.

Here are some photographs from that night. As always, comments and critique are welcome. Besides a cluttered stage, the sun was directly behind the stage while setting and presented a few interesting dilemas while shooting.

1. Levon Helm
http://www.amsaddler.com/canon/2008_06_20_Levon/IMG_8075.jpg

2. Levon Helm
http://www.amsaddler.com/canon/2008_06_20_Levon/IMG_8088.jpg

3. Levon Helm
http://www.amsaddler.com/canon/2008_06_20_Levon/IMG_8105.jpg

4. Larry Campbell
http://www.amsaddler.com/canon/2008_06_20_Levon/IMG_8138.jpg

5. Teresa Williams
http://www.amsaddler.com/canon/2008_06_20_Levon/IMG_8181.jpg

6. Amy Helm
http://www.amsaddler.com/canon/2008_06_20_Levon/IMG_8189.jpg

7. Ramble On The Road
http://www.amsaddler.com/canon/2008_06_20_Levon/IMG_8209.jpg

8. Little Sammy Davis
http://www.amsaddler.com/canon/2008_06_20_Levon/IMG_8219.jpg

[johnstoy]

Beautiful set skifurther... No one would know that you even had a three song limit... With a mixture of close ups and portraits and even stage shots, this is great.

Congrats. on a quick rebound from the long photo shoot the previous night... I know for a fact you were post processing photos from the Penn's Peak, Phil Lesh and Friends Show, till the wee hours of the morning of this show... Again, Congratulations... Keep up the great work.

[bacchanal]

Yeah these are stellar. The faces are so sharp it almost makes you forget about the backgrounds.

[blackshadow]

Really nice set there!

#2 is an absolute killer shot!

[letsmakeart]

The sun makes a nice hairlight in no. 5

[johnstoy]

#2 is especially an enjoyable pic to check out...

Skifurther must certainly have a pretty good repertoire with Leon to be getting him looking/posing that way... An absolutely great shot.

[egordon99]

Awesome shots of some great musicians! From what I've heard of Helm's new album, it's pretty awesome (haven't purchased it yet)....

I'm pretty familiar with Larry Campbell from his work with Richard Shindell (Reunion Hill specifically) and he's a great musician as well.

[DwightMcCann]

Well, #7 sucks ... you have Levon covered along with the horn player! Geez, dude, I thought I trained you better than that! :-) Otherwise this is a seriously good set in what is usually a terrible lighting situation.

[thelightofsound]

#2 is very nice, but i appreciate how you worked through the stands, mics, and cymbals to get to his face on 3.

nice work of a legend. he makes me proud to be from around the parts of turkey scratch arkansas :)

[narlus]

5 is my favorite, really nice moment there. 2 pays testament to his dentist. :D

[johnstoy]

I bet you arrived just before the show started... Did you actually have a 3 song limit during Levon's performance? Or did he just play a few songs to open the show?

It takes me two hours to get to Philly... I figured you were pressed for time, when you got there.

Where are you going to next?

[skifurthur]

Sad day today.

[mpix345]

Sad day today.

For sure it is. Thanks for bumping this thread up. Nice to see some great shots of a great musician. I have Electric Dirt on right now. Levon left us lots of treasures...