When it opened in 2011, the Amsterdam Bar & Hall was an oasis in a near-desert of downtown St. Paul nightlife. It was a music venue from the get go, though it took a bit for it to get a sure footing. It also had an uphill battle in convincing Minneapolitans to cross the river, as St. Paul had been mostly written off for good modern music venues. But five years later the Amsterdam is still going strong, and has rode the wave of a small nightlife revival for sleepy St. Paul.

I brought the friend who introduced me to the Amsterdam way back, to introduce him to Strange Relations. I really enjoy the band, and figured I'd check out the other two as well.

Strange Relations

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^{"Dig around for spare change to cover the door charge, hope the bands are five bucks" -their song Ceremonies}

I dig this band enough to dig up $5 spare change for the show. Give them a listen.

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Trying a slow shutter from a unique sidestage porthole angle

I shared photos of this band in my first music photo post, though I didn't get the best shots of them then. This stage has far more light, and I was able to use my slower zoom lens. The angles were difficult, but I could have done better this time too. My timing could be improved, I missed some good moments and smiles. Overall an improvement, thanks to the extra light.

Al Church

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A pre-show huddle

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Mr. Al Church

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Al Church is a good and animated performer which makes for good photo opportunities. Having a lot of band members on stage makes it challenging to get decent shots of all of them. Having a zoom lens definitely helped here. I'm happy with the shots I got of Al, there are even more that I could share but I whittled them down to the best.

Half-way through Al Church's set, Amsterdam Bar co-owner Jon Oulman came to the stage. Following the marriage tradition of a 5 year anniversary being the wooden one, he presented a pair of wooden clogs to a bartender that had been working there since the beginning.

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Night Moves

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Channeling David Byrne, the lead singer and guitarist for Night Moves appeared on stage solo for the first song.

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Then his bandmates show up.

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These guys are touring the world now so nice to see them at a $5 show. They've been a name in the local scene for a while, and I've heard some of their tracks on the radio but never saw them live. I think I did ok shooting these guys. I could have got a better shot of the drummer but finding an angle on him when his cymbals weren't in front of his face was tough. Another thing I could have done is charged my camera battery! It got low enough to refuse to shoot. I was also getting fatigued of trying to get shots. I'm happy with what I got.

Thanks to these musicians that played this night! If you're interested in hearing these performers, check them out

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