"Brighten"ed Saturday

For the month of September, I think I have more concerts and more trips than I can even imagine. It's really a guarantee that gas prices are going to go up. So, if you want to know when gas prices are on the rise, just check my travel calendar. LOL

Seriously, I had a ticket to see Brighten in Sandy, UT on Saturday, and I was really looking forward to it. Due to conflicts with my work schedule, and other issues, I wasn't able to go to their last two shows here, and I was disappointed. Saturday, I was very happy to be able to go.

I decided to head out to Pictureline to get a new camera lens (a fast wide-angle zoom) before heading over to the Solid Ground Cafe for the show. Solid Ground is a small, comfortable sort of venue. Bands and venue staff arrive late. In fact on Saturday, the venue staff didn't even show up until nearly 6 p.m. The show was to start at 7 p.m. Likewise, concert attendees show up rather late as well. However, I didn't want to make a trip to Salt Lake City just to get a camera lens, so I decided to go on the way. Pictureline closes at 2 p.m. I barely made it, arriving about 1:53 p.m. That's cutting it pretty close. LOL

I tried to kill as much time as I could - stopping at Arby's, etc., and ended up at the venue a little bit after 4 p.m. I played around with my new lens, read from Galatians 5, played with my new lens some more, walked across the street to the Texaco station and back again, and listened to music until the bands arrived.

At any rate, the concert was good. A few of the opening bands were especially good, including one from Colorado Springs. I will now have to look up their name because I am really forgetful, but I have a pic with two of the guys. :)

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed Brighten's set, although I couldn't hear the vocals quite as well as I usually can. It was still good. :) They have two new band members, and both were good and very personable. I talked to everyone, but I talked to Austin quite a bit, and to Justin a lot. Anyway, overall, I had a great time.


The venue is seriously dark, and the lighting is not real conducive to photos, so about 2 or 3 songs into Brighten's set, I just used the on camera flash, which I rarely do. I did get a few that turned out without flash, but I was shooting at 1/50th-1/6oth of a sec, and that was a tad underexposed! So, the pics could be better, but I did get some passable pics without flash as well. See if you can tell? LOL I still have miles to go editing before I can upload most of them. Here is a sampling of what I have so far.

Wednesday I head back to the same venue to see This Providence. I'm pretty excited about that as well.

--Melanie