Guitarist Don Henley of the Eagles performs "How Long" during the bands' concert at Mizzou Arena.
On a whim, I decided to try and acquire a press credential (for The Maneater) to photograph the Eagles’ concert in Columbia. Two emails and a couple phone calls later, to my surprise, I was successful. I’m a pretty big Eagles fan and was bummed I couldn’t attend the show because of exorbitantly high ticket prices, so snagging a photo pass pretty much made my day as I’d be able to make the concert after all.
Not really knowing what to expect, this being the first time I was shooting a major concert, I packed every lens I owned, including my massive 400mm f/2.8. It’s a good thing too, because all photographers were required to shoot from the mix board, a good 200-plus foot throw to the stage. Using a full-frame D3, anything shot with even a 70-200 was way too wide. Photographers were allowed to shoot the first three songs before having to leave the floor immediately. I got to sneak a peak at the setlist and noticed “Hotel California” was scheduled to be played fifth. Sure enough, after the first three songs we were ushered out. Just as we were forced to put our cameras away, from the rafters drifted down an elaborate California-themed backdrop and the lightshow kicked into a high gear, a step up from the relatively bland design for the first three songs. Mildly upset, I resigned myself to walking as slowly as possible to savor every waning second of all I’d see of the show that night.
Click here to view a slideshow of images from the concert.
