Rock the Vote with Jack Johnson, ALO, G-Love, Far East Movement, Capital Cities and Steve Aoki

I’ve spent 2 days photographing for Rock the Vote in recent weeks and have had a blast!  The first event began on the campus of St. Leo University, (north of Tampa in Florida).  It was the first stop, kicking off the Road Trip 2012 for the Rock the Vote road trip:

During the day at the campus, the Rock the Vote bus, staff, and their sponsors (twonky, music choice, assasin’s creed, honest tea and participant media) set up shop, primarily to encourage folks to register to vote.  Two bands were on hand to support the cause and perform for the students.  First up was Capital Cities, who were incredibly fun and entertaining!  For photos, I was looking forward to photograph an outdoor concert, but unfortunately, a massive storm moved the event indoors…

I didn’t realize I had heard any songs from the next band, but Far East Movement sings ‘Like a G6’ and ‘Rocketeer’.  I really like the song ‘Rocketeer’!  It was a great show and the college students were huge fans:

At night we left St. Leo University for downtown Tampa, Florida.  Rock the Vote hosted DJ Steve Aoki at the Amphitheatre in Ybor City.  Again, since I primarily listen to classic rock and country, I hadn’t heard of Steve Aoki…however, he had a HUGE following.  He’s considered one of the 10 best Dj’s in the world, founded a successful record label, and just as interestingly, his father started Benihana (makes me hungry just thinking about it)!  Aoki’s performance was pretty awesome.  The crowd was yelling, screaming, singing, dancing, and at one point, surfing the crowd on incredible rafts!!!  The son of the club owner was the opening DJ before Aoki, so it was a fun picture of the two of them meeting:

My second job for Rock the Vote took place on the campus of Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania.  Most of the daytime activities were the same with the tents, bus and students registering..but this time they also were giving away free tickets for the evening concerts to the first 2,000 folks and that drew QUITE the crowd!!

The first act to perform was ALO (Animal Liberation Orchestra), long time friends with Jack Johnson.  They were fun, mellow and thoroughly enjoyable!!  I really like the shot of the guitar player! (Dan Lebowitz):

The next performer was G-Love.  He usually sings with his band (G. Love & Special Sauce) but it was a fun acoustic performance with just him, his harmonica and a guitar on stage:

And the headliner, and the performance I was really looking forward to, was Jack Johnson!  I’ve been a fan for a long time.  The last time I saw him live, he came on stage to sing as a surprise during a Jimmy Buffett concert in Santa Barbara, CA.  This time I was fortunate enough to chat with him backstage!  One of the neatest stories to share that nobody would ever hear about is that even though he had a cold, and just for the sake of doing something fun, Johnson asked if he could just show up on campus somewhere during the day and sing a spontaneous show…!  First of all, how cool would that of been!  And secondly, what a testament about him as a person!!  Incidentally, after seeing the line of 2,000 people show up for the free tickets, I do understand why the University said that it would be a logistical nightmare… I sure hope I get to cross paths with him again, but in the meantime, here are some of my favorite images from his 26 song performance!

And finally, to end this long blog post, I’d like to share one of the funniest moments!  Hasn’t everyone wondered what it was like to be a rockstar?  I sure have, and I got a teeny tiny glimpse at the end of the night.  After the show ended, I went out the back of the stage and all of a sudden a group of fans started screaming and clapping (hoping it was Jack Johnson of course…but it was AWESOME and I pretended it was for me)!  I asked if they would do it again and went inside and turned on the iphone to film..you decide:  Jensen Sutta Photography cheering, clapping and screaming fans….OR, people who hoped I was Jack Johnson…