Jenn Grant’s Echoes was one of the most overlooked albums of 2009, full of beautifully written and performed music. Jenn lives in Halifax, so she doesn’t get out here to the raggedy edge of the country as often as some of us would like.

In October, she visited Vancouver’s St. James Community Square with Justin Rutledge. Justin is one of Canada’s finest singer songwriters, and this was a show that wasn’t to be missed.

St. James Community Square is one of the most beautiful venues in Vancouver, and also one of the most intimate. This was the hardest part about the night: most venues are noisy and loud and full of boisterous crowds and the challenge is weaving amongst them. On this particular night it was my painful awareness of exactly how loud the shutter on my camera is, and a desire to try to be as discreet as possible that presented the biggest challenge. I got feedback from a couple of audience members that seemed to indicate I’d succeeded. I certainly hope so.

The other challenge was the lack of sightlines at the venue. Sound equipment sits in front of the stage, which is both elevated and bounded on three sides by walls and inaccessible to the audience. I was able to shoot through a narrow gap between the speakers (where this photo was taken from) and the wall, but other than that it was pretty much straight line views.

In general, the solution to both of these challenges was to shoot long lenses from well back and to try to spend as little time standing right in front of the stage as possible.

The night didn’t disappoint musically. Justin was the headliner and he brought Jenn back on stage for a duet before closing with an audience sing along of his song Don’t Be So Mean, Jellybean. I wanted to get video of the sing-along, but it was such a fantastic night of music and I got involved in the sing-along. That doesn’t happen to me too often.

If either one of these comes to a town near you, do not miss them.