A Flock of Seagulls at Hollywood Casino, Columbus, Ohio 3/24/17

     I had very much enjoyed the songs of A Flock of Seagulls for years, but I had never seen them previously in concert. So when I saw that the local Hollywood Casino was going to host the band for a free show, I knew I wanted to go.
VENUE: The Hollywood Casino hosts shows at a smallish stage in a bar in the middle of the casino. The area in front of the stage seems to allow for hundreds of folks to watch the band up close with more areas to view the stage in the periphery. Although the area is isolated from the rest of the action in the casino, but overall it is a nice area to catch the band on stage. The sound was good.
THE BAND: A Flock of Seagulls may have made their mark on popular music back in the '80s, but Mike Score continues to tour and perform their catchy synth pop with a group of talented musicians. Joe Rodriguez plays lead guitar, Kevin Rankin on drums, and Pando on bass. Mike Score contributes on keyboards and guitar as well as his distinctive voice on lead vocals.
THE SHOW: The band took the stage right on time and played a really solid set of hits and solid album cuts. Mike Score was in good voice and the supporting musicians really make the material sound great. The band hooked the audience with "Modern Love Is Automatic", played a solid set of lesser known songs, then finished with all the hits one wanted to hear. As a fan of Joy Division/New Order, I kept thinking early in the set that the material reminded me of JD/NO -- and that is a huge compliment!

Joe Rodriguez' set list.

     The hits all sounded great and were great to finally hear live. A very enjoyable set!

Joe Rodriguez

Kevin Rankin and Joe Rodriguez

Kevin Rankin

Mike Score, Joe Rodriguez, and Kevin Rankin

Mike Score

Mike Score

     I love live music and have a lot of fun taking pictures at the shows. I do not have any different access then other fans. My little pocket-sized Canon PowerShot G16 takes really good low-light pictures (I highly recommend it!) and I bring it to shows regularly. I do not have any special camera skills -- I have just taken a lot of photos and fiddled around with the settings to get better pictures.

     I post quite a few photos on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Although it is fun and fulfilling to have people enjoy them, I love to see others photos. Although my photos rarely look as good as the men and women that shoot regularly at concerts, I sure try to capture the band in the moment. One footnote to this show: I was honored to have Joe Rodriguez contact me after seeing some of the above photos on social media. He asked me if he can use some of my photos of him. That makes me quite happy!

    So if you get a chance to see A Flock of Seagulls in concert, trust you are going to see a really good show!