MisterWives @ The Pageant | 09.29.23

NYC indie pop band Misterwives brought the nosebleeds to The Pageant in St. Louis, Missouri on September 29th, 2023 on their co-headlining tour with British-American singer-songwriter Bishop Briggs.

I am kind of amazed that for the many years I have been photographing live music, I had not photographed MisterWives until this past Friday evening. Even when they were playing smaller rooms back in the day, I had always heard good things about their live shows. The early 2010s’ were a deluge of radio friendly indie pop like Phoenix or Gotye. I am sure there are better examples but, let’s be honest, most of those bands didn’t permeate the mainstream or many playlists past a couple album cycles. Even if I personally wasn’t super familiar with Misterwives’ music, I was always made to understand that they were a band that was rightfully elevated over their now-forgotten contemporaries. It wasn’t a hard decision to accept when I was given the opportunity to cover their performance at The Pageant.

Misterwives’ new record Nosebleeds is more aggressive and forward than their previous work, something that has surprised critics and fans alike. It was, perhaps, fitting that they kicked off their set with the first two tracks off the album, “Out of Your Mind” and “Dagger.” Both songs have a punkish edge that is engaging and a lot of fun. Singer Mandy Lee has an incredible energy, rarely stopping for more than a fraction of a verse, prowling the stage in a outfit that looked like something Vivienne Westwood would have made had she been enlisted to design a Catholic school uniform. Guitarist Marc Campbell and bassist William Hehir did their best to match, but both seemed a quite aware that past a certain extent, it was a fool’s errand. Drummer Etienne Bowler and keyboardist (and sometimes saxophonist) Mike Murphy held it down on their respective risers. It all gave the image, from the photo pit and from the crowd, of a band playing a room much bigger than the one they were in.

From the high octane introduction, MisterWives moved comfortably into their alt-dance material from their previous releases. The crowd, particularly those on the dance floor, were so hyped for the entirety of MisterWives performance, that it was entertaining just to watch the band feed off those good vibes. Older songs like “SUPERBLOOM” and “whywhywhy” definitely resonated with those up front. However, I really enjoy the new material off Nosebleeds. It is obvious that Mandy and her bandmates are really proud of the record. There was just a different energy on the stage during songs like “Trigger Pull” and “Sideways.”

MisterWives closed out the set with the titular song off Nosebleeds. It’s quite a catchy track, and sometimes I can’t decide if it feels like something the Dust Brothers would have produced in the late 90s. I do know that it has the sort big anthem chorus that perfectly fit the energy and emotion of their set. Had the room filled with confetti falling from the ceiling, it would have not been out of place.

The Shoot

There was a lot of lovely light during this one. With light sources coming from the usual locations above the stage, there were also the light coming off from the side and the LED grids attached to the riser. The lighting team for this tour did a fantastic job, and really gave us photographers a lot of different opportunities to capture the energy and vibe onstage. Mandy was obviously the focus, but it wasn’t hard to get great light on the other members of MisterWives. I am a little jealous of their tour photographer Matty Vogel who, as you might imagine, has the privilege of photographing the entire set.

Seriously, check out his IG feed. He has made really amazing photos during this tour.

For this show, I shot with a Fujifilm X-T5 and my trusty Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 DC DN Contemporary Lens. I left the medium format kit at home. As much as I wanted to bring it out, I’ve been dealing with some long COVID issue and I figured that less would be more. The X-T5’s autofocus is a nice improvement over what I had with the X-S10 and the beefy 50 megapixel sensor is really lovely. I stayed at ISO 6400 for my 3 songs, and did not spend a lot of time wide open. With such great light, I could shoot at f4 with a shutter speed around 1/400 and get what I needed. I do find for performances like this, I wish I had a wider lens. It would have been really nice to have had something a little wider but I think I did alright with the Sigma.

Check out the rest of my photos of MisterWives at The Pageant, as well as photos of co-headliner Bishop Briggs and tour support Natlie Jane here!