PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED BY GABRIEL DAVID BARKIN | PUBLISHED ON December 7, 2025

 

My Favorite Live Music Pics of 2025*

* Some of them, at least. Presented here in (mostly) random order.

David Byrne

 

So far in 2025, I’ve photographed about 50 shows. (I’ve got a few more on my dance card before the year ends.) A lot of those were festivals or multi-act club shows, so I estimate I shot somewhere north of 150 or so individual performances altogether. Not too shabby for a freelance part-time amateur, eh? This collection of pics includes some of my “technical” favorites (where I’m most proud of the framing, camera craft, etc.), and also many treasured and unique moments spent in the presence of some of the best musicians and music fans I know. 

 

Bela Flek

 

Samantha Fish

 

Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts

Neil Young was the hardest shoot of the year. Approved photographers like me were only allowed to stand WAY off to the side of Row K in the lower level at Shoreline. Plus, the stage lighting was low, and Neil wore a hat pulled down far over his eyes so his face was hidden in shadow. My best shots weren’t with my pro camera, they were with a point-and-shoot from my seat after our three song allotment.

 

Angelique Kidjo

 

Judas Priest fans

 

Greg Errico and Narada Michael Walden

 

Broken Compass Bluegrass

 

Phish

My review of this show started with an onslaught of alliteration: “Phish philled San Phrancisco’s Bill Graham Civic Auditorium with a phlood of phrenzied phans for the phirst of two shows Tuesday night. (Phew!)” No a’phologies.

 

The Flaming Lips

 

Nathan Moore

 

Jackie Greene

 

Sierra Hull

 

Ty Segall

 

Hot Buttered Rum

 

Billy Strings

 

Danny Luehring

I always try to get good shots of the drummer. And none of them are more photogenic than Danny at his “Danny’s Live Dead” weekly gigs in Fairfax.

 

Amy Helm and Sam Grisman

 

ALO and Glitterfox

 

Jason Crosby and Grahame Lesh

 

Khruangbin

Sometimes Khruangbin sounds like they’re playing the “Space” jam at a Dead show, the part just as it begins to pick up a rhythm and the band begins coalescing towards a recognizable song. There you are in the echoey hallway coming back from the bathroom, and you hear it; are they going into “The Wheel”?

 

Ezra Lipp, ALO

 

Taj Mahal

 

Russ Lawton, LaMP

 

Victor Wooten

 

Sam Bush and Ross Holmes

The ultimate compliment: fiddler Ross Holmes (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) wanted to buy a print of this picture after he saw it posted on Instagram. (I gave him the file to print and just asked him to donate to a scholarship fund my wife and I set up for low income Marin County students.)

 

Willie Nelson

 

Coyote Island

 

Coyote Island

 

Warren Haynes

 

Scott Metzger, LaMP

 

Ezra Lipp, ALO

 

Nat Keefe, Hot Buttered Rum

 

The Rev. Horton Heat

 

Warren Haynes

The truth is that Warren was just trying to get the attention of his sound guy to turn up his monitor – but it looks like he’s raising his hand in triumph after a wicked solo, right? 

 

The Flaming Lips

 

Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz

Capturing the perfect “Lebo Leap” is a lifelong pursuit. This one from Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is my best effort … so far. The whole sequence is below.

 

 

Peter Anspach, Goose

 

Angelique Kidjo and Yo Yo Ma

 

Matt Butler, Everyone Orchestra

 

Daniel Donato

 

The Wood Brothers

 

The Critics

 

Django Ruckrich, Broken Compass Bluegrass

 

Everyone Orchestra, High Sierra Music Festival edition

 

Garrett Deloian

This was in SUPER low light at the Balboa Theater, just the glow from a film projector showing old movies above the band’s head. Prime lens, F-stop as close to zero as it gets. That’s where the magic happens.

 

Khruangbin

 

Jesse Iaquinto, Fireside Collective

 

Ron Artis II in the crowd at High Sierra Music Festival

As I was walking over to this HSMF stage midway through the set, I heard Ron announce that he was going to come down into the crowd. Darn, I thought, I’m showing up too late to try to get a good position in the audience for shots. Then I remembered that, duh, I had all-access and I could shoot from the stage. The perfect vantage point for a very intimate festival performance.

 

David Byrne

 

The Flaming Lips

 

Ghost Note

 

Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts

 

Jimmy Law, Dogs in a Pile

 

Camper Van Beethoven

Camper Van Beethoven played their record release party gig for their first album at my cafe in Santa Cruz in the ’80s. Seeing them perform “Telephone Free Landslide Victory” in its entirety at the Fillmore this year – 40 years later! – was a treat. And it made me feel old too.

 

Zach Gill, ALO

 

Diggin’ Dirt with Eric Krasno

 

Kyle Hollingsworth, String Cheese Incident

 

Trey Anastasio, Phish

 

Los Lobos

 

Joan Baez

 

Jason Crosby

 

Stu Allen

 

Hooray for the Riff Raff

 

Flamingos in the Tree

 

Tanya Trotter, The War and Treaty

Perspective is a funny thing. Every time I look at this image, I think, “Man, her bass player is only like eighteen inches tall.” Or is she a twelve-foot Amazonian? 

 

Chris Wood, The Wood Brothers

 

Sound Summit, Mt. Tamalpais

 

David Byrne stands apart from the crowd

 

Sean Reiter and Elliott Peck

One of my favorite fellow photogs and one of my favorite singers

 

Chuck Prophet

 

Lebo, ALO

 

Modest Mouse

 

Judas Priest

On Facebook groups where live music photographers share shots with each other, I’ve seen maybe a dozen other galleries from this year’s Judas Priest tour in the US. Every one of us, in all different cities, got pretty much this exact shot during the exact same moment of “Breaking the Law.” 

 

The Flaming Lips

 

Billy Strings fans at the Grateful Dead 60th Anniversary Celebration

 

El DeBarge and a lucky fan

 

Melody Walker, Bertha

 

Joan Baez

 

Phish Phans

 

Scott Law

 

Samantha Fish and Eric McFadden

I only got three songs in the pit, but the Fillmore usually lets us shoot from the house for the rest of the night. When Eric came on toward the end of the show, I knew there would be some bad-ass moments. Fish and McFadden delivered!

 

Fiddlers, Sam Grisman Project

 

Holly Bowling reflecting on her keys

 

Alice Cooper

An incredibly photogenic dude, even after al these years. Quite the performer, and he loves the camera too.

 

Elliott Peck

 

David Byrne

 

Taj Mahal and Narada Michael Walden

 

Dead & Company, Grateful Dead 60th Anniversary Celebration

I didn’t get a photo pass with my press credentials, but I brought a small point-and-shoot to capture crowd shots. The fans are way more interesting to look at than the band anyway.

 

Goose

 

MJ Lenderman

 

Scott Metzger, LaMP

 

Super Greens

 

Mike Gordon, Phish

 

Goose

 

For a dancer, High Sierra Music Festival

I thought I snuck a shot of this dancer without her seeing me, but later she messaged me and asked for a copy.

 

Friends!

 

BSSS* (* Because SHE said so)

 

Jimmie Dale Gilmore

 

Erik Yates, Hot Buttered Rum

I asked Erik for his Johnny Cash impersonation, thinking he would give me “the finger” the way Cash gave it to photographer Jim Marshall for the iconic backstage shot. Maybe Erik didn’t know what finger he was supposed to give me? Maybe I should have asked what Marshal asked Cash? (“John, let’s do a shot for the warden”) Shot came out perfect anyway.

 

Brian Rashap and Grahame Lesh

 

ALO and Camp Deep End impresario Dan Braun

 

Next Generation, out in force at the Mill Valley Music Festival

 

Angeline Saris (with Sgt. Splendor)

 

David Byrne

 

Front row, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass

 

Greg Anton

 

Dead & Company, Grateful Dead 60th Anniversary Celebration

 

Molly Tuttle

 

Rob Halford, Judas Priest

 

Jackie Greene and Tim Flannery

 

Roger McNamee and Lester Chambers, with Moonalice

 

Sierra Hull and her Grandmother

Midway through the show, Hull told the crowd she wrote “Spitfire” for her granny, whose picture she held aloft for all to see. “This girl, my granny, she deserves a song. But it’s about ALL those spitfires out there. They’re mean, but they can love you. They’ve got your back!”

 

Dave Alvin, The Third Mind

 

Vana Liya

 

Stu Allen (channeling Bob Dylan)

 

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Photos by Gabriel Barkin | www.gdbarkin.com | IG: @gabrieldavidbarkin