A photo essay of live music in Madison across 2023

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Lunar Moth perform on the WORT stage at the Willy Street Fair. There's a pale-brick building in the background. To the right of the image, guitarist/vocalist Amber Fasula is playing guitar and smiling while singing into a microphone. She's wearing a sheer white lace flower print shirt and a frayed denim skirt. Behind her to the left of the image, Mac Felckowski sets up a microphone at his drumset. He's wearing a striped button-up shirt and a cowboy hat. — ***Lunar Moth perform at the 2023 Willy Street Fair.***

The second volume of our live music photo essay series puts local performances back in focus.

Back in September of 2022, Tone Madison ran the inaugural entry of a planned photo essay series focusing on Madison’s live music. That series returns today after several bumps in the road (if I never have to endure a fatal hard drive crash again, I will consider myself blessed). Over the past year, I reinvested in photography and recommitted to photojournalism. I upgraded some equipment, made conscious efforts to broaden specialty, genre, and technique, and continued to carve out a home in live music photography.

I’ve previously covered the merits of live music photography, its utilitarian value, and the importance of capturing the small, unremarkable moments and how those elevate art (with an emphasis on visuality). I’ve also written about navigating the fluctuating, tenuous costs of photography—both literally and figuratively—especially as pertained to live music photography. And yet, for all the relative hassle that comes with the territory, the potency of the act continues to outweigh any sacrifice. There’s an innate, transcendental beauty to tangible documentation in a world that is defined by our impermanence as its subjects.

While not every show I saw in 2023 will be represented here (see: the above mention of fatal hard drive crashes), there were still more than enough to warrant a new photo essay entry. From public parks to pristine, high-end stages, Madison’s various performance spaces stayed active. A few performers featured in that first photo essay return for this one, though most of the featured acts are newcomers.

Discovery is an exhilarating aspect of experiencing music and a few artists capitalized on the opportunity to impart genuine excitement. Local independent rap label No Disguise‘s Make Music Madison showcase outside of Library Mall on State Street and Bug Moment‘s opening set for a stacked High Noon Saloon show both stood out among the year’s first impressions. Madison trio Lunar Moth’s set at the Willy Street Fair and ambient duo Tropopause’s debut show at Mansion Hill Inn fit that same bil

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In the familiar faces category, Brooklyn-based indie rock quartet Palehound—who play Madison with a surprising amount of frequency—continued to demonstrate high-level performance. Post-punk quartet Interlay left Madison for Chicago as one of the most reliably memorable (and finely-tuned) live acts, as demonstrated by a string of scintillating pre-move sets. Indie rock veteran Graham Hunt and his rotating cast of stellar backing musicians continued to flash their absurdly impressive pedigree as live performers. Pianist Emili Earhart, power-pop quartets Heavy Looks and Proud Parents, indie rock quintet Disq, and ambient/indie-folk artist Def Sonic all were as engaging as ever.

Whether it was a fresh or familiar face, there was a palpable interest from the crowd. I’ve lived in a lot of cities of varying sizes and I’ve seen different levels of what’s “normal” for crowd interest. Sometimes that excitement acts in accordance with scarcity. For the absolute most part, Madison’s crowds have been engaged and receptive, even though the city routinely plays host to multiple shows a night. And that type of engagement is never a guarantee when faced with the possibility of oversaturation, especially in minor markets. Without the crowd reciprocating interest and energy, live music loses an integral part of its capacity for impact.

When the crowd feeds into performers’ energies, it can result in a transcendental blur of catharsis. In this dynamic, there are lasting memories. Some of the absolute wildest show moments I’ve experienced in this regard are the ones that have stuck with me the most. There’s an unspoken communion of belief exchanged by artist and crowd that can uplift each participant. Too often, it’s most evidenced by touring bands with huge followings. And that’s understandable, those bands are clearly doing something that resonates en masse. But when it’s hyper-personalized and found on the local level? There are few things in music that are more powerful, more moving, or more memorable.

A local bent will always be integral to Tone Madison, which is why most of the acts featured in this photo essay and all forthcoming essays will be Madison-based. A few will be featured twice. We’ll still make room for some national headliners, because they play an unavoidable factor in marking Madison out as a music destination. But the heart and soul of Madison music was, is, and will always be the musicians who live here. And their contributions deserve to be documented.