This was my first time seeing Nahko & Medicine for the People live. I’d been a fan for a few years after being introduced to Nahko & Co. by my good friend Mahalo Yo Joe out in Portland. Medicine used to park their Van outside Joe’s house and use the facilities for extended periods of time in their more vagabond days. Joe sent me some rough demos during that time and after I heard Vultures of Culture I knew this was something really special. Then I saw the Black as Night video that Grototote shot and I was hooked.
I had been trying to catch Nahko live for quite some time but due to numerous scheduling conflicts I kept missing him at home in Minnesota. That happened one too many times so when I heard he was passing through our lovely southern neighbor in Iowa on October 8th, 2014, I decide it was time to make the trek down. I gifted the Dark as Night album to an old friend of mine months early, after I did a commercial shoot for his company, and it turns out he absolutely fell in love with it. We drove down together on last minutes notice. Nahko and the band, and the crowd at Gabe’s in Iowa City created some seriously awesome energy together this evening. It was so jam packed in that small place and the singalongs that occurred were legendary. Such an intimate and raw exchange of great energy. I met Nahko after the show and it was like meeting a long lost brother. He said to me, “where do I know you from, I know we’ve met before, and I said, “I was thinking the same exact thing.” 😉
Bonus…I also met a pair of really cool ladies who were seeing Nahko for the first time that evening too, in Jen Stillions & Kaylyn Hoskins. Jen, who also filled in last minute up front running the fog machine, is an old soul with a huge heart and has a rad Etsy shop you should probably check out. Kaylyn, another super cool photographer, and Jen’s BFF, was also shooting this evening and you can see her shots here.
I’ve since had the pleasure of shooting Nahko in…
Hawaii
California
Minnesota
Those shows will be uploaded ASAP.
Cheers!
Jackson
=D