The Photo Pit: Barclays and Beyond

Award-winning international event and concert photographer Dennis Manuel shares some of his incredible portfolio of music events taken in Brooklyn. He has covered scores of events at Barclays Center and Afropunk and currently has a gallery show, The Eye of Afropunk, presented by Hampton Art Lovers in Miami at the Historic Ward Rooming House.  Manuel tells Brooklyn Roads that he’s looking forward to a gallery reception and book release/signing in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood this spring. In this edition of The Photo Pit, all the artists except Mos Def were photographed at Barclays.

Manuel was on hand for Barclays’ Grand Opening  on September. 28, 2012, during which Brooklyn’s own Jay-Z began a record-breaking, eight-sold-out-shows residency. Just over a year later, on December 19, 2013, Manuel photographed Beyoncé , the other half of the famous power couple. “Beyoncé didn’t allow any photographers, so I had to go at it ‘gorilla’ style, as it is known by photographers, and was pleased with the results,” he says.

He snapped a pair of Disney stars on two separate occasions. On April 5, 2014 , he caught Miley Cyrus , who “is always full of fun and antics at her performances,” says Manuel, “spraying down some stage-side fans with a little mouth water. They didn’t seem to mind at all.” On June 1, 2016, he zeroed in on “amazing draw and performer” Selena Gomez , during the Brooklyn leg of her worldwide Revival Tour.

Pink went before Manuel’s lens on March 18, 2013. “Her sets consist of acrobatics, flying aerials, great vocals and so much crowd engagements and interactions,” he notes. It was Sir Elton Hercules John’s turn during “a very special New Year’s Eve celebration” on December 31, 2014.  Alicia Keys’ set on October 2, 2019, part of the TIDAL X Rock the Vote campaign, was especially meaningful because, Manuel tells us, “her single ‘Show Me Love’ was being televised as part of Jimmy Kimmel Live in Brooklyn, across the street at Brooklyn Academy of Music.”

San Francisco Bay Area music prodigy H.E.R.  who, with Erykah Badu, sold out the venue on March 11, 2019 and Grammy-winning Ohio alt-rockers Twenty One Pilots . During the latter’s Jan. 20, 2016, show Manuel caught frontman Tyler Joseph crowd surfing inside a big, red, safe bubble.

Beyond Brooklyn, Manuel photographed “quintessential Brooklyn rapper” and “crowd pleaser” Mos Def , at La Grande Halle de La Villette for the Paris edition of Afropunk on July 16, 2017.