“The Band Was Here” by Steve Birnbaum

photography by Marlene Leppänen

When it comes to cultural consumption and digest, it’s shameful to admit getting late to know something great. It happens with music bands and singers, it happens with shows, books, movies, you name it! So first of all, thanks Edward Leon from for sharing @TheBandWashere Instagram account with me.

Right after noticing how many images Steve Birnbaum had made through the years, I knew this was going to be a wild ride. So much dedication eventually pays off, and what a blast I had that evening while scrolling through his feed. He is the man behind @TheBandWashere, a visual project where he revisits iconic locations and takes new pictures. He approaches this theme in a consistent and fun way of doing photographs by aligning classic snaps in front of the locations where they were originally taken. Many other photographers have done this in the past, so he grabbed onto this visual method and twisted it. His work centres around music, and the goal is to celebrate iconic musicians; dead or alive. His photographs are right and true documents for illustrating changes over the years since the original shot was taken.

Usually, those images from the earlier past were part of the marketing efforts for promoting these figures; something common within this industry. Some others escaped this dynamic and brought along stories about the quotidian life of some of the most…