A Christmas Concert With The Oak Ridge Boys

Last night I was at the Long Center in downtown Lafayette to see the Oak Ridge Boys perform. I talk about it a lot, but I was a kid of the 80’s. I can’t think of many songs that are as iconic from the early 80’s as Elvira. It is kind of silly, but of course that is why I like it. The fun part about what I do now is that I get to photograph artists that I grew up listening to. The chance to photograph the Oak Ridge Boys was something that was too cool to pass up. The fact that it was inside of the Long Center made it even better.

The Concert

This was an interesting show. For the first half the band sang their hits. Of course that portion ended with a sing a long version of Elvira. The show then shifted to Christmas songs. This was an interesting show as the band to me is only really half complete. They lost Joe Bonsall from the band in 2023, and Richard Sterban is currently out for health reasons. You can still see some of the ways that they worked together though. Duane and William have been together for 60 years now, and you can see it in the way that they move around the stage together. It was cool to see a throwback to bands that are so in tune with each other.

William Lee Golden

There are not many more iconic characters from the 80’s music scene than William Lee Golden. He has an iconic look that I swear that he has had forever. In 2018 I saw him sing the anthem before the Purdue bowl game on the TV and I thought that he would be fun to photograph. Of course I never thought that I would. Last night I finally was able to do that. William first joined the Oak Ridge Boys 60 years ago. That is crazy to think about. Watching him on stage you would never guess that he is almost 87 years old. It was cool to get to photograph him up close and personal.

The Long Center For The Performing Arts

I really love this old theater. The more that I visit it, the more I like it. It is just an amazing old theater that has so much history in it. I would love to photograph it someday just to document the beauty of it.