Brian’s Playlist for Saturday, March 14, 2026
FC Dallas vs. San Diego FC
Toyota Stadium | Frisco, Texas

I spoke at a Career Day this past Friday, and as part of my presentation I ask students if there are dangers involved while covering Division I sporting events. The answer is yes.

It’s typical for me to bust out the earbuds and fire up the music when shooting football, basketball, tennis, and soccer—but not baseball. I need to hear the crack of the bat, and listening to music would hamper that. With the sports I mentioned, and many others, I can easily follow the ball or individual.

With that in mind, I am going to do my best to recall my playlist as I cover sports this spring. I have some great events coming up in the next several weeks: rounds one and two of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament, the Sweet 16 and Elite 8, the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championship, tennis, golf, and of course FC Dallas in the Western Conference of Major League Soccer.

From my reading list for February, it’s evident that I am in a Bon Scott–era AC/DC mode right now. It’s not surprising that two of my top AC/DC songs come from High Voltage, the band’s North American debut: “Live Wire” and “It’s a Long Way to the Top.”

There’s just something about the straightforward eighth notes from Mark Evans’s bass at the beginning of “Live Wire.” Then Malcolm Young kicks in with his rhythm guitar for several measures, and then it’s on. Angus Young jumps into the fray, and there’s no turning back.

As for “It’s a Long Way to the Top,” it’s the bagpipes. Only Bon Scott could pull off including bagpipes in a hard rock song—and it works oh so well.

For my drive to Toyota Stadium to cover the FC Dallas vs. San Diego FC match, I slipped High Voltage into the CD player. By the time I made my way to the stadium and parked, the CD had cycled twice, putting me in a chilled mood and ready to cover some FC Dallas on a breezy spring night in Texas.

Lately, I have been settling into the press box area, where I prepare my laptop for processing and editing my images later in the night. The image folders and code replacements for captioning were created earlier in the day. I had plenty of time to relax, converse with fellow photographers, and have dinner before heading down to the field for warm-ups.

During this time in the press box, I dialed up the AC/DC concert film soundtrack Let There Be Rock. This is AC/DC at their best, with Bon Scott leading the charge. The show was documented on December 9, 1979, in Paris. The band was on tour supporting their Highway to Hell release, the album that was finally breaking the band in the United States.

Seventy-two days later, Bon Scott would pass away in London on February 19, 1980. Three hundred sixty-four days later, John Lennon would be shot in New York on December 8, 1980.

For me, the Let There Be Rock live soundtrack is the ultimate capture of Bon Scott–era AC/DC. Besides “Live Wire,” there’s “Sin City,” “Walk All Over You,” “Highway to Hell,” “Girls Got Rhythm,” “High Voltage,” “Whole Lotta Rosie,” and “T.N.T.” These are just a few of the killer AC/DC songs fronted by Bon Scott.

I was able to make it through both discs of Let There Be Rock on my iTunes and partially through the first disc a second time before I decided it was time to photograph warm-ups.

Once I was situated in the northeast corner where I normally photograph, I opened the Bandcamp app since I don’t have Apple Music on my phone.

The first album was Heretics and Lullabies by the Cleveland-based gothic doom metal band Frayle on Napalm Records. I have several of their releases on my app, but I opted for this one. Maybe six or seven songs in, I went back to the app and pulled up Destruction’s Birth of Malice, followed by UFO’s Walk on Water.

It should be noted that when I am photographing any sporting event, I am always rating my photos during stoppages in play or when the action is at the opposite end of the field.

By this time, the game was over, and I went back to the press box, opened the laptop, and started the editing process. No matter what type of sporting event I shoot, I always want to decompress afterward. My go-to choice on iTunes is Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here followed by Dark Side of the Moon.

When all was said and done, I edited seventy rated images out of 2,700. Now it was time to caption each photo. Many keeper images are part of a series, so the caption can simply be copied and pasted in the Photo Mechanic software.

For the drive back home, I was looking at roughly an hour commute after leaving the stadium around 11:30 p.m. I went back to High Voltage at a low volume that provided a low-key and relaxing vibe.