I do a lot of this- heres what I've observed- you end up discovering that more often than not what you want to do you can't because:(posted 8574 days ago)Flash sucks. Maybe "the exposure is right on" but it just flattens everything out in an unflattering way. Maybe these are interesting people, and artistic people, but they aren't terribly attractive people and they need all the help they can get... You might be able to bounce the flash off the cieling, and get a more natural look, but you really need to work with the lights (and shadows) that are there- a fast lens- at least 2.8- is required for this stuff. (You can get a 135 2.8 for your Nikon pretty cheaply)
Of course, that prohibits you from getting both subjects in focus. But like I said if you want nice pictures you have to make comprimises....
These places are usually lit by track light cans- sometimes you can just walk over and twist them where you want them- wait till a player steps into the light, then shoot- (learn to do it with your fingers crossed) With CN, you just might be ok at 125th/F2.8. you'll be fine if you can pull off 1/60th.
Then theres the people themselves-- you have to wait till they open their eyes. Some players never open their eyes- in that case wait till the songs over, and they're acknowledging the applause (if any) that smile can save a roll. I usually wait a song or two to see if they make some "signature movement", or expression, then I wait for that... if they just stand there with their eyes closed and sing- you've got a problem...
Overall remember- you cant take a picture of the music- there has to be something visually interesting or significant going on to represent the music.....
This guy has the ultimate page on band photography-
http://photo.net/photo/canon/mirarchi/concert/concer_3.htm
You're off to a good start- but it ain't easy-