Rockers rock Photopass

Aaron Stern, an event producer who has masterminded parties for the likes of Prada and Hugo Boss, showed off his other skill set at his debut photography show, “Photopass,” which opened last Thursday at Studio 385 in Tribeca. Devon Aoki and Alexandra Richards were among the crowd who came to check out his exhibition, which documents the backstage scene at concerts and festivals like Lollapalooza and Coachella.

Stern, of course, knows it’s all about the party, so he lined up a roster of A-listers for the opening, including The Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond Jr, Lykke Li and Miike Snow. Plans changed when Hammond, who was supposed to DJ, suddenly fell off the radar, fueling rumors that he was headed to rehab. (All Stern will say: “The day before the show, Lykke and I couldn’t track Albert down and after speaking to his manager we found out that he had taken some time to get some personal matters sorted.”) Mark Ronson stepped in take his place.

Lykke Li, dressed in a feathery Alexander Wang fur coat and masses of vintage rings, was there in full force. The Scandinavian bombshell was not clearly pleased at the idle chatter and hob-nobbing going on in the background as she performed. “New York — don’t you have that Fame school here?” she yelled. “Stomp your feet!”

Some of my friends were particularly anticipating seeing Miike Snow play (they had a song on Gossip Girl recently). When we caught up with the band’s singer/songwriter Andrew Wyatt, he told us that he would be playing a Fleetwood Mac cover though in fact he split early and didn’t perform at all.

Before leaving, Wyatt did manage to plug the restaurant he’s opening with restaurateur Billy Gilroy and Patrick McMullan in late October, East Side Social Club. As Wyatt explained, the eatery is modeled after Mafioso-style social clubs in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. (“Where a lot of wise guys would hang out,” he says.) So does he think the model-and-hipster crowd will make it up to 50th street? “It’ll be hard to get them up there,” Wyeth admitted, “But I think people who normally come downtown on the weekends will eat there during the week. It’ll be like a cool place uptown.”

“Photopass” is no longer on exhibit, but Stern’s images can be seen at his blog.

Party photos: Bennett Raglin/WireImage