This was at a bluegrass festival. Lighting was natrual and terrible in balance. Sun lit the stage base and faces were is shadow.  Metering for bright areas leaves dark faces while metering for faces leaves blowouts.

The only shots that seemed to work were zoomed in on individuals and lighting was more consistent.  I found no way to get an entire band lit properly for a pic.  

My only afterfhought was an "upside down" gradient density filter..still I wonder what could be done in exposure if anything to help.   Got any suggestions?

Images are from camera with slight sharpening only(I use no in-camera sharpening).  Help!

Thanks for any thoughts.   TomDart.