Night Club Photography

[KCW]

I have been asked by a friend of mine to take pictures of her and her band playing at a local night club. I am currently most adapt to taking pictures of everything except for that. I was hoping someone might be able to tell me the best modes and settings they would recommend for taking pictures of a band playing in a night club. My equipment is:

Nikon d80
af-s nikkor 18-200mm 1:3.5-5.6 G ED
SB-900 AF Speedlight

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[teaking]

If you can use the flash then the best setting will be manual, and if possible if you are allowed to get there early you could set the flash up off camera to light the stage and get your exposure and flash settings correct. Otherwise its the typical low light conditions with high ISO fast shutter speed low aperture with your fastest lens you could use shutter priority mode and play about with your ISO till you find a balance that gets you the shutter speed you require.

Ahhh if you want to try to be creative you could use slower shutter speeds to capture motion in combination with your flash which would then freeze the action. Just some ideas