Gig photography, mate, is one of the trickier genres to shoot out there.
Low light, moving subjects, crowds to contend with, as well as camera limitations (I don't care how good your gear is, it'll still come down to the operator in a situation like this.)
For my shooting, I tend to stick with my Sigma Hyperzoom (because I got nothing else, dammit) and my A f1.7 50mm, set at around 3.2 most of the time. ISO's 800, generally keep my shutter around 1/20th.
With the 50mm @ f2 (roughly), no flash:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/stephen_macquarie/IMGP7413-bella1.jpg
With the 18-200 @ 18mm, f3.5, very low bounce flash:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/stephen_macquarie/IMGP7387-guitar1.jpg
With Image Stabilisation it's not a problem shooting at 1/20. There's practically no chroma noise at 800 on the K100D, and you can still push a few fractions of a stop in Photoshop, with only a little noise coming out in the colours.
Black and white's an easy way to get rid of obvious noise, but keep in mind that it's the photographic equivalent of a power chord - fast, easy, is pleasant on the senses but not as good as something more difficult (ie, colour) done well.
The bands I shoot are similar to the ones you've got their - metal, with a disturbing bend towards the progressive side of things.
Believe it or not, a longer lens does come in handy, even if you lose a few stops of aperture at the longer end of things - by zooming to get something (like a face) that's well lit to fill the frame, you're gaining light, as in this shot:
135mm, f4.5:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/stephen_macquarie/IMGP6841-vega.jpg
Oh, and shoot raw. It's a lot easier to push a RAW file than a JPEG, with better results.
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