Shooting a concert tonight

I've had my Nikon d3100 for a little over a month now. I had a d40 years ago and was getting really good at manually shooting when it was stolen. Getting back into the groove of things has been hard and I keep finding myself displease with the images I've taken. Tonight i'm shooting a show inside a bar, probably dimly lit. I hate setting my camera on auto and letting it decide. Does anyone have any tips? What mode should I be using? Shutter speed/f-stop/iso would be best? All help appreciated.

Since your going to be in a low light situation, your going to want use a slow shutter speed and a high iso. First, set your camera to 800 ISO and your shutter speed to 1/2. A lower aperture (f stop) would be beneficial to you but i do not know if you would want a shallow depth of field. Try using around f 5.6. Change your shutter speed and f stop (lower # = more light) to get the right exposure.

Manual mode works the same on any DSLR. If you understood how to shoot in manual mode with your D40, just do the same with your current camera.

I would definitely follow the instructions mentioned above, Manual results with the correct programming prove much better results than the standard Auto modes. Definitely use a slow shutter speed, and use a higher ISO setting. Not sure if you have an external flash but this might not be the best option (for obnoxious flash in a small area purposes) But if you shoot based on these guidelines you should be good to go. Hope this helps!