Let’s rewind slightly – I’d got as far as publishing the photos on Flickr, but not blogging them here.

This was one of those nights when things didn’t go quite as they were supposed to regarding access, but it was fun nonetheless, and the atmosphere in the venue was nothing short of ace!

Unless you’ve been in hibernation since this blog started, you’ve probably figured out by now that I’m a bit of a Wildhearts fan.

Ginger’s birthday gig was a competitor for ‘gig of the year’ as soon as it was announced, so it was a lovely surprise when Ginger asked me to be the official photographer. I had an absolute blast, and was kept on my toes for the duration of the gig, keeping up with all the lineup changes on stage. All of the special guests were ace, and the atmosphere was fantastic. Hats off to everyone involved in putting it together!
The official record runs to over 800 images, which will be published by the end of January.

I’ve edited this post because the problem has now been resolved – one friendly reply and a small settings adjustment later, I’m searchable on

There are only a few photos up at present, but now that they are visible I have a busy time ahead of me getting things uploaded!

I’ve just had my first quiet day in a couple of weeks – the day job is really busy at the moment and I’ve been running around like a headless chicken, but also fitting in seeing The Wildhearts, Black Spiders and No Americana in Brighton, Nottingham, Norwich, Leeds and London (can you get enough of a good thing? I think not!). Some of the photos are up on the galleries page.

EDIT – GIG RUNDOWN ADDED
Brighton was the only one I attended without a camera – I knew that the first part of the set would involve the band playing new album Chutzpah! all the way through, and having caved in and decided to go to this gig pretty much on the day, I wanted to give it my full attention. The setlist had been put out to public vote, and from the hundreds of comments left on the band’s website, the overwhelming majority were in favour of hearing the album played from start to finish. I found myself getting nervous – would the online majority speak for all of those punters who hadn’t been online to cast their vote? Would the bold decision pay off?
In a word, the answer was yes. Good gig. No, *great* gig. Seeing the looks on the band’s faces as they watched the reaction to the new stuff was immense (I was actually very glad I was camera-free for this one though – the lighting was abysmal).

Next stop – Nottingham! I always have high hopes for Rock City gigs. I spent years practically living at the place and have seen loads of amazing bands there over the years, so was very excited about seeing The Wildhearts there, as it was the first time I’d caught them in the main venue since their Alice in Chains support 16 years previously. I caught a bit of No Americana this time, and all of Black Spiders, who I thought were great. The photo gods even smiled on me for one moment and I managed to get everyone in shot at the same time:

It was evident even before The Wildhearts hit the stage that this was going to be a hell of a gig. The crowd was really up for it, and it was obvious that a substantial chunk of the audience already had the album. Only one other photographer in the pit, so plenty of room to manouevre (she turned out to be from Kerrang! and shot the entire double set with flash); I headed upstairs after the first three to watch from the staircase, and it was immense stuff. Couldn’t resist going back down to the front for the second set (the ‘hits’ set). I was perched on a step and holding onto a railing for support, singing myself hoarse. Better than Brighton, and I did think they’d be hard pushed to top it.

Next stop: Norwich. Well, it was kind of on the way home from Nottingham! Due to a timing miscalculation caused by sitting around talking to friends for most of the afternoon, we didn’t actually get to the venue until just before stage time, completely missing both support bands in the process. D’oh.
My shins got covered in bruises here – although the venue has a barrier, there is no pit as such, and the stage is only about a foot – 18 inches off the floor, so I was crawling around on my knees so as to not block peoples’ view. I think it’s important to try to be unobtrusive, to document the show rather than try to be in the show. Great performance from the band again, marred only by a couple of heckling morons. It didn’t have the vibe of the Nottingham gig but was still a really good show.

And that was it until London, or so I thought. I really wasn’t planning to go to Leeds, but the gig was on a Saturday, I found a cheap bus ticket and was offered a bed for the night (thanks Vicky & James!), so it seemed silly not to. When I was a student I would think nothing of jumping on a coach for several hours for the sake of a gig – I’d love to do that more regularly but it’s one of those things that having a 9-5 complicates, so I particularly love weekend gigs! Leeds was sold out and boisterous. Possibly the gig of the tour, fantastic atmosphere. I was squished at the front all night couldn’t really see that much of move around to get a variety of shots, but loved every second of it.

London. Ahhhh London. I hadn’t shot at Shepherd’s Bush Empire before, and I have to say it was an absolute pleasure – all of the staff working that night were great. I actually arrived really early to meet up with friends who were attending the meet and greet that they’d paid for along with their tickets. I adjourned to the pub to wait for them to emerge, then went to meet Jase who had driven up, and we ended up having Mexican food (Proper! not Tex-Mex!) in Westfield. I could go on about tamarind margaritas for a while, but I’ll leave that for another time

Back to the venue and J and I were split up, as the photographers’ entrance is the stage door. Because I shoot at a lot of small venues I’m not that used to the formalities used in some larger places – we were escorted to the auditorium, and after shooting the headline band escorted back to the stage door, where our bags were swapped for cloakroom tickets before we were allowed in to watch the rest of the set. This meant that after camera duties were over, I was unencumbered by my usual heavy bag and could spend the rest of the gig just dancing around and enjoying myself.

It’s a long time since I’ve managed to see more than a few gigs on the same tour – going to five really was fantastic and I’d like to extend my thanks to anyone who helped me out with anything along the way, especially Vicky and James, and Dunc for rescuing me in Leeds! Roll on December…

The Wildhearts – unofficial 2009 tour promo made from some of my web-res pictures from previous gigs. The tour kicked off in Brighton on the 17th. More photos and reviews later.

I’ve been having a quieter time of it photography-wise, partly because this time of year is when my day job starts getting really busy. A long weekend helped to recharge my batteries a bit, and I ignored traditional Bank Holiday pursuits by meeting up with friends for a bit of zombie action in Leicester Square. Last time there was a zombie gathering here, there were over 600 roaming the area. This year the turnout was rather more modest, but we did see Myleene Klass doing a quick TV spot where she was set upon by the partially-clothed undead
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In the evening J and I decided to go to the Underworld to see Love/Hate and Ricky Warwick. It was all a bit last minute, and unfortunately we missed opening band New Generation Superstars.
I do harp on about the lighting at the Underworld, but I have to confess that I actually quite enjoy trying to get something out of it. One corner of the stage is mostly dark, the main light is red, there’s a bright white strobe behind the drumkit, and if you’re really lucky you get the occasional flash of blue, yellow and green. Generally though, I would describe the lighting as ‘murky’.
Ricky’s set was short but very entertaining – as a solo performer with an acoustic guitar, you *need* strong material, which he has by the bucketload.

In a small venue I tend to stake a spot at the front and stay put – I’m short and not very pushy, and I like to make sure I’m somewhere with a decent shot at getting photos, and even if I sacrifice the ability to move about, it’s better than having to shoot through a sea of heads and shoulders. There is a small side of stage balcony at the Underworld which is used by guests and media, but really it’s no better than being in the thick of things (if you don’t mind a squash!). This makes the dynamic very different from being in a photo pit, where I generally move around a lot.

It’s a long time since I’ve seen Love/Hate – 16 and a half years to be precise! Lyrics (not to mention distant memories of nights at Rock City) come flooding back to me as they blister through the whole of their first album ‘Blackout in the Red Room’.

The crowd leaps around like a pack of boisterous puppies, but I manage to stay upright and not get exceptionally squashed (a few bruises are unavoidable).

It’s a good night – an earlier finish than I would have expected, I got the feeling the bands were being economical with the between-song banter in order to maximise the amount of time spent talking to fans afterwards, which justding by the number of people hanging around the merch table afterwards, was a good move.