Never judge a book by it's cover!

Seeing a lineup such as the Kerrang! Tour of 2013 is hard to resist applying for and shooting a bunch of bands that I usually wouldn't listen to. The sort of music Kerrang has slowly evolved into is more into the new age rock of the 21st century which mainly consists (of what I would call) 'screamo' music. I still stand by my guns with that and won't suddenly begin to like it but after witnessing the Kerrang! Tour I can say that the main headliners The Black Vaile Brides were a great bunch of performers and entertainers! To say the least....

First up was Fearless Vampire Killers who I was late to shoot as I was trying to sort out a photo pass that had been misplaced... however I managed to quickly snap a few photos in the last 10 seconds of the 3rd song haha. I was then quickly ushered out of the pit and into the sweaty crowd of teenagers. The following band Tonight Alive were a band from 'down under' and I must say I really enjoyed shooting these guys, they were great with the crowd and the toggers; pointing and gesturing to the crowd all sorts of actions to engage them with their music.

Chiodos was the penultimate band to perform and this is sort of band that would usually make me cringe as all I hear really is a deeper voiced Jaba the Hut but with a really bad cough... not my sort of thing but again I can't judge a book by it's cover as they were actually really good. They entertained the crowd and had such a high level of energy on stage.

 

The main act of the night, Black Veil Brides, hit of their set with a bit of a bumpy start as lead singer Andy Biersack injured himself on entering the stage causing the first song to be put on hold while paramedics tended to the frontman. Not what they had in mind! The guys were great fun to shoot, giving the toggers in the pit everything they wanted, the poses, the outrageous moves and the exaggerated playing styles. Grabbing as many action shots as I could the time in the pit went quicker than any other gig I have shot and would love to have the chance to shoot them again. Again not really my sort of music but they were great!

 

 

Hopefully more gigs will be coming my way this year including Journey, Whitesnake, Lawson, McFly and maybe a Kasabian charity gig at Doncaster sports hall!

  

W.A.S.P at Leeds O2 Academy

So on the Friday evening of the 28th of September I caught a train down to Leeds in West Yorkshire to see the almighty W.A.S.P on their "30 Years of Thunder" tour that they had been doing the rest of the year and it had finally come to Europe... I just had to be at it!

As the time drew closer to the gig I must admit I got more and more excited... having listened to this band for about 8 years now and never had a chance to see them I was so anxious to start shooting. I had never been to the O2 academy in Leeds either so had no idea really what the shooting conditions would be like or what sort of lighting was usually used there (I was hoping it wasn’t the dreaded ‘red light’ or else I would be in trouble, unfortunately I'm not rich enough to get a fixed 2.8 or even 1.8 lens so I had my trusty 3.5 wide angle and zoom lens on hand).

Me and my mate arrived at the academy with plenty of time to spare, I always like to arrive early to get a clear picture of the equipment setup I might need and also to take a look round the venue and have some chats with the other toggers there. At the Leeds show there were only 6 toggers including me so I knew the pit wouldn’t be that cramped and I would have plenty of space to shoot without getting in anyone’s way. Arriving at the guest box office we were told that we were not down for any passes which gave me a slight heart attack but then they found our names and I had my pass for the night which let me shoot the first 3 songs from the pit with no flash... and even better there was NO photo release form to sign which for any photographer out there is a serious benefit!

The band before W.A.S.P I didn’t really pay attention to just waited for the main act to come on so I could get my pictures and then venture out into the crowd to watch the show. When the time came I started with my wide angle lens (14-42mm) as I had already done a shot test with the zoom lens and I found it to be a little too zoomed in... W.A.S.P was a band that I knew would be better off with full body shots rather than close up face shots. The band entered to an uproar of applause and kicked into their first song which then the toggers in the pit started shooting. It was difficult at first because they played a high tempo song and were moving around constantly and not even stopping to pose for the camera. Never the less I got my shots and left the pit to take a look at them... I a few hundred shots and managed to narrow them down to about 25 that really stood out for me... any lens blur just wouldn’t do for me.

I managed to have a chat to another photographer that I knew in name but never had met in person... Tracey Welch, who also blogs as well and is friends with some other people I know so it wasn’t too awkward introducing myself to her. Having shot for the likes of NME she knows what she’s doing in the business of photography!

Overall it was a cracking night and a review will be posted soon on the music website The Sheffield Scenester, you can also check out my site where you can drop me a message or view more of my photos on my Facebook page.

Slash, Download 2012

After being with the hugely successful rock band Guns n’ Roses, song writer and guitarist Slash appeared with his new band at the 2012 Download festival headlining the Zippo encore stage on the Friday night. He and Axl Rose both worked together throughout the 80’s and 90’s in Guns n’ Roses and collectively released hugely successful songs and albums the most well known and received album being the 1987 album titled “Appetite For Destruction” which featured hits such as ‘Night Train’ ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ and ‘Paradise City’ all which have peaked in the top 100 and even got to number 1. After the band split up, and left front man Axl Rose on his own, he formed the ‘new’ Guns n’ Roses and Slash teamed up with various artists to bring out his first self tiled album “Slash” which was released in 2010 and which features artists such as Fergie, Lemmy and Iggy Pop. After this album went down well with critics and the fans slash joined up with Alter Bridge’s lead man Myles Kennedy to record a second album, just released a few months back. Slash and Myles started their musical relationship while recording the song ‘Starlight’ which was featured on the “Slash” album, said Myles at Download festival and they have taken it from there.

After having bands on the Zippo stage all day the crowd were getting restless and wanted to see what they had stood all day for... and in the rain! Bands that also featured on the Zippo stage were The Quire Boys, the reunited Little Angels, Nightwish and, if they had turned up on time Europe, but a delayed flight into Donington meant that their set got cut from the whole festival. The crowd had expectations from Slash and he certainly delivered to them playing all of his greatest hits and even putting in some new material from his latest album, as he should. He opened with ‘One Last Thrill’ and then proceeding onto the Guns n’ Roses song ‘Night Train’ to wish Myles had put his own mark on the vocals and which left Axl’s version in the dust! There was no comparison, Myles was just an overall better man for the job he even comes with the added bonus of actually turning up on time and sober! His voice has an edge to it that makes him perfect to sing the new material he has wrote with slash to singing some early Guns n’ Roses stuff that he didn’t sing on. 

I had never seen Slash live before but listen to him constantly on both my music player and his live stuff that shown on TV and I was really excited about hearing these flaming solos I have only ever heard but never witnessed. I have to hand it to him; he knows how to work that guitar! Every note he played had electric running through it and even while dancing around on stage like a headless chicken, still managed to pull off some amazing stuff on his famous Les Paul axe. All the other band members turned their instruments down when he was soloing which was good as we heard them clearly (which is what we were there for, after the entire act is called Slash). You could say that’s harder for him as with his guitar being the centre of attention he has NO room for error and there wasn’t any. All the solos were just how they sounded on the studio albums if not better as they had that input of some improve on Slashes part. 

After about an hour of pleasing the crowd with some fast hits and wild solos the band on stage slowed the pace down a bit and played the song that brought Myles and Slash together ‘Starlight’ to which lighters were brought out and hands were swung in the air. It was a magical moment to watch and even more to see the Download crowd sing their hearts out and to watch Slash play some soft riffs, a well needed break for the band... and the crowd for that matter!! After that they soared through more hits of both Slash’s and Guns n’ Roses including ‘Mr Brownstone’ and ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ before ending on a killer ‘Paradise City’. I never thought I would get to hear this played by Slash as I didn’t know that he still played this, and from the crowd’s reaction neither did they! The crowd were once again warmed up to go crazy and Myles had them under his control telling them to sing and they did. If you ever get to hear 20,000 people singing at the same time it is a wonderful moment. The final solo that Slash pulled off was crazy, I'm surprised that the band could keep up. He was on FIRE! He ripped through the solo going crazy all over the stage before finally thanking Donington for being there to support him and his band and finally walked off.

Every band that day played amazingly and pleased the crowd, the only downside was not to see Europe play put instead having to hear the fans in the crowd sing ‘The Final Countdown’ which I have to admit was pretty funny. Till next year Donington... 

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Brit Floyd Live Sheffield City Hall 2012

Now usually I’m not one to go and see a tribute band, after all why see a cheap tribute when you can pay decent money and go see the real thing in a big arena packed full of people and that has a great atmosphere. Tributes are made up of musicians that try to act like the band member from the official band and usually do a very poor job trying pulling it off, they can’t sing like the original band can nor can they pull of some of the crazy solos that their guitar heroes can pull off. Tributes are just awful. Enter Brit Floyd, the number one tribute to Pink Floyd. These guys have been all the way round the world and have actually played the big arenas playing everything from ‘Money’ to ‘Comfortably numb’ and in front of thousands.  They have the looks, the personality and the feel that Pink Floyd had back in the 70’s and 80’s and if you shut your eyes you would not be able to tell the two bands apart. Pink Floyd was once one of the biggest bands in the world and still to this day sell millions of records and have the 2^nd best ever selling album titled ‘Dark Side of The Moon’. To become a Pink Floyd tribute you have to get it right 100% and have no room for error.

I had seen adverts for this band all over the internet and through posters in Sheffield and with each one was attached a snippet of a review and a 5 star rating attached to every one of them. Well I can tell you the band was a 5 star tribute; they had brought everything with them that you would expect a true Pink Floyd band to bring including Pink Floyd’s light show and the projections that shine down onto the stage and the backdrop, I was shocked at the supreme quality this band had managed to deliver to us, the audience. They had the effects and stage production of Pink Floyd down to a tee and I was blown away. The only thing they were missing, only because they were playing such a small venue, was the inflatable pig and school teacher otherwise their stage production was fantastic!

The band itself was made up of guitarist/singer Damian Darlington, bassist/singer Ian Cattell, lead guitar Bobby Harrison, drummer Arran Ahmun, keyboard player Rick Benbow, sax player Carl Brunsdon and backing singers Emily Jollands, Rosaleen O'Connell, Jacquie Williams and Ola Bienkowska. The 4 female singers did a great job at singing the backing vocals to all the songs and when singer Ola Bienkowska stepped up on her own to sing the powerful Great Gig in The Sky she blew the audience away. I’ve heard people try to sing this song but I have heard no one with a voice powerful enough to sing it and reach them high notes without being out of tune and it sounding like a cat getting run over. She had it and it was raw and energetic and was topped off with a standing ovation from the whole of Sheffield city hall. The rest of the band too were fantastic and bassist and singer Ian Cattell, who I presume was meant to be the Roger Waters of the group, did a terrific job at playing his part. What stood out mostly for me was when Ian sang ‘Comfortably numb’ dressed in a doctors outfit and dealing with a patient sat in a chair on stage, it was the song I thought really brought out the band’s stage production. Damian took over Gilmour’s part at the vocals and the two together were like the last two pieces of a jigsaw, they fit perfectly! At the point where it was time for Gilmour’s solo in the song Damian was ready and pulled it off note for note, it could have been the real thing up there playing this but no it was someone who had literally just mastered it and didn’t go wrong once. This was accompanied by the whole hall lighting up and a disco ball hanging from the ceiling that added to the already therapeutic atmosphere that was inside the hall, I couldn’t have been more relaxed if I wanted to be.

The set-list that these guys played was based on the new Pink Floyd hits album named “A Foot in The Door” which was released back in November 2011 and features mostly the hits from “Dark Side of The Moon”, “The Wall” and “Wish You Were Here” albums. The album also contains hits from other Pink Floyd albums such as ‘High Hopes’ from “The Division Bell” and ‘Learning to Fly’ from “A Momentary Lapse of Reason”. The set-list included the obvious hits such as ‘money’, ‘Another Brick in The wall’, ‘Pigs’ and ‘Run Like Hell’ which was the band’s closing song and was the song that got people on their feet clapping and cheering on the band. This 45 date UK tour also concentrated on another one of Pink Floyd’s hits albums named “Echoes” which was released November 2001 and features a wider variety of Pink Floyd hits unlike the “A Foot in The Door” album which is a more condensed compilation album. They got the set-list just right, taking a mix of songs from both these albums. They enjoyed playing it and most importantly the crowd loved watching it! 

Overall this band were jaw dropping to say the least, they were very authentic and came with the whole package. The show and the stage production were outstanding and the lighting was unbelievably great!! If you are going to become a tribute band to really pay respects to a world class band especially one as successful as Pink Floyd, then you need to do it right and I can say with all honesty... Brit Floyd you did just that! What an unforgettable night and a breathtaking experience 11/10 for all you guys!

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Press pass for Brit floyd

Just a quick update to say I have got a press pass for the Brit floyd show at the Sheffield city hall. I have also been given a pair of tickets to show (how nice of the promotors). I will upload a full review and pictures after the event which is next thursday on the 24th. Till then...

Def Leppard/Motley Crue UK tour 2011

Now queuing outside Sheffield arena for 2 hours in the middle of winter when it has rained and the temperature is almost below freezing, isn’t something I would normally do for a show but this was an exception. Today marks a great day in rock history for Sheffield and for the rest of the United Kingdom as 2 of the greatest rock legends were going to be performing not only on the same stage but on the same night! Sheffield welcomes to their arena Steel Panther, Motley Crue and Sheffield born n’ bred lads Def Leppard for one night of pure rock that will no doubt go down in history. There was a massive queue when I first arrived and there was me thinking that I was the only one out of their minds to do this but no, there was a long line of egger fans waiting to welcome their rock heroes home. Queuing that early paid off as me and my friends were first in and first to the front at the barriers... a great spot for a great show.

Steel panther I had heard of before but I had never actually listened to them as seeing them in posters they looked like a cheesy throwback from the 80’s but they were getting quite a good reception from the crowd while they were waiting. I overheard a couple of people talk about the bassist and how he travels all the way to America to get highlights and extensions... I knew from then on that they were most likely going to be a cheesy throwback from the 80’s.  Steel panther is a 4 piece glam metal band from California; Michael Starr (Ralph Saenz) on lead vocals, Satchel (Russ Parrish) on rhythm and lead guitar, Lexxi Foxxx (Travis Haley) on bass guitar and Stix Zadinia (Darren Leader) on drums. Their music has thought to be quite controversial as most of their songs include not very subtle innuendoes and when on stage consist of them making rude gestures to the crowd and each other. The band entered how any other support band would by just walking onto the stage and receiving, what I thought, to be a very warm and excited welcome by the Sheffield crowd. They kicked into their first song “Supersonic Sex Machine” and I could then see why people must love them... they were hilarious! They ran around shouting out these lyrics that didn’t really make much sense and made the bounces stood in front of me cringe and give the band looks that said “dude theres kids here tonight!” but they didn’t care, they were here to entertain and that they did. Steel Panther were on for about 40 minuets and put every bit of energy into all the songs they played as if they were the headlining act. One song that had even me cringing was “Asian Hooker” which had lyrics in it which said about certain “things” smelling like Su-Shi at that point I was hoping that this might be their last song, but no, their last was yet to come. From their album “Feel the Steel” came the song Death to All But Metal which had lyrics involving many great rock legends including Def Leppard themselves. The lads put on a great show and the crowd were now ready to face whatever Motley Crue brought to them.

I have loved Motley Crue for a long, long time and fell in love with them after hearing the song “Wild Side” which was on their “Girls, Girls, Girls” album which also features the No. Song “Girls, Girls, Girls”. The arena was now packed and had a great buzz about it that to any band must be a great thing to be able to pull off. All is you could see in front of you was a big white curtain that blocked the whole of the stage... whatever was behind it was obviously something that needed hiding. I was very curious on how they would enter and a man stood behind said “You watch, you watch. They come straight on without warn-“ BANG and on they came. The houselights or the music playing didn’t have a chance to turn off and the band were racing in “Wild Side” with front man Vince Neil stood right in front of me screaming out the lyrics! The band’s set was also very impressive as it consisted of a Wild West themed stage and had a massive rollercoaster loop in the centre with the drum kit attached to it. Motley Crue had been though a few line-up changes over the years but now the original “Crue” were back together again which featured Vince Neil on vocals, Mick Mars on lead and rhythm guitar, Tommy Lee on drums and Nikki Sixx on bass guitar. From where I was stood I could see the entire band quite clearly and I really wanted Mick to come down near me so I could get a good look at the guitar player that has inspired me though-out everything that I play. He finally did come down the runway and I had one thing going through my head... what a creepy guy. He had a hat on that covered most of his face and I could only just make out the eyes that were glaring down at me. For Motley Crue this was really a “greatest hits” tour if you could sum it up and they played all the hits including “shout at the devil”, “Dr Feelgood” and “Girls, Girls, Girls” they also including a few of the new songs in the set-list taken from their new album “Saints Of Los Angeles” which all went down a great success live! For most of the Motley Crue audience the one song that hit everyone and brought everyone together was “Home Sweet Home” which brought on stage a piano and saw drummer Lee take a break from the drums and play the song. It was a touching moment to see especially for those, like myself, who had never seen Motley Crue ever. When Lee got back on the drums I knew what the big rollercoaster track was for, for Tommy sat down on his kit only for it to take him for a ride, for the drum set actually went on a rollercoaster ride in a huge loop while he played his solo. It wasn’t over there though for he picked a member of the audience to come and join him! For their finishing song the band played kick-start my heart and for the first time in the night a mosh pit was born... the high tempo song got everyone moving and kick-started everyone’s heart, it hit everyone like a bull in a china shop!! This band are a must see as they give you all the thrills, music and lyrics that I don’t think no else can!

Def Leppard have become one of the most iconic and influential rock bands on the planet selling over 155 million albums and having multiple albums in the top 10, they did one thing that every band dreams of doing... breaking through to America and really living the American dream. Born in Sheffield, Lead singer Joe Elliot joined forced with drummer Rick Allan who started writing songs they later recruited guitarists but just couldn’t find the right one until they got guitarist Phil Collen who is still with them today along with bassist Rick Savage or “Sav”. The band made their breakthrough with the album “Hysteria” which sold over 20 million copies worldwide and their rise to fame just continued to grow. The band played a sell-out show at Sheffield’s Don Valley stadium in 1993 to which a crowd of 50,000 witnessed them play.

The houselights dimmed and a voice rang out through the arena “good evening Sheffield!” those were the first words that came from Joe as he walked down past Ricks drum kit. The band started the night with a song from their new album “Mirror Ball” and played “Undefeated” which I suppose was a statement to say their still going and nothing will stand in their way. I was very disappointed to see that some people in the crowd were starting to shift away and leave and I heard some murmurs of people saying they had seen enough, but the band was just getting started for after that the band kicked into “Action” to which Joe walked down the runway and got everyone on their feet, even those who were unlucky and had a seated ticket. Even the people all the way at the back were on their feet and stuck in with the “Action”. For Def Leppard this show was really a “greatest hits” one as they played all the good blasts from the past and their set-list included “Animal”, “Hysteria”, “Photograph” and “pour some sugar on me”. I must say after the accident that drummer Rick Allan had he still keeps on performing like any other drummer does. To this day I will never know how he does it and no one will and no one does because no one can do it, only Rick can. Throughout the night I sort of had a feeling that the band would maybe have to finish with some slow songs as they played all of the energetic songs at the beginning, but I was wrong for they only stopped half way through their set to play 2 acoustic songs “two steps behind” and “bringin’ on the heartbreak” than back into the action they went playing “Pour Some Sugar On Me” before finally ending the night with one question... “Do you wanna get rocked”? The arena erupted and that famous guitar riff was amplified to the 14,000 present. For this song Joe let the crowd sing the chorus’s and I have never heard a group of people sing back as loud as Sheffield did that night, it was magical.  

After the song Joe had a few more words to say... “Sheffield, please don’t forget us... and we won’t forget you! Goodnight”

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