The evening before Laneway finds me at the Old Museum for the Flood Bank benefit night, as the name suggests a fundraiser for people affected by the 2011 floods in Queensland, with 100% of the proceeds going to the Premier’s Flood Appeal. As well as the gig, the organisers asked a number of Brisbane music photographers if they would be interested in donating some prints to be sold off on the night, with the money from the sales also going into the charity fund. Having been asked and more than happy to help out I arranged for three prints to be printed and sold on the night. I went to my usual printers, Streets in West End, but having been affected by the floods themselves a few weeks earlier, they had a backlog of work and so the prints weren’t ready for collection until the Wednesday afternoon and I couldn’t pick them up until the Thursday, the day of the concert.
Having picked them up on Thursday lunchtime, the plan was to take them hope, quickly mount them on some mounting board and get to the Old Museum in time for the first band on, Texas Tea, who were starting at 6pm. Of course everything seems so simple and straightforward when you set out. The first print, I tried to mount, a Sixfthick photos of the Corbett brothers in full flight, ended up not going flat onto the backing, meaning there were bubbles under the print, making it useless and only fir for the bin. Having learnt valuable lessons doing the first print, the second and third prints, one of Robert Forster, one of Warren Ellis, went much better although by this point I’d missed not only Texas Tea but also second band The Baby Seal Club and was in danger of missing the third band of the night, Inland Sea. Missing Inland Sea then became a definite when I managed to miss the bus by about 30 seconds and had to wait another 15 minutes before the next one arrived. (I wasn’t too worried as they were playing at Laneway the following day but then managed to miss their performance there as I was across town picking up my photo pass and didn’t get to Laneway until the end of their set).
In the end I got there in time for Bang Bang Boss Kelly but being slightly frazzled from the stress of mounting prints and being late decided that having a drink was a better option than rushing straight into the photo pit. More drinks and catching up with people followed during Grand Atlantic and so it wasn’t until the six band of the night, The Medics, that I got the camera out and took a few photos. The lighting was awful all night and I didn’t put much time in the photo pit, instead doing a couple of songs and trying to relax and enjoy the night, rather than trying to photographing everything. Following The Medics, I also photographed Blonde On Blonde, Violent Soho and Ball Park Music but with the evening running and with a big day photographing a load of bands to look forward to I didn’t stay for all of Ball Park Music and so didn’t see any of Evil Eddie and so don’t stay for the midnight “OMG Surprise!!”. Except, despite what you might have read in the reviews, there actually wasn’t a midnight “OMG Surprise!!” (LOL at that comment though!). I wasn’t there for it either but the idea (from memory) was for all the bands to join Evil Eddie for the encore of his song ‘Queensland‘ but for one reason or another it didn’t happen. So don’t believe everything you read in the street press.
Thanks to whoever bought the two prints I donated. I think just about all the photos that the Brisbane music photographers donated were sold on the night. A good night with some really good local bands and a load of money raised for the Flood Appeal. A good night all around.
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