Hard, Sweet and Sticky with The Bellrays

Lisa Kekaula

One night, two choices: The Bellrays at The Zoo or Ozzy Osbourne at the BEC.

I put in for both but with The Bellrays as my preferred choice.

Reasons why?

I photographed The Bellrays last year but could only stay for a couple songs and, as they won a Best International Live Act ‘award’ from Drum Media last year, I was keen to see a full show. I also saw/photographed Heaven & Hell (the Dio-fronted Black Sabbath line-up) last year and included in my blog for the night about how having seen them, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to see the Ozzy-fronted Black Sabbath line-up. Additionally, I thought that most of the other photographers at Rave would be very keen and didn’t think that my chances of actually getting assigned to cover it would be that high.

So, it was a bit of a surprise to find that when the weekly list of who’s-covering-what came out that no one had put into photograph Ozzy. That’s no one from about a dozen photographers…

And then I started to feel pangs of regret for not requesting to cover his show; the chances of getting a second opportunity are probably pretty slim, and the chances of seeing The Bellrays again, or at least of having the opportunity to see them, is probably quite high.

The Zoo lighting was typically of a dubious standard, which further made me wish I was at the BEC. And this feeling was further enhanced by both support bands, neither of whom really impressed me much. It’s a shame they didn’t get a local band to support, like they did last year with the Vegas Kings. The Bellrays were good and put in a really energetic performance, although despite all the accolades and last year’s reception the turn out was surprisingly poor. Being Maundy Thursday I guess people were heading away for the Easter weekend, plus it clashed with the first day of Blues & Roots in Byron, which would have undoubtedly taken away a chunk of the audience that you would have expected to be there. Got a few ok photos, although a pet hatred of mine is people with their eyes shut; Lisa Kekaula sang for just about the whole gig with her eyes shut… I bet Ozzy would have opened his eyes ever now and then…

More on flickr.

Lisa Kekaula

Lisa Kekaula

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.