This Is Not A Photo Opportunity

The Cribs @ The Zoo 16-02-10

Any chance to be in the same room as one of my musical heroes since forever is not something to be passed up on and why I find myself at The Cribs‘ gig at The Zoo tonight.

I photographed Johnny Marr when he played at Falls Festival with Modest Mouse back at the very end of 2006 and found it to be a frustrating experience; he tends to play head down, looking at his fingers, but every time I ‘gave up’ and looked to use my three song allocation to photograph some one else in the band he would pull out some rock move and hold and play his guitar vertically.  And of course by the time I’d moved the camera back around to focus on him it was too late.  Plus it was just about the only time I’ve ever felt in complete awe of someone I’ve photographed and I couldn’t help but stand there in the photo pit and just watch him play, something that didn’t help the photographic experience either.

Photographing him tonight is again a frustrating experience but at least I’m not hindered by the 3-song rule, although I still don’t really get the shot I want of him.  I do, however, have to photograph from the second row, with the people up against the stage having claimed their prize spots within seconds of The Legend! finishing his support slot, and get to witness the modern phenomena of people in the front row watching a gig that’s happening mere centrimetres from their noses through the LCD screen of iPhones held above their heads (and naturally in my frame).

There’s a completely different atmosphere at The Zoo tonight, with a strong/possibly drunk English contingent, who are REALLY into the band, something that you tend not to see that much at The Zoo for Australian bands that usually play there; like Biffy Clyro they’re one of those bands that are a lot bigger in the UK and play much bigger venues than The Zoo.  One of the night’s non-musical highlights is when a girl not only jumps onstage but also stage dives off it.  Talking to her afterwards she’s disappointed that I didn’t get a photo of her doing it so I had to tell her that everyone was a bit amazed that she did it, especially as the place was only about half full and not exactly packed down at the front.

Although I don’t really know many of The Cribs’ songs I liked a lot of what I heard and saw tonight; I’d hate to tar it with the ‘Brit Pop’ brush but it is very English sounding, with a touch of glam and a smattering of punk.  And Johnny Marr’s playing always manages to sound Smiths-like and is always thrilling to see up close.  However, somewhat depressingly, there’s only about 250 people at The Zoo tonight when every indie guitarist in the city should be in attendance to pay homage and enjoy watching and listening to him play.  Hopefully it won’t be too long before he’s back in Brisbane again in some shape or form.

More photos on Flickr.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 10th, 2010 at 12:08 am. It is filed under Music Photography and tagged with Brisbane, Johnny Marr, Justin Edwards, Rave Magazine, Sony a700, The Cribs, The Zoo. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.