Technology-wise, things didn’t go quite to plan, with the house we were staying in having no mobile reception for me to use my phone as a modem and upload some photos yesterday morning.  Saturday morning’s blog post was made by parking my car on the top of the nearest big hill and uploading from the front seat, but I didn’t have time to do that again yesterday, with editing going really slowly (despite my 6am alarm) and I didn’t have the time to go in search of an internet cafe either.  Onsite there were more technology glitches, with mobile connection being unreliable so tweeting was in fits and starts when I could get connected, meaning I had to revert to the old ways and use a pen and paper to jot some notes down.

So here, somewhat belatedly, are a few photos from Saturday.  More on Flickr, more on their way

Bloc Party
 

Happy Mondays

Sarah Blasko
 

The Living End

The Specials

Little Birdy
 

Birds Of Tokyo
 

You Am I
 

Bluejuice
 

Dappled Cities
 

Bridezilla

Yves Klein Blue
 

Leader Cheetah

Manchester Orchestra

The closing hours of Thursday bring with them rumours that Jane’s Addiction – of all the bands on the 2009 Splendour bill, the one that I most what to see and the one that I most want to photograph – have cancelled their whole Australian tour. Friday morning brings confirmation of this, with Stephen Perkins hospitalised in LA with an elbow infection. The misery is further compounded almost instantly with news that the organisers have drafted in The Living End to replace them. Of all Australian bands, The Living End.

In theory you would think that it just couldn’t get any worse and yet there’s a nagging feeling that this isn’t rock bottom. There are a number of occurrences that would make the current situation even worse than they already are: Firstly, The Living End will inevitably either include a Jane’s Addiction cover or at the very least segue one or two of their own songs into JA songs for a few bars. And this will more than likely want me to start throwing things at the band. Heavy inanimate objects, small sharp implements, anything close to hand; the choice is endless. Secondly, if JA reschedule their shows it will either be when I’m out of the country or I’ll be put forward to photograph them and they’ll whip out their current rights-grabbing contract five minutes before they’re due on stage and I’ll have to walk away. It just doesn’t feel that this story that has a happy ending.

I’m not sure how the news has been taken by Splendour’s paying punters. Part of me can’t help but think that the majority of Splendour’s main demographic will be delighted at the changes to the line-up, especially as I’ve experienced similar Jane’s Addiction ambivalence before. At the Leeds Festival in 2002 Jane’s Addiction played on the main stage at the same time The Vines were playing one of the smaller tent stages. You could have walked straight up to the barrier without many problems and watched Perry Farrell etc from the very front if you wanted, whereas you couldn’t even get anywhere near getting into the tent to watch The Vines. Oh, how we laughed. And a similar thing happened a year later at an MTV2 gig at Brixton Academy when The Darkness, at the height of their fame, supported Jane’s Addiction. Half the audience left after The Darkness. What is wrong with these people?

The rest of Friday doesn’t really improve; despite being a day off I end up going to work to try and clear the backlog of overdue reports and proposals, which means I don’t leave Brisbane until 3:45pm, hit the Friday afternoon rush hour and take almost 3 hours to get down to New Brighton, just north of Brunswick Heads, where I’m staying for the weekend. And just as I leave the motorway, the heavens open to an extent that I can hardly see where I’m going, even with the windscreen wipers on their highest speed. It’s some sort of navigation miracle that I manage to find the house.

But here now and enjoying good company, good food and a few drinks. And it’s suddenly 12:30am and it all starts in less than 12 hours.

 

Another year, another Splendour. 

It’s been a hard few weeks, what with a combination of work, working weekends to make up for the days I’m having off to go to Splendour, gigs, next day photo deadlines and The Ashes, so instead of feeling well rested and full of energy for a hard weekend’s photographing I already feel exhausted.  And I wish people around me would stop being ill with flu; this sore throat I’ve been developing over the last couple of days is an ominous sign.

I’ve worked out my plan for the weekend, a combination of things I really want to see/photograph (Jane’s Addiction, Gutter Twins, Specials. Flaming Lips) things that I’ll go and check out (i.e. Doves, White Lies, Friendly Fires) and things that as I’m there I might as well photograph to fill in time and for something to do (i.e. Hilltop Hoods, Little Birdy, Bluejuice, Yves Klein Blue.  Actually, to be quite honest, about  half the bands I’ve put in my plan…). 

Saturday

Sunday

If there’s one upside it’s that my plan looks a lot less manic than last year’s Splendour, when I seemed to spend most of the weekend walking between the Big Top and the GW McLennan stage and ended up shooting 31 bands in total.  This year it looks like being 22 bands, although no doubt this will change by the time the weekend is over, with bands starting on time (or not) and ease of movement between stages playing a major role in what gets photographed.

Unlike last year, when I was stressing slightly about a poorly camera that was having exposure meter issues and using my old film camera as back-up, I’ve actually got my old digital camera as back up, so hopefully I won’t be worrying too much about my camera dying on me.

As last year, I will be tweeting from the site, something that was very useful last year as an aide memoire for when it came to writing the more detailed blogs, and I’ll also be trying to upload a few photos from the day before on Sunday and Monday mornings to my Flick account. 

I had planned to clear my backlog of blog posts and photos before this weekend but it wasn’t to be.  Actually it ended up being nowhere near close to happening, so posts about The Middle East, Ladytron, Flipper, Deerhunter, Wolf & Cub, Washington, the Incremental Records Launch, the Plus One Records Showcase, Philadelphia Grand Jury and Timothy Carroll will have to wait a few more weeks.

Whilst the line-up for Global Gathering 2009 doesn’t have the same weight of performers as Parklife back in October, there is just enough on the bill to make requesting to cover it worthwhile, although in fairness if it isn’t for Kraftwerk playing I wouldn’t have been interested.

The days preceding the festival had an ominous feel to them, with black clouds and heavy storms a-plenty, and forecasts of more to come during the day. A heavy storm passes over the city just as I am about to leave, which delays my departure, but worse is to come with me just missing a train and then managing to miss the next train thanks to not noticing a late change in platform. Spending over an hour waiting for a train at Fortitude Valley train station is not the best way to start the day… The other downside to this was that it also means that I manage to miss two of the five bands that I want to photograph – The Potbelleez and The Orb.

Potbelleez were one of the few advertised ‘live’ bands, although the reviews have said that there was only two of them so I guess I don’t miss much. I haven’t seen The Orb since Glastonbury in 1992 and 1993 and am disappointed to have managed to miss them, although them playing mid-afternoon just seems a bit wrong and probably wouldn’t have been anywhere near the experience of their sunset headline shows at those Glastonburys.

Thanks to the storm and the wet weather in the lead up to the festival, there is the expected mud, but with a familiar déjà vu of this year’s V Festival from the accompanying effluent smell. And much like V Festival the punters aren’t being put off from diving and jumping in the mud, thanks to which I’m splattered in the stuff within minutes of wandering around to the main stage…

After the train debacle, the next problem is the timetable that I’d cut out from one of Brisbane’s street press publications (not the best one obviously…) which is completely wrong. The front gate has run out of timetables so have to memorise the times, not too hard considering there are only three bands left that I want to photo. 6pm rolls around and so it’s time for Gorillaz Sound System, a seemingly cynical money making-scheme trading under the Gorillaz name but seemingly having little to do with the actual band or their albums.

But in keeping with the day I haven’t got the right wristband to get into the photo pit, so it’s another trip back through the mud to the front gate to get a different coloured wristband. Only this second one isn’t the right one either… Third time lucky, but it’s now way after the first three songs and, as the tent is surprisingly full, I can’t be bothered pushing down to the front to take photos from the crowd. The running tally at this point is bands photographed = 0, bands missed = 3…

7pm comes around and finally I manage to get into a photo pit and photograph a band – Mark Ronson and The Version Players. He’s obviously got some talent as an arranger and producer and can play a bit of guitar, but even with a substantial and impressive band on stage it’s still just a glorified wedding band playing some covers.

With well over an hour to fill before Kraftwerk I have a walk around and take some social pics to pass the time. I’m always amazed at how much people want you to take their photo and also want to know where and when they’re going to be published. Gen Y are a vain lot… I should probably lay off the slow shutter sync set-up a bit and maybe take some normal portraits… It’s a bit of a hit and miss effect as well, but when it works it works well and the randomness of it does keep me entertained.

The evil money making schemes that modern day music festivals have become manifests itself further at the bar, when I find out you need to pre-purchase vouchers.  Despite just wanting a bottle of water (a rip off at $5) the lowest priced ticket is $10. Still, at least I get through my $10 of drinks vouchers during the evening, unlike the girl on the train back to the city at the end of the night who still had $70 worth of vouchers in her purse…

Much to my surprise Kraftwerk aren’t playing the main outdoor stage but are in a fairly small tent instead. What’s even more surprising is that 15 minutes before they are due to start, during Fischerspooner’s DJ set, you could probably squeeze the crowd there to see them into The Zoo.

However, there is an upside to the lack of crowd. I’m told that I can’t photograph from the photo pit and have to do it from the mixing desk at the back of the tent. Of course the laws of festival organisation mean that the mixing desk know nothing about this so I end up shoot from the crowd, with the fairly sparse numbers meaning that moving around is a painless exercise and it’s easy to get a clear view.

This is the second time I’ve seen Kraftwerk so the impact of seeing their show in the flesh isn’t quite as great as the first time. It probably also doesn’t help that the last time I saw them (back in 1998) they were supported by Mezzanine-era Massive Attack. And it was in Rio…

But it was still a really special show, one that will stay in the memeory, and not having to shoot from the pit, combined with the ease of photographing from the crowd, means that I can keep shooting for the whole of their set, a blessing in disguise as it means getting photos of the robots in the ‘The Robots’ and Kraftwerk back on stage in their UV suits for ‘Music Non-Stop’ during the encore. There is still time for one last disappointment from the day though, with Ralf Hütter doing a ‘Brian Wilson at Splendour’ and checking the time on his watch before he leaves his keyboard terminal and walks off the stage at the end of the set.

Although numbers swelled a bit by the time they started their set, by the encores it is back to a crowd size that could fit into The Zoo. It is disappointing to see such an important and seminal electronic music band play to such a small audience but apparently there’s some guy called Sasha playing some records on another stage somewhere and he’s a lot more down with the kids…

Some more photos on flickr.

Kraftwerk

Mark Ronson & The Version Players

Social Pics!!!

• Thinks it might have stopped raining enough to venture out to Global Gathering. Wish me luck… #
• Not happy. Waited 25 mins for train, they did a very last min platform change thanks to which i’ve got another 30 min wait… #
• Finally on train. Have missed 2 bands wanted to photo. The orb + potbelleez. Sky looking very black… #
• Hmmm. The mud has that v fest effluent smell. And thanks to someone jumping in it i’m splattered with it… #
• Ok. So the timetable i’ve got is completely wrong. And no one knows what’s going on. What is it with festival organisation..? #
• Wow. Kraftwerk are playing this tiny tent. Wish i had a wider lens… #
• And surprise fucking surprise. I haven’t got the right pass or wristband to get into the photo pit… #
• Back to the gate, a nice new green wristband, back to the stage and guess what? It’s still not the right one.. #
• Got the right pass but not in time for the 1st 3 Gorillaz songs. Out of 5 bands i wanted to photo have missed 3… #
• Woo. Photographed 1st act of the day. Mark Ronson. We’re on a roll… #
• Ok. So i want to buy a bottle of water which is a rip off at $5 but have to buy a ticket with a min spend of $10. Evil genius at work… #
• Doing socials to pass time. Man, i used to be cool… Much Lol at dilated pupils… #
• Kraftwerk due in 15. You could prob squeeze the crowd into the zoo. I dunno. The youth of today… #
• Gah. Denied pit access for kraftwerk. Told front of house. Mixing desk know nothing about it. Shoot from crowd #
• Kraftwerk are amazing tho. Guess no pit = no 3 song limit. Bring on them robots for the encore! #
• And by the encores – we are the robots and music non stop – you could have fitted the audience into the zoo… #

Powered by Twitter Tools.

All packed and all set for the weekend. At least I hope I am…

Worked out my plan for the weekend earlier in the week and it looks like this.

Saturday

Sunday

That’s the plan anyway, although not sure if it will happen; it largely depends on bands starting on time and ease of movement between stages. Most of what I want to photo is either on at the Supertop Stage or the GW McLennan Stage, the two most far apart stages, so there’s going to be a lot of running involved.

Hopefully everything will go the plan; my camera was a bit poorly a couple of weeks ago when I was up in Cooktown, and it’s still not 100%, with the exposure meter in both Shutter and Aperture Priority modes not working. Manual is still ok, and as long as it’s ok for another few days everything will be alright. Just in case of emergencies I bought some b+w film for my backup film SLR… Fingers crossed it won’t come to that (although I am tempted to shoot a few rolls for fun).

Wish me luck!

Got dragged along to the Abbey Medieval Festival near Cabooolture for a day back in July. ‘Medieval’ being a bit of a loose term relating to a period of 600 years or so judging by the costumes and shows…

Took camera as usual, wanted to get some jousting photos but it was impossible to get anywhere near the front to get a good clear view. So just took photos of random people, going about their every day business…

Some photos below and more of flickr.