Frankly Festival @ The Powerhouse 12-09-09
Still in photo and blog catch-up mode, this is the most overdue of the lot; last September’s boutique Frankly Festival at the Powerhouse, organised by Room40‘s Lawrence English. It was a very eclectic line-up, with differing musical styles on show as well as the different geographical backgrounds of the acts on show. An early highlight […]
Tiny Vipers @ The Troubadour 03-10-09
If there’s a lesson to be learnt from tonight it’s not to cover two gigs (with eight bands in total) at two different venues, even if they are only afew hundred metres apart. In a perfect world there wouldn’t have been a problem as the times at the two venues complemented each other almost perfectly, with the set-up […]
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 […]
Van Dyke Parks @ The Powerhouse 12-0-09
Tonight is one of those shows that you feel very privileged to be at; getting to spend in evening with one of modern music’s greats in intimate surrounding with only 100 other people (somewhat bizarrely including Peaches, who had been DJ-ing downstairs as part of the Frankly Festival). Having been to The Powerhouse plenty of times […]
Grant Hart @ The Troubadour 10-02-10
Husker Du probably never got their fair dues and although they seem to be one of the few bands that haven’t jumped on the reunion bandwagon in recent times (other than for two songs as part of a benefit for Soul Asylum bassist Karl Mueller back in 2004), Bob Mould and Grant Hart seem to have […]
Marianne Faithfull @ The Tivoli 30-01-10
For a while tonight’s Marianne Faithfull show, the first of two at The Tivoli, didn’t look like it was going to happen as a reviewer interested in covering the show couldn’t be found, meaning that it’s a fairly last minute addition to my diary. Looking around the venue, it’s a very mixed crowd; there’s obviously a […]
I Heart Hiroshima @ The Powerhouse
Today’s gig is billed as a farewell show, I Heart Hiroshima‘s last before drummer Susie heads to Berlin, with the band playing both of their albums in full over two separate sets. It’s a Sunday afternoon all-ages show at The Powerhouse, and unlike the venue’s more typical Sunday shows, this time you’ve got to pay to […]
Pains Of Being Pure At Heart @ The Zoo 20-02-10
Apparently this was a really good gig; it just completely passed me by as I was still in Soundwave euphoria and having already photographed 23 bands that day, by Number 24 I was very much in autopilot mode. It sounded nice enough; very old school 1980’s twee British indie but I was too busy rehydrating […]
Camera Obscura @ The Zoo
It isn’t often that you get a “three songs, no flash” instruction at The Zoo, the only ones I can remember were for Amanda Palmer and We Are Scientists. It didn’t really make much difference for WAS but was very annoying for Amanda Palmer, considering all the amazing theatrics throughout the show. I think I […]
Violent Soho @ The Step Inn
Leaving the Monster Magnet show mid-way through it’s a race across town to get to the Step Inn for Violent Soho’s last show before relocating to New York. I get there just in time, although having missed all the support acts. Photographing at the Step Inn is challenging at the best of times, as it’s […]
Monster Magnet + Regular John + Rollerball @ The Hi-Fi
I find out tonight that Monster Magnet have a completely different fan base in Australia than they do in the UK, Whilst the UK fanbase is more what I’d expect, being the typical indie/rock crowd, the audience in the Hi-Fi tonight is possibly the most bogan crowd I’ve ever experienced outside an Australian music festival. […]
Alice Cooper @ Brisbane Convention Centre
The cool kids would never contemplate it let alone accept it, but Alice Cooper > Iggy Pop and basically the classic Alice Cooper band (when it was the name of the band, not just the singer) > The Stooges. Alice Cooper was one of the first things I ever got into and I’ve got more […]
Joanna Newsom @ The Tivoli
I think my favourite description of Joanna Newsom (maybe from Mess+Noise, maybe from Drowned In Sound, maybe somewhere else, I can’t exactly remember) described her as “singing like a recently smacked child”. It’s a description that always brings a wry smile as I’ve always thought there is an element of truth in the description and it’s been […]
X + Sixfthick @ The Zoo
Every time I see Sixfthick I make a conscious decision that I’m not going to photograph Gentle Ben as I’ve got a ridiculous amount of photos of him and would say he’s my most photographed person by a long, long way. By comparison I have hardly any photos of Dan, and even less of Tony […]
I Heart Hiroshima + DZ @ The Zoo
Another chance to catch up with DZ, this time away from the small stage of The Troubadour, supporting I Heart Hiroshima at The Zoo. I had hoped that the larger venue, larger stage and better lighting might make it an improved photographic experience but it ends up being almost the opposite, with the band being […]
Timothy Carroll + Mckisko + Kate Jacobsen @ The Troubadour
As I said at the time, I was very impressed when I first saw Timothy Carroll, when he supported Texas Tea at their album launch last year; a set of really nice songs, with excellent melodies sung beautifully, especially the vocal contributions of The Troubadour’s Corinna Scanlon who I didn’t realise sang up until that […]
Philadelphia Grand Jury + DZ @ The Troubadour
I put in to cover this show more for another chance to see DZ play as opposed to getting to photograph the headline act. They had their strobe out in force again so took the opportunity to play around with long exposures again, as I had when I’d seen them before. I was less lazy […]
Washington + Last Dinosaurs @ The Troubadour
I know I’ve blogged previously about photographing keyboard players; it’s the worst and along with saxophonists they’re probably the hardest musicians to get really good photos of. Not just ok photos, REALLY good photos. This is possibly because, with a very few exceptions, the keyboard is the most un-rock instrument ever. So Megan Washington is […]
Flipper + Sixfthick + Vaginabillies @ The Step Inn
I guess I had an inkling of what a Flipper show might be like to attend and tonight I get pretty much what I expected; you can get a sense just from listening to their music without having to even read a single live review. It’s a bitter, angry, alienated, disinterested, discordant experience and tonight Bruce […]
Splendour In The Grass 2009 – Part 5
MGMT were really shocking when they played at The Tivoli at the end of last year; really terrible and disinterested, a band that had obviously spent far too long on the road. But in seemingly typical style the Splendour organisers obviously waited to see what songs were towards the top reaches of Triple J’s Hottest […]
Splendour In The Grass 2009 – Part 4
All plans for an early start and a timely return to the festival site don’t materialise. The early start does happen but the time is spent editing Saturday’s photos, then thinking about making a move, waiting for other people whilst they think about it and then think a bit more about it, then have some […]
Splendour In The Grass 2009 – Part 3
 From the sublime to the ridiculous; The Living End. There are so many things that are wrong before they even play a note; they’ve replaced the late-cancelling Jane’s Addiction, hardly a like-for-like exchange, they have just had The Specials essentially support them, the crowd reaction they get from the crowd as they walk onstage […]
Splendour In The Grass 2009 – Part 2
 Bluejuice are a band that’s yet to win me over, having seen them at last year’s Splendour and then a few months later supporting We Are Scientists at The Zoo. As Stav from the band kindly commented on that post (and which shamefully I didn’t get around to replying to), they’re obviously not my […]
Splendour In The Grass 2009 – Part 1
 Having arrived at our house for the weekend in New Brighton in the dark and just as a heavy rain storm passed overhead, Saturday starts with a quick walk around the locality to try and find if any mobile signal can be found so that photos and blogs can be uploaded. As not even […]
