The lovely folks of Left For Dead treated the punters not only with vinyl goodies inside the store but also some cracking bands who played at The Custard Factory during The Record Store Day 2015 yesterday. Seeing local boys God Damn play is always a treat and I'm also rather familiar with the chaos that is Baby Godzilla having one of the guys land right on top of me after jumping from the stage into the pit during Kerrang Tour last year. I couldn't think of a better way to spent a sunny Saturday afternoon, one of the best gigs I witnessed in a long, long time.
Sleeping with Sirens / Pierce the Veil @ 02 Academy Birmingham
Their world tour finally brought Sleeping with Sirens and Pierce the Veil to Birmingham. It was a loud, crowded and sweaty night at the 02 Academy.
Lordi @ The Marble Factory, Bristol
With no Birmingham gigs in my calendar over Easter I thought I'd have a day out so I headed to Bristol to check out my favourite ever Eurovision song contest winners, Lordi.
Halestorm w/ Wilson @ Civic Hall, Wolvrhampton
Had a great time shooting Halestorm and Wilson in Wolverhampton last night. Awesome bands and one of the nicest stage lighting set ups I've seen for a headliner in a while. Happy days!
I missed the beginning of Nothing More who were also supporting on the night so I have no images to include but I would like to give them a shout out because I thought they were outstanding and I hope I do get the chance to photograph them in the future.
In This Moment @ Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton
I've been following In This Moment for a while now but I had to wait until last night when they brought their show to Wulfrun Hall in Wolverhampton for a chance to see and shoot them live for the first time. Whilst they might not be everyone's cup of tea music and performance wise there's no denying that they put on a show unlike anything I've seen in a long time. It's totally over the top, theatrical and dramatic and they seem to enjoy the attention and love being photographed as we were allowed to shoot the entire set from the pit which is almost unheard of these days unless you are the band's official photographer.
Needless to say there were one or two punters in the front row who complained about the 'fuckers' blocking their view. I am generally very considerate of people paying to see the show and try to stay out of their way as much as I can and there were only a handful of photographers in the pit so I really didn't feel we were obstructing anyone's view too much. Besides, unless you go to a gig and manage to get a spot right at the front there will always be 'fuckers' blocking someone's view, some of them (or quite a few from what I see shooting gigs on a regular basis) also have an annoying habit of holding their mobile phones up in the air to take pictures or film but I digress.
Here's some pictures of one of the most fun times I had in the pit in a while.
Marmozets @ The Institute, Birmingham
The other night I had another opportunity to photograph Marmozets in action. I still remember seeing them for the first time on a tiny stage at Slam Dunk festival in Wolverhampton last year. At the time I had no idea who they were but one of my fellow photographers told me they are well worth checking out so I did. It is a pure joy watching a young band like Marmozets on stage, their energy and enthusiasm is infectious and they give it their all every single time.
I shot them few times since that day and they seem to be getting better and better every time. It will be interesting to see the lead singer Becca Macintyre and the boys taking over the main stage at Leeds/Reading festival this coming summer.
