107th
Oct

On Wednesday I went to see of Montreal at Koko which was an interesting experience. I’ve seen them before so I knew what to expect, but it was still great fun. They have live performance art on stage, with people dressed in lycra bodysuits writhing around with skull masks. It is all very surreal but so captivating to watch. The crowd were lovely and happy and not pushy and shovey, and the setlist was really great. Quite a bit from False Priest so I think I’ll have to get around to buying that soon. She’s a Rejector and an encore consisting of the whole of The Past Is A Grotesque Animal were my highlights.

Last night I was debating going to see Blood Red Shoes but I decided against it in favour of staying inside in the warm and watching Heroes. I spent 3 bloody hours drawing buttons for the new online shop! It’s almost done now, hopefully I can finish it at the weekend.

103rd
Oct

This week I finally sent off two films from my fisheye to be developed. I got them back today and was quite pleased with some of the results! They are from various nights out, Scotland, Reading Festival and Offset.

You can see the rest at the flickr set.

1013th
Sep

I had a friend from France staying with me over the weekend for the Muse gigs at Wembley Stadium. I indulged in some shopping at Tatty Devine and Forbidden Planet, and we had fun at Hamleys before actually making our way to Wembley.

The first gig was pretty run of the mill and in my opinion had the worst of the support acts (White Rabbits, The Big Pink, Lily Allen). We got good seats on left side of the stage because we are lazy, and although the visuals and theatrics were nice, I had seen it all before in Paris. The setlist was predictable and I did not enjoy the inclusion of Neutron Star Collision and I Belong To You, so needless to say I came home feeling rather blah about it all.

The next day however, totally blew it out of the water. We attempted to queue for a bit, but when we got inside we decided to sit down anyway. This time on the right of the stage so we got a different view. The support acts were miles better (I Am Arrows, White Lies and Biffy Clyro) with Biffy getting such a good reception you could have believed it was their own gig. Muse seemed a lot happier and even said something along the lines of “We know you are the real fans tonight”, but it was the setlist that made it amazing. Oh the setlist <3. Not only did they play MK Ultra and Bliss, but they rolled out Map of the Problematique, Citizen Erased and Ruled by Secrecy! A whole bunch of rarely played fan favourites. It really made the night so much better, and sort of restored my faith in them. To end, here are some photos of the treats I bought myself on Friday!
Lego minifigures series 2, Design-A-Qee Gimpy, Bearbrick series 19 Jellybean


Dunny 2010 Esther Kim, Boom, Huck Gee


Tatty Devine Fallen Leaves Charm Bracelet

106th
Sep

I was originally going to go to Offset Festival, as a few of my favourite bands were playing (like Kap Bambino and Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster) but I decided against it in the end due to money and having been to two festivals the month previously.
So imagine my joy when I got an email from GigJunkie asking if I wanted to photograph and review it! I said yes straight away, and on the Saturday morning I got a bus with a friend to Hainault Forest Country Park.

Offset is a wonderful small festival, with a main stage set in the middle and a number of smaller tent stages around in a circle. The bands are mostly up and coming acts, with a few bigger name headliners, and there are other activities going on including a vintage market and sports day races.

We had a great time drinking cider in the sunshine, wandering from stage to stage, dancing in the Trailer Trash tent and watching a drunken space hopper race!

I saw far too many bands to go through them all, but favourites were:

Athens Polytechnic – Not so great punk music, but a very enigmatic frontman who ran around in the audience and had his own dance routines.
Kap Bambino – 35 minutes of non-stop bouncing on the barrier, with Caroline pulling grotesque faces and sitting on photographers shoulders.
Art Brut – Singing along to songs I felt I had known forever.
Monotonix – They play in the audience, and after each song they pick the drumkit up and move forwards a bit. So chaotic and brilliant.
Atari Teenage Riot – Eighties Matchbox were a bit of a disappointment, but ATR made up for it with their infectious digital hardcore and political screechings.

See the rest of my photos at Flickr

1031st
Aug

I say this every year, but I’ll say it again. This year was the best Reading Festival ever! There was a wonderful combination of great company, great bands and great weather. It only actually really rained on the Thursday when we arrived so the campsite was muddy, but the arena was nice and dry. I already have my ticket for next year! It’s been too long now to do a mini review on every band I saw (34 this year), but I will list my favourites instead.

Read more for the reviews