One part gig report, one part Alex learning just how bad his DSLR skills are….
I don’t get out to gigs much. Partly that’s my musical tastes, and partly that’s being a parent (and thus officially “past it”, according to some sources). In fact, I can say with some accuracy what the last gig I went to was. It was Howard Jones at Hornsby RSL, something I photoblogged on March 30, 2007. Yeah, that’s a long time ago.
Anyway, last night, he was back. It seemed only polite to return the favour and turn up myself. Except this time I had a much better camera. Would that equate to better photos? Well, I’d like to think so, but the flip side of that is that I’m just showing off twenty-odd photos here. I took roughly 500 of the suckers. 172 were worth keeping, either because they were actually in focus (clearly a rarity) or just captured a moment or expression, or similar. Yes, I know some of the shots below are fuzzy in places. I’m still learning, it seems, and I’ve got a long way to go. The first half of the gig was an acoustic set, with just Howard by himself Of course, it helps when he plays my two favourite tracks first. Ooh.. a microphone. Time for a quick interlude with the audience, he thinks. I am a prisoner, of no confidence. And somebody's just taken my photo again! Second half time. The lovely and talented Laura Clapp. Howard films the audience for his videoblog. Robbie Bronnimann. He doesn't actually glow in the dark, mind you. Welcome to Conditioning. Laura can do electronic things with her voice that defy acoustic laws, I'm sure. Howard on a hastily-borrowed Roland Fantom-G8. The number of blurry photos I managed to take of Laura and Howard defies belief... Based on the pattern behind him, Howard's in the running to be the next Dr Who. Some shots from the side of the stage turned out OK. BEWARE THE CLAW I quite like this shot, but again, I have twenty awful shots to accompany it. Howard's expression just makes this shot, even if it is blurry. My favourite photo of the whole night. Howard's shiny shirt Howard, possibly running from the one crazy fan. There's always one... Thinking.... The audience, not rushing the stage. Well, not all of them. That's all, folks!