gig-shots.com

First let me apologise for the lack of posts recently, this time last year there was an absence of posts because I hadn’t been doing much shooting.  This year it’s (happily) the opposite problem; I’ve been shooting so much my feet have hardly touched the ground.  I’ll do some more in depth posts again soon but here’s a quick catch up.

One aspect of my concert photography that has changed most recently is that it’s very rare I have time to hang around to watch the headliners after the usual “three songs, no flash”.  Most of my shooting now is for Music Pics UK which means the edits have to be all done  and uploaded by 1am at the latest.  Given that most headliners don’t come on stage until around 9:30pm, and the three songs are done by say 9:45pm – I’m usually not back at my desk until around 10:30 which means editing has to be much quicker these days.  On the plus side I’ve seen some belting support acts over the last few months so expect to hear more on that soon.

I’ve been toying with the idea of producing a Gig-Shots calendar for a while now, but it’s usually around Christmas that I remember I still haven’t done anything about it by which time it’s too late.  This year is different, I’ve decided that there will be a 2012 Gig-Shots calendar produced and the plan is that each month will contain an image from that month in 2011.  One of the challenges however is choosing which images make it into the calendar.  As a photographer I’m often too close to my images to be objective about them, I might love an image because I know the lighting was appalling and I still got the shot or because I particularly like the song that was being performed, all of which means nothing to you my adoring public .  To try and mitigate against that, I’m letting you the fans choose which images make it into the calendar.  Hop over to the gig-shots facebook fan page look for the Calendar Competition Photo Gallery and click the like button for your favourite shot.  As a reward for taking part, all votes will be put in a hat and one lucky winner will receive a hand-printed Signature Edition A2 print of the image they voted for, now how cool is that?

Just to whet your appetite here’s a sneak preview of the images up for the January Vote:-

Calendar Competition - Images by mike gatiss

If you've been itching to hang one of my live music photographs on your wall or if you know someone that has a print sized gap waiting to be filled you'll be glad to know you can now order prints direct from the archive.  Either browse the galleries which are organised by band, festival and venue or if you know what you're looking for head straight to the search page and use the keywords search to find the shot you're looking for.  When you've found the shot you want, just click on the "add to cart" link on the right to choose your print size and finish.  Of course if you're looking for something different such as a black and white version of a colour image or a canvas print then feel free to drop me a line.

Prints are for personal use only and may not be reproduced in any form.

Prints are available priced from £19.99 in a wide range of sizes all the way from a discrete 10"x8" to a wall filling 30"x40" and make the ideal Christmas present for the music fan in your life, so go and have a look now. As a final treat, using the code LAUNCH2010 will get you 25% off your first order until 24th December 2010.

One of the things I love about concert photography is watching bands develop and grow over time. Seeing the contrast from those first nervy performances when bands dip their toe in performing live to the confident hall filling performances. Run Toto Run might not be filling the big venues yet but based on tonight's performance it's just a matter of time.

I first heard Run Toto Run a couple of years ago at In The City 2008.   Back then they were an acoustic/electro combo and had already played Glastonbury (only their third gig), Huw Stephens was singing their praises and they were getting playlisted on Radio 1, 6 Music and XFM, not to mention local radio up and down the country.  Their cover of Sleepyhead by Passion Pit fuelled speculation that their rise was going to be spectacularly quick

Run Toto Run - Sleepyhead (Passion Pit Cover) by run_toto_run

It didn't quite work out that way and despite early promise they didn't immediately break through to the mainstream although they have supported a number of bigger acts including The Noisettes and Ellie Goulding.  Based on tonight's opening for They Have Band they haven't wasted the the last two years however and now a trio, they have refined their sound to produce a much tighter edgier electro pop sound.  With a single due out in January and an EP to follow Rachael Kichenside, Mike Kelly and Matt "Kid" Farthing have surely got great things ahead in 2011.

Did You Hear That? by run_toto_run

I was back in Manchester last Thursday, shooting another show for Counterfeit Mag. Kele Okereke was playing at The Ritz with support from up and coming laptop-twiddlers D/R/U/G/S, and I was struck by the difference in the two performances.

Don't get me wrong, this is the second time I've seen D/R/U/G/S in a matter of months and I really like their warm spacey beats but as it stands I'm not sure that it works in the context of a live gig.  Obviously given that their music is produced electronically there isn't a lot of scope for audience interaction and that's what let's it down.  With a gig people are coming to watch not just to listen and with D/R/U/G/S there just isn't anything to see.  Fellow electronic artists Echaskech sidestep this problem neatly by having a visual aspect to their show provided by VJ Mach V and maybe this is what D/R/U/G/S could do with for their live performances.

BANDS: D/R/U/G/S - Images by mike gatiss

Kele Okereke had the opposite problem.  You can't fault his performance, he puts everything into his shows and he constantly chats with the audience between songs making them feel involved but I'm not a big fan of his solo album with the exception of recent single Tenderoni.  I know there was tension between the dance/electronica direction that Kele wanted to go in and the Indie/Guitar roots of the rest of Bloc Party but that was what made it work.  I hope we haven't seen the last of Bloc Party because the whole was definitely more than the sum of the parts.

BANDS: Kele - Images by mike gatiss

With one thing and another it's been a while since I've updated the blog.  A big part of this was being based in not so sunny Telford which made getting to any decent gigs more of a challenge than I had the energy for exceptional cases when the effort was worth it (such as the Hadouken gig where the barrier came down 30 seconds into their first track).  The good news is I'm back in Cheshire again and this makes the gig scenes in Manchester, Liverpool and nearby Stoke-on-Trent much easier to keep track of.  So what else have I been up to?

Well August saw me hitting the festival circuit again with my annual visit to Summer Sundae at De Montfort Hall in Leicester where I managed to catch bands such as Stornaway, Frankie and the Heartstrings, headliners Mumford and Sons as well as the girl with the shorter than short hotpants Eliza Dolittle.  It was a good weekend but I can't help feeling that with the departure of festival organiser Richard Haswell, the lineup has suffered quite a bit.  It felt much more like the traditional corporate money making festival this year than it ever has done in the past and whilst it was much more of a commercial success this year it will be interesting to see if the hardcore Summer Sundae fans still plan to attend next year.

Later in the month I covered the Festinho festival for Virtual Festivals which (if they can survive their current financial problems) could well become my new favourite festival.  Organised completely by volunteers, Festinho is focussed on raising money for the Action for Brazils Children Trust.  It's not the best organised festival I've ever been to, but the quirkiness of the bands that played and the magical atmosphere it generates is hard to resist.

September saw the visit to Manchester of one of my favourite up and coming bands - Two Door Cinema Club as well as the start of the four month festival that is The Warehouse Project.  The music world descended on Manchester again in October for the In The City conference and showcase events.  If you like discovering new music you really can't go wrong with In The City and I found some great bands including, D/R/U/G/S, Gallops,  The Kill Van Kulls (thanks to Karen McBride) and for those that like their music harder and heavier – Chickenhawk.  Also in October we've had visits from the gorgeous Imelda May, the moody I Like Trains and the infectiously cheerful Holloways.  It was good to see them back on the circuit after the trouble they've had over the last couple of years, and I really hope we'll be seeing more of them.

More recently I've been shooting The Divine Comedy with support from Irish Singer Songwriter Cathy Davey and few people there will forget their beautiful cover of "I Only Have Eyes For You" or Neil's impromptu cover of Blue Monday from New Order which sent the crowd wild.

BANDS: The Divine Comedy - Images by mike gatiss

In between gigs I've been busy hunting out new bands to shoot and a favourite resource for this has been online radio shows from Salford Radio's 'Shell Zenner and Recharged Radio's Minki's Magic Moments, incidentally Minki is also the lead singer of 50ft Woman, another band worth checking out.

Well that's enough from me for now, promise not to leave it so long next time.