Shooting Green Day Was A Trip!

Earlier this month I shot and reviewed Green Day at Copps Coliseum - click here for a link to the article and review. It was a pretty big deal to me. Not only did I get to photograph one of the world's most famous bands, but also some of biggest heroes in music and life.

Green Day are the band that got me started in music. As a troubled 15 year-old stuck in my bedroom on an isolated house on a hill in north Scotland, I found both refuge and rebellion in music for the first time when I bought a copy of Nimrod and cranked the volume up loud on my little portable CD player. That album started off my addiction to music, unlocking a passion inside of me that had lain dormant. We've all got to start somewhere, and even my parent's collection of Beatles records didn't provide that initial draw. At 15 I was looking for something new, something from my generation and time - Green Day provided that.

Green Day lie at the root of my passion for music, being the band that started off my addiction and led me to go on to listen to so many bands past and present, and to see so many bands live. My addiction to music would lead me to combine that with my passion for writing, when I had an epiphany at University while studying journalism and realised that I could combine my passions and become the ultimate hack of the music industry: a music journalist.

Imagine my excitement then when I found out that the last-moment that (after much endeavour) I'd be added to the photo list for this Green Day's show at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton - cue a spontaneous video blog to YouTube as my levels of pre-show excitement hit a giddy high. Ah, that video is somewhat regrettable, but whatever.

Shooting Green Day was an amazing trip! The rules were "first 2 songs, no flash" which is 1 song less than the usual law of the photo pit which is in place at most concerts. I'm pretty pleased with the shots I got - my trusty little old school 50mm Nikkor lens did not let me down. My favourite shot is below, others can be found in the show review. It was an amazing night.




Thanks as always to the band, label and the show promoters for putting me on the list.

Incidentally, here are some snapshots below from a road trip I took in May this year after becoming a resident of Canada. It was a rite of passage and also a time used to try and get some perspective on life after my whole world as I knew it had just recently come crashing down around my feet. I took very few belongings with me, but the soundtrack to my adventure was 21st Century Breakdown.

Virgin Festival 2009 Ontario Announced!

I am stoked. I just found out the line-up for this year's Virgin Festival in Ontario - (a.k.a. V-Fest Toronto, except it's not in Toronto this year). Nine Inch Nails and The Pixies!!!! YESH!! And Franz Ferdinand too!! And Lights will be back this year too.

Even better, this year the festival will not be on Toronto island, which caused big headaches last year as we all had to wait like refugees to be transported off the island at the end of each night by the ferries that connect the isle to civilization. But instead, V-Fest 2009 in Ontario will be held at some place called Burl's Creek Park, which is probably going to be just as problematic to exit from at the end of the weekend but hey at least its on dry land. Maybe there will even be camping on site like a real festival... oooh...

Oh, I realise that it's been months since I've made a blog post, but that's due to a thing called life, some shit hitting a fan, and also the fact that really there's not been that much worth talking about. Well, aside from a few of the festivals I've covered recently in Toronto. Oh and of course Michael Jackson's death, but honestly I knew how that was going to play out: mass media sympathy to mass joking and disrespectful comments (let sleeping dogs lie already) to mass stupid distasteful cash ins and 'celebrations and tributes'. But yeah, apart from Jacko passing away - R.I.P., show some respect for the dead - there's been nothing much to talk about, especially here in the Greater Toronto Area... until now.

Virgin Festival Ontario is gonna be one hell of a festival. The line-up is incredible; full line-up and info here. The motherfucking Pixies!