LIVE music photography

After mainly watching rock and indie acts at the iTunes festival it made a pleasant change to photograph something a lot more mellow. Suzanne Vega was a huge superstar in the early and mid 80’s selling millions of records however of late she has stepped out of the limelight and has been writing less commercial music. Her last album “Beauty and Crime” was her first on the jazz label Blue Note and whilst it did not receive the critical acclaim of her earlier work however is still a very good record.

The concert tonight was a stripped down affair with Suzanne Vega on vocals and acoustic guitar accompanied by a drummer and bass player. During the hour set she played a number of songs from her recent records as well as better known hits from her first two albums.

Overall it was a highly enjoyable gig made more enjoyable by the relaxed and intimate enviroment.  If you have the chance I’d recommend checking her out live however would suggest if possible try and see her in a small venue.

Written by John Rahim

It’s hard to believe that  Feeder have been around for the past 16 years. I have seen Feeder literally dozens of times before at various festivals and gigs and have always enjoyed their unbelievable catchy and sing along singles. The sort of records that you need to hear once and then will be humming for days later. Despite their success in the singles market for some reason Feeder have failed to record their definitive album. That is until now. Their new album “Silent Cry” which came out ealier in the year is a marked departure from their previous albums and is a lot harder and hopefully will see them open up to a broader audience. The album entered the charts in the top 10 and contains the single “We are the people”.

The gig was excellent and as expected the band performed all of their biggest hits (”Buck Rogers” “Just the way I’m feeling”) as well as a smattering of new tracks from the new album. If you bought and enjoyed their “Singles” album you should pick a copy of this (or download it from iTunes) as it’s probably one of the best rock records of the year.

Written by John Rahim

I had not seen the Infadels before so was interested in catching them live supporting Feeder at Koko. The band have been on the live circuit for three or four years now however despite continually gigging have failed to get the same level of press of many of their contemporaries. Their latest pop/rock album “Universe in Reverse” was released in June by the achingly trendy Wall of Sound label and was produced by ex Killing Joke bassist Youth, whose previous productions include Depeche Mode, GNR and The Verve’s. The record is certainly accomplished however has failed to make any significant dent in the music press or indeed album charts.

The Infadels are a good live band and their front man Bnann Watts puts on an enthusiastic show however musically they fall in between two camps on one hand their write very accessible pop songs such as the very memorable single “Free things for poor people” and “Code 1″ however most of their other material is much rockier. In my opinion the band have still to find their true direction however when they do could be as big as the Killers or McFly,  take your pick!

Written by John Rahim

It’s been a long time coming for the indie rock band from Washington State who 10 years ago released their debut album ” Something About Airplanes”. Although the band have had a steady following both in the US and the UK for a number of years, their latest album “Narrow Stairs” has escalated them into the upper echelons of rock scoring a number one slot in the Billboard Hot 100, as well being a huge hit across Europe.

The band who is fronted by singer/songwriter Ben Gibbard has always reminded me of Paul Banks from Interpol, until recently they have pretty much appealed to the same audience and musically both seem most comfortable exploring their melancholy dark side. I guess they also both look quite similar with their lanky blonde hair!

Watching them tonight in one of London’s larger venues was really quite odd. Firstly the audience mainly comprised of EMO teenagers with a smattering of older fans. Musically  their atmospheric almost cinematic songs seemed a bit lost in the venue of this size. However, despite this the band put on a good performance which was only marred by getting thrown out of the pit two and a half songs into the set. It would appear now that your average security guard can’t actually count up to three songs without getting seriously confused.

Death Cab’s most recent single “I will posses your heart” is a staggering eight and half minutes however is still one of the most radio friendly tracks that I have heard in ages.

Either way I’d recommend checking Death Cab for Cutie out live however would suggest that if you can see them in a smaller venue.

Written by John Rahim

Anyone who has read my previous Ting Ting blogs will know that I am a fan of the band. I have seen them from their first London gig and with for former A&R hat on think Columbia/Sony have done a brilliant job in breaking them. The Ting Tings have come across as genuine pop act who have swept all sectors of the press and media with their naive charm and innocence and until recently they were the darlings of the NME. However with success comes overexposure and band looked exhausted tonight and were pretty much just going through their paces. Gone was the inane chat between numbers and the strain of the past few month was evident on Katie who looked tired and in need of a break.

From a work point of view photographing The Ting Tings live has always been pretty easy however tonight the ITV camera crew in a fairly small pit along with 15 photographers was too much to handle and after the first number all the photographers were kicked out by the security as the camera men complained that they could not get the unreserved access that they are accustomed to. The relationship between photographers and camera crews are always fraught at the best of times however this level of aggression was something that I had not experienced before. Anyone would have thought that we were photographing U2 on their comeback tour.

Already the knives are out for the Ting Tings and many in the media are questioning what sort of second record they’ll produce and whether or not their time has come and gone. If I was in the shoes of their A&R man I’d look to do something radically different for the follow up record and probably would hire Rick Rubins or Danger mouse to do produce their record. Bottom line they are going to have to do something really different next time up in order to be recognised as a real band with longevity.

Another band who received media backlash earlier in the year was CSS. How can you record a follow up record that sounds like “Cansei de Ser Sexy”? In a word you can’t so you make sure your next record sounds like vintage Garbage (that band that is) and The Breeders. Maybe it’s too soon to predict the downfall of The Tings Tings however for those of us old enough to have seen it all before The Ting Tings MK2 need to start now.

Written by John Rahim