LIVE music photography

On Friday the 19th of June I was lucky enough to spend the afternoon with the hugely talented Sam Duckworth from Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly. Sam who uses Valley Arts guitars agreed for them to take some PR shots with a guitar that he has been using. Sam released his second album “Searching for the how and whys” earlier in the year. The album is a classic and as good as his breathtaking debut” The chronicle of a bohemian teenager”. Sam is due to appear at XFM’s all day breakfast show on the 20th of June at the Fly and on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury on the 27th. For more information check out his website and Valley Arts.

written by John Rahim

As the Hampton Court Palace festival draws to a close for another year the organizers managed to secure another A list British songwriting celebrity. Davis whose band “The Kinks” split up over a decade ago wrote some of the most memorable songs in the 60’s era including “Waterloo Sunset” and “You really got me going”. Despite being in his mid 60’s Davis put on an energetic performance and played many of his solo tracks as well as the usual hits from The Kinks. Although I have to confess to not knowing a huge amount about Davis or his solo work his performance was excellent and highly enjoyable.

Written by John Rahim

Ontario’s finest indie kids “Tokyo Police Club” performed last night to packed Scala theater in Kings Cross. The band have been described in the press as Canada’s answer to Bloc Party however musically I thought they were more like “Cold War Kids” or “The National” both of which are excellent bands.

Their debut album “Elephant Shell” came out in April and although it’s failed to make any impact on the charts or in the mainstream press it’s very good and well worth checking out. The band are also touring during the summer however only in the USA and Australia.

Despite the overcast weather the atmosphere was upbeat for Ireland’s grumpiest music legend. Van Morrison who is notorious for being extremely uncommunicative during his live performances played an excellent set at The Hampton Court Music Festival which is now in full swing. Although the weather was not as nice as the Jools Holland show last week the audience lapped up Morrison’s greatest hits which spanned his 40 year career as a recording artist.

Despite having a resurgence around 15 years Van Morrison has worked hard not to over expose himself on the live circuit however, tonight’s show is the first in a 12 date tour which takes him across Europe and USA and See’s Morrison promote his new album “Keep it Simple” which incredibly is his 40th album and sees him back on form.

Written by John Rahim

Last night was the second of the performances that I attended at the Hampton Court Palace music festival. As with the Katherine Jenkins show last Friday the event was impeccably managed and also benefited from some incredible summer weather. The atmosphere was extremely relaxed and you could tell that everyone was having a very convivial time!

I have seen Jools Holland perform on a number of occasions and am always blown away by his showmanship and unbelievable music competence. After seeing him so often on the TV presenting and hosting shows it’s easy to forget what an accomplished musician he is. His TV career which now has spanned almost 25 years has seen him help break many of the UK’s biggest stars from KT Tunstall to Roisin Murphy to the enigmatic Seasick Steve!

Joining Jools on stage was a host of talent including Marc Almond who performed a jazzy big band version of his 1982 hit “Say hello wave goodbye”. The Hampton Court Music Festival continues to the end of the month and tickets for some shows are still available. Details are available at http://www.hamptoncourtfestival.com/home.asp