Twilight of the Gods

My friend and fellow photographer, Matt Kent, bought me a book and gave it to me at The Who's gig at the Royal Albert Hall a few days ago. It's a book by Tony Klinger who I knew back in 1977-78. He has written the book about the making of the film "The Kids are Alright" which he was the producer/director. It is an amazing book, once I started reading I couldn't put it down. Go and buy a copy it's brilliant.

The Who play Quadrophenia

This is the last gig this year at the Royal Albert Hall in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust and it's a big one. The Who are playing their album Quadrophenia for the first time in years. Special guests are Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam and Tom Meighan from Kasabian.

The Specials for Teenage Cancer Trust

Well, I was really looking forward to this... The Specials... I love them. What a moment for me when I was shooting the sound check when they just went straight into Rudy, it was stunning.. After the sound check the lads got changed and then came into my studio for a shoot. Again like most of the artists, they were wonderful. Very helpful and willing. They did some Voxpops on video or the charity and then came the big show. They were brilliant, what a band. I got some pretty nice shots of them leaving the stage with the crowd behind them.

JLS perform for Teenage Cancer Trust

Well, its Sunday and it is an earlier start. Due to the fact that JLS has a younger audience, the show will be over tonight at around 9pm. I did a studio shoot with the lads who were soooo nice. We then did some shots with some of the patients as usual. I then photographed their sound check and then the live show. That was possibly the loudest I have ever heard fans scream in the Albert Hall. They seemed louder than the music. Anyway, what a lovely bunch. They deserve all the success they get. They were a real pleasure to work with.

The Arctic Monkeys Teenage Cancer Trust Gig

Yet another massive band, The Arctic Monkeys. We did a studio shoot earlier in the day and then a little later the boys did a quick meet and greet with some of the patients. What nice guys they are (Arctic Monkeys that is) although they were rushed and under pressure as they had a gig to do, they seemed to have all the time in the world for the patients who came in to meet them. The live performance was something else. I have photographed them many times now and each time I am really impressed. What a brilliant band. They ended the set with one of my favourite songs "when the sun goes down" The Albert Hall was hot steamy and heaving. The floor was going up and down which is a rarity in that building. Overall, a stunning show from a stunning band. I love them!

Noel Gallagher Day Two

Another brilliant gig from Noel. This time supported by Plan B. The main man is Ben and he and the band are fantastic. Very different. I did a really nice studio shoot with him, I also shot the sound check and live show. I was very impressed.

Noel Gallagher Teenage Cancer Trust

This was Noel's first of two gigs for Teenage Cancer Trust. The next one is tomorrow night. It is also the first gig since he and Oasis spilt up. I arrived at The Royal Albert Hall at around lunch time and we set up the studio again. It wasn't long before we were shooting the support act, The Courteeners. So, I shot the sound check and then did some shots for the charity downstairs with some of the patients that have come for the day. Al little later, the Courteeners were ready to go on stage and we got them in for the studio shoot. They are a really nice bunch of lads and so is Glyn their tour manager. I have photographed them before, however, they are a brilliant band and now seem to be firmly on the way up and on to stardom. So, we finished the studio shoot and I rushed out with them and shot the live show, partly from the front in the pit and partly from the stage. I wanted to get some shots of them with the Albert Hall behind them with the crowd. I rushed back to my studio just in time as Noel was ready for his shoot. In he came, really nice to see him. I hadn't seem him since I was in Japan with Oasis in 2005. We had a brief chat about that and he said "fucking hell, that was five years ago, I cant remember 5 weeks" He was in very good spirits. We did the shoot and it was followed by a quick video interview by the charity. Then once that was finished, Noel headed off to his dressing room and got ready for his show. A few mins later, Yui Mok, Matt Kent, Jill Furmanovsky and I were led down to the photo pit to shoot Noel on stage. That was all good, lighting was pretty good the only strange thing this year is that us photographers are having share the photo pit with a video camera on tracks. That is normal, but this year it is remote. Which is mental. I have to keep on eye on Noel and the other on the remote camera swinging along the track towards me. So far no collisions.. But 5 more nights, so we will see...