That was last night, in front of a totally ecstatic crowd, Pete Doherty and Carl Barat singing from the same mike again, The Libertines reformed and totally rocking the place, under the watchful eyes of Amy winehouse. Great emotion, totally made up for a horrible weather and a challenging lighting . Here is the gallery!
The Emancipation is the name of the track from Tricil chosen for our second music video with Burning Head, starring the talented Miss Maleficent Martini and we can now showcase it as it is broadcast to promote Enter Calico, the iPad application project produced by the label Clear Notice. The video has been entered into the Vimeo Festival + Award judged by the likes of David Lynch, Roman Coppola or Nicolas Schmerkin. You can also help by nominating it, just copy the video link http://vimeo.com/13230643 into the nominating page there. It has been entered to the UK Music Video Award 2010 as well.
Some more projects are already in the oven on the BH side. But some video actions are up as well on the Loudpixels collection and a new dedicated page should be added pretty soon. For the time being you can watch the two videos of CONVERGE performing at ULU on July 16th as well as Pulled Apart By Horses performing at Camden Crawl a couple month ago in London. These have been seen thousands of times and add yourself to the viewers and spread the links!
And for the good old music photography, the latest additions were Converge performing at ULU on July 16th (shot from the balcony where I was set to film as you can see above ), as well as two rather unlit shows and which have the common point that we were only in the pit for one song only, not because that was the plan but because security didn’t count to 2.. but if you ever tried to argue with security you know what I’m talking about . That was PiL, aka John Lydon’s Public Image Ltd, at Shepherds Bush Empire on July 19th as well as Good Charlotte last night July 27 at Koko.
Converge at ULU, London - July 16 2010
PiL at Shepherds Bush Empire, London - July 19 2010
Great summer so far for UK, splendid weather and hot festivals, well until today that is but I’m sure the sun will be back. Now I did it again, not updating regularly and there was quite a lot of action since last time so it will be another quick summary.
Last big news was the first Burning Head produced music video, we now have just finished our second video! This was a commission for the Mancunian electronica label Clear Notice, on a track called Emancipation from the talented electronica artist Tricil (Atlanta, USA). We can’t show it online for a while but this will be part of a very original release pretty soon so more on this later – there should be some kind of preview online in the www.burninghead.co.uk site soon. The video features Miss Maleficent Martini, the front-woman of the band Maleficent, and she is a truly talented dancer.
Snapshot of the new Burning Head video for Tricil "Emancipation" out soon on Clear Notice's Enter Calico
Since last updates I went photographing Dead Can Dance’s half Brendan Perry at a really nice show at the Union Chapel, it was great to hear this very familiar voice- as I have been listening to DCD a LOT, beautiful.
Brendan Perry performing at Union Chapel, London on June 10 2010
Then I left for the homeland to photograph French’s biggest metal festival, HELLFEST in Clisson near Nantes, France. This had caused many controversies provoked by a stupid minority of extremist catholics who probably thought this Hell festival was going to feature black masses, sacrifices and who knows the conception of a few antichrists? It is funny how narrow minded some people can be. Thankfully they got ridiculed in their action and the festival was really nothing but a very friendly yet very loud feast of metal. The line up was a real pleasure for the big heavy metal crowd, although the press was handled in an appalling way (or at least for photography) and the pit was invaded by half a hundred photographers of all sorts, which is nothing wrong really, if there had been a hint of organisation to ensure that the ones that are working (and there was already a lot of us) can actually work. Will give it a miss next time. My highlight was Jello Biafra who preformed a truly awesome show in the Terrorizer tent.
Alice Cooper at Hellfest, CLisson, France, 19 June 2010
Slash performing at Hellfest, CLisson, France, 19 June 2010
Motorhead performing at Hellfest, CLisson, France, 19 June 2010
Followed three busy days covering the photography in the VIP & backstage area at Hard Rock Calling 2010 (headliners Pearl Jam, Stevie Wonder and Sir Paul McCartney), another great HRC weekend ending up in gigabytes of photos from which here is a selection: Hard Rock Calling Day 1, Hard Rock Calling Day 2 and Hard Rock Calling Day 3, featuring The Hives, Gomez, Elvis Costello, Bill Wyman, Tiffany Page, James Morrison, The Chakra, Lissie, More Than Me, Alejandro Escovedo, Melissa Etheridge, Diane Birch, Corinne Bailey Rae, The Gaslight Anthem, Robert Francis, Rox, Joshua Radin, Crowded House, Urban Voodoo Machine, Joe Echo, Crosby Stills and Nash and the Jonas Brothers with their mate Frankmusic, pfiou.
The Hives at Hard Rock Calling 2010, Hyde Park, London, June 25 2010
Gaslight Anthem at Hard Rock Calling 2010, Hyde Park, London, June 25 2010
Bill Wyman and Micki Free performing at Hard Rock Calling 2010, Hyde Park, London, June 26 2010
Diane Birch at Hard Rock Calling 2010, Hyde Park, London, June 26 2010
Corinne Bailey Rae at Hard Rock Calling 2010, Hyde Park, London, June 26 2010
That’s all for tonight, lots of things in the pipeline, more in the next blog update!
I’d better update before the festival season kicks in and I’ll have far too many images in a short time!
One big news is that not only the BURNING HEAD site is online but our first music video, Coffee Machine by Born Dressed, is online! We have received already a lot of great feedback and feel free to give you opinion on here. There should be a launch party soon, watch this space (or my Twitter account here). This was shot in part at the Brixton Dogstar, a really cool and stylish bar with the nicest staff. It is starring Roxy Velvet and of course Paul Gravity the man behind Born Dressed (and ex M.A.S.S. & Hey Gravity!).
Burning Head is the brainchild of Franck Trebillac and myself, adding video production to our respective creative bows. More work in progress including another music video and a fashion video clip, hopefully all online mid July.
Recent shows covered were Brian Jonestown Massacre, Pennywise supported by Strike Anywhere, and Liars all on different days at Shepherds Bush Empire, Roses Kings Castles the new project of Adam Ficek (ex-Babyshambles) at the Chapel of St Barnabas and the new queen of Pop, Lady Gaga at the O2 Arena shot from the furthest we’ve ever been placed at the O2 so far, upstairs on the opposite side, that was a nice collection of huuuge lens on display during Telephone and Brown Eyes.
Lady Gaga's Monster Ball Tour at the O2 Arena, London, May 31st 2010
Lady Gaga's Monster Ball Tour at the O2 Arena, London, May 31st 2010
Ellie Goulding at Shepherds Bush Empire, London, June 9 2010
Adam Ficek of Roses Kings Castles at the Chapel Of St Barnabas June 7 2010
Pennywise at Shepherds Bush Empire, London, May 16 2010
Myleene Klass at the Classical BRIT Awards, Royal Albert Hall, May 13 2010
A lot of exciting things coming this month and I wonder when I’ll find the time to sleep! Follow me here and see my galleries being updated on my Flickr account.
Non-Stop bank Holiday weekend (Holiday?? what is a holiday?) when the Camden Crawl is overlapped by two shows from the godfather of all punks, the one and only unequaled Iggy Pop with The Stooges playing their 1973 cult album RAW POWER!
Ok forget chronological reporting, here is a gallery of the fantastic show from Iggy & The Stooges. I really don’t understand where Iggy finds all this energy, I mean, you could see the pogo didn’t last a full song as punters were getting tired. Tired? Iggy doesn’t know that word. And he keeps jumping in the crowd from the stage on and on (when not inviting the crowd to join him onstage!). It was also very moving when he was asking for the lights to be on the audience to salute them and everyone would stand and put their hands in the air as a rock’n'roll standing ovation, awesome!
Iggy Pop - Iggy & The Stooges at Hammersmith Apollo May 3rd 2010
The crawl wasn’t quite a sunny weekend out and about, Saturday was rain rain and rain, leaving me drenched and cold by the time most of the shows were done. And Sunday was freezing, and it looks like a lot of crawlers didn’t find time to dry and gave up on waiting outside in the cold. Anyway here is for the artists covered here, in a total random order, all linking to my Flickr galleries:
And as a preview, a video of a sonic mayhem I like to hear, energetic warm up set from Pulled Apart By Horses at the Black Heart pub before their show at Electric Ballroom later. I Punched A Lion In The Throat, awesome.
And to finish with this update, the first of a series of show by Fergie, Will.i.am, Taboo and Apl.de.ap at the O2 Are.na in Nor.th Green.wich, the BLACK EYED PEAS last night!
Black Eyed Peas Perform At The O2 Arena In London, May 5th 2010
More music photography news to tell and a lot more coming soon!
I had the chance to be invited as an exhibitor at the first edition of the new music photography festival Images En Scène taking place last weekend in France (La Roche Posay) alongside Francis Vernhet and Jacques Bisceglia to name a few. I had a great time, I received a very warm welcome and everyone was absolutely great. Quality exhibitions, live music, a debate on radio and lots of friendly new people met. I didn’t take my camera much with me so no images here but I’m guessing there should be images of the festival popping up on the festival site or on Flickr at some point. A big thank you to Yves Lafosse, Didier Coupeau and really everyone in the team!
My collection of 50 fine art Digigraphie prints will hopefully be seen in London soon! (and if you are interested in organising an exhibition for it get in touch).
This led to a brief appearance on French TV as you can see:
For some reason I appeared on the BBC’s “Bang Goes The Theory” on the same week, even though that was shot last summer, very odd .
Now busy times ahead as well with the famous Camden Crawl this weekend in, well, Camden, with an average of 15 simultaneous shows at any moment in various venues I will regret I wasn’t serious enough in my morning jogging resolution this year!! So if I don’t have an heart attack before Sunday night I will post some news here but I reckon you should follow me on Twitter for up to the minute news of what is going on in front of my lenses! And of course everything will end up on my Flickr gallery very soon.
And then more coming this way for a busy May starting with Black Eyed Peas at the O2 Arena!
A great clear sky without a single plane, I’m getting used to it! Living precisely under the approach route to Heathrow I am used to see and hear planes every 10 minutes (passing right over the velux over our bed, I wish I hadn’t seen Donnie Darko). So it is actually quite nice to experience what it’s like to have no plane at all, I suppose from tomorrow it’s over. Well, it’s a nice compensation for having had my flight canceled anyway! Last time I went to France a Eurostar got stuck under the Channel so we got stuck home a few more days, now it’s a Volcano, what’s next I wonder?
Latest music sights were from a double bill last week, starting at the good old 100 Club with the Joe Perry Project playing an intimate show after their “Have Guitar, Will Travel” tour. And before The Aerosmith tour. Sorry to the few people I got in the way of for a few songs while I shot the 3 firsts, although I was almost front row until a Ross Halfin popped up in front of me at the sound of the first chord, giving the challenge to avoid getting him and his camera in all of my frames. Anyway it’s always nice to chat with the audience in such conditions to compensate from being all squashed, you know who you are .
The Joe Perry Project at the 100 Club 13 April 2010
And as if it wasn’t enough I ran to the Borderline to catch the set of Sorry And The Sinatras headlining a punk night there, good set. I did a bit of video too, just a quickie though so it is a bit rough, I might post that sometimes when I find the time to edit.
Sorry And The Sinatras at The Borderline, April 13 2010
Now for the very awaited exhibition, Images En Scène is this very weekend at La Roche Posay in France near Poitiers, my hometown, where 50 of my prints will be presented. Check out all the details of this great event on the following link, it will features some great music photography as well as live shows, so if you’re around come and visit!
Festival Images En Scene, Music Photography at La Roche Posay this very weekend!
A night of Krautrock at the Royal Albert Hall last night with German Electronic band Tangerine Dream. A dramatic introduction with masked cello players and Linda Spa in a dress of lights playing the grand piano, when Edgar Froese, who founded the band in 67, came with his cowboy hat on, first caressing the pianist hair then suddenly hitting the piano’s strings with a whip.
Tangerine Dream at the Royal Albert Hall on April 1st 2010
What a marathon tonight thanks to the multi disruptions of the transport for London network. I started by catching up with the uber cool Foxy Shazam right after their soundcheck at The Flowerpot in Kentish town for some cool portraits. These are the American madmen who supported Hole last Wednesday and impressed me a lot both for their music and stage presence. I’ll post a gallery of these shots very soon but here is a teaser.
Foxy Shazam posing in Kentish Town, London, 20 February 2010
Now unfortunately I couldn’t stay for their performance, but I’m sure they’ll be back soon and you’ll definitely hear about them, I’d be surprised if they don’t show up to some of our numerous festivals. Hey in the meantime go to The Flowerpot it’s a very cool bar and venue on Kentish Town Road!
So there I was with only an hour to reach the O2 Arena and catch Depeche Mode, from Kentish Town Rd, considering Camden Town was closed, and that there wasn’t any Jubilee line. That involved a bus, a run to Mornington Crescent from Camden Town, tube, train to Greenwich, and then a real mess with all cabs and buses full and not stopping, I hate it when the Jubilee Line is down I tell you. I ended up getting on a bus half way from Greenwich and the O2 and arriving just on time, pfew.
Great show from Depeche Mode, Dave Gahan was on top form, the lighting was great, Martin Gore was all glitter and the place was packed – but isn’t it always. The gallery is here.
Depeche Mode performing at the O2 Arena, London, 20 February 2010
And to avoid another bus nightmare I took a Clipper to go back to town, that’s a pretty nice way to get back from the O2 I must say, shame it is not included in the Oyster capping tho…
. Here is the gallery!
. That was 
