nick pickles music photographer

so, where were you when you heard about Jacko? I wasnt at glastonbury. I was in a taxi. not very exciting I know.

slightly surreal atmosphere here yesterday - it stopped raining eventually, but the damage was well and truly done in mud terms. after several trips to the (very far away from our compound) park i wrapped the day up with the horrors and animal collective - a great end to a weird day. still think even in the few years I’ve been coming here glasto has lost lots of its magic, and i can’t say I had many moments where I really enjoyed myself. had a good chat with one of the NME guys about how the lineup isnt great, and how it’s a shame none of the headliners are ‘exclusive’ anymore.

but, old man whinging aside, it’s sunny and i’m loving being here, and it’s a privildge to be shooting for the BBC. I’ve got a creative brief to look after all the small stages, which is great as I’m going to get around all the cool little stages, rather than just shoot crap like lady gaga and lily allen.

best set from friday definately the horrors, who closed with a truly epic version of sea within a sea.

so - I got on site, I fought my way to Maximo Park in the Queens Head, and then Glasto 2009 was go!

I’m here shooting for the BBC, and will be mainly covering the Park, Acoustic and Jazz World stages. This Glastonbury is about getting back to why I do this, and if I dont ever end up doing it again, I will remember the music. Been thinking alot about my last gig and when it will be - but for now that conversation can wait. I’ve a great summer ahead, and then lots of great gigs at Leeds Academy. So, if you excuse the lingo, i’m mad fer it.

so far this evening we’ve had a massive thunderstorm, a power cut, and michael jackson has died. and mike skinner presented zane lowe with a strimmer. oh well.

Or is it Dream Theater? I’ve no idea, silly american spellings. Still, first time a band have ever said “first fifteen minutes” to me. Pity Beyonce didnt have the same idea.

No real clue who these guys were, but they were there to *rock* (fingers in the air man) and they had a very, very excessive drum kit.

Otherwise, no idea, I went to the pub.

My penultimate gig before festival season proper kicks off, and to see a band who were it not for some very nice people at Glastonbury 03 convincing me to stay and watch them, I would never have discovered.

Orbital are proof that not all dance music has to be rubbish.

Playing Leeds Academy with the rig they would put to good use two days later at Rock Ness, Orbital were loud, bright and very, very good. Some people may say they will never produce anything as good as the tunes they seemed to effortlessly knock out in the 1990s, and they may be right, but christ they are still brilliant live.

Special nod to Delphic, who were providing support. A ‘proper’ band playing cracking electronic tunes, really do keep an eye out for them if you like Death in Vegas/Friendly Fires style music.

So, with camera in hand and the entire balcony of Leeds academy to myself, I put on my dancing shoes and went for it. Only to realise the rig was so big you could see pretty much the square root of sod all in the pit.

I’m not going to say anything about why it was 4am when I got to bed after this gig, or how knackered my car was. Well, apart from that.

Whatever you think of them as people, one thing that can’t be faulted is that Oasis have some seriously good tunes. And this was a chance for them to belt them out to 70,000 fans on their home turf. The biggest outdoor event in Manchester since the Pope, so I’m told.

And if that isnt a recepie for a top gig, I dont know what is.

Twisted Wheel, The Enemy and Kasabian all put on great sets, despite the fact that I still only think the latter are actually a decent band.

Oh, and yes, the photos….

Thank the lord for sunshine and festivals! Sunday was a blast - I headed down after some breakfast, bumped into a few old friends, got into the swing of things with a few shots and a cold beer. 

All was going swimmingly until around 11pm and the VIP bar closed. I bumped into some more old pals from the toon, and ended up going for a ‘quick’ drink. Four hours later i was stumbling out of a taxi and making a bit of a racket trying to get my sister to let me into her house. (she was expecting me for the record, i was just late!)

monday was slightly complicated by the resulting massive hangover - i missed the first few bands, and couldnt face driving home at 11pm so headed off after the Maccabees (who were the main reason I went!)

anyway, great festival, although i had forgotten how long it took to walk the full length of newcastle’s quayside!

Evolution festival in newcastle was kindov where it all began, in a way.

I’d somehow blagged a press pass, went of Sony compact in hand, and really didnt know what to do. I never knew Barney Britton very well (you could even say we didnt get on at all!) but he was, as ever, a total gent and talked me through the technical side of photography, as well as his views on all sorts.

ridiculously, it happened before i’d started using flickr, so i havent got any shots online from that day. (no bad thing mind!)although bizarrely i do have this photo of the millenium bridge i took.

Anyway, four years on and I’m coming back - and am really looking forward to it. I didnt cover last year’s festival for one reason or another, but after Live at Leeds I decided i needed to come. Mainly to see the Maccabees again, but also for nostalgias sake. And, if I get the chance, I’ll be sure to pass on barney’s help to any photographer’s who can find me a cup of tea.

here are a few shots from evolution i still like.

so…we were told we needed to be at the venue one hour before she went on stage, and to bring long lenses. I can live with that.

We were also told we had 90 seconds to shoot, and that the first 30 or so would be shiloettes. Okay, still coping.

What really wound me up was that even with these rules in place, the security guards didnt think to keep the photographer’s line of sight clear. so consequently half my shots have the top of someone’s head in, despite being promised by the PR that we wouldnt have to worry about not getting clean shots.

I’m ranting because in all fairness the 90-second rule is simply ridiculous, and is a sad indictment of a culture in music management that has become either ridicuously over-protective, or just so up its own arse it makes sense.

Equally, why one of the 3 PR people couldnt have stood and stopped security from walking into shot (all they had to do was duck about 6 inches) is beyond me. Given I earn a large chunk of my income from PR, if I had organised a media event where all the photographers left pissed off, I would have serious questions asked of me by the client.

They should hope that one of the snappers wasnt doing a review.

Anyway, one photo - expecting a few to be published so I’m holding off putting a set up for a few days.

I’d forgotten how great these guys are live - saw them at a festival before i really knew them and was really impressed, now i’ve got to know the music it was really a top gig.

apparently they once did a song called ‘dizzy’ with vic reeves. though I have to admit I only found that out afterwards.