nick pickles music photographer

So, for the first time in a while I got to cover a festival I’d not been to before! I must admit this was a bit of a last-minute job, but with a lineup that included Thom Yorke (rumoured to be performing with his band ‘Atoms for Peace’) M.I.A, Massive Attack, Patrick Wolf and lots of acts I’d never heard of, I set off with a fair degree of excitement.

Sadly, and much to my surprise, the resounding feeling of the weekend would be shaking my head in disbelief at some of the epic fuck-ups and ridiculous situations that emerged. The best moments were saved for the nightime photohunting on Thursday night with Glastonbury-atmosphere-photo legend Leon Neal and the merry gang of Tim, Tom and Tommy and a counter-surveillance operation involving body painted naked people that Andy McNab would have been proud of.

Alas, all this had to wait. Despite managing to get from Leeds to within 2 miles of the festival site in very good time, the final two miles were pretty monumental. We’d planned to arrive at 3pm, with gates opening at 2pm. We eventually got onsite aroun 6.30pm. It seems some genius had the idea to put all the traffic (artists and event staff aside) through one traffic gate. Which was a single track road. Resulting in massive lines of cars not really going anywhere, for a long time. I dread to think what time anyone would have got on site if they’d joined the que after leaving work.

Eventually on site, the tent went up and beer in hand I caught up with a few other photographers and discovered that on Sunday morning there would be a big art project by Spencer Tunick, famed for his installations of naked people. I remember being invited to one in Gateshead at the Sage (as press!) but declining to take up their offer of a 4am cooked breakfast.

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After giving it a miss in 2009, I returned to Latitude with some apprehension, mainly due to having not camped for ages, and very little prep time. Other than knowing the headliners and that The National were playing, I had no real idea what was on offer - not helped by being at T in the Park when I found out I had a pass. Having said that, the great thing about Latitude is you can wander off and see all sorts of random stuff - not least a bit of theatre in the woods. I’ve no idea who was performing, but the above shot is one of my favourite of the whole festival.

I ventured down on Thursday, mainly because Tom Jones was scheduled to play an intimate set in ‘The Woods’ at midnight. Also this meant I had some time to sort my tent out, which had never been out of the box I’d bought it in on Thursday morning.

Click on to read more, or for a fuller set of photos click here.

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Second festival, and my fourth T in the Park. Still as mental as ever, 85,000 scottish folk on the booze - a very unique atmosphere!

It’s hard to describe T this year - my first time shooting Muse, Eminem’s first european gig for five years and being on stage with one of my favourite bands, Editors, all great experiences. There were some incredible moments, including a *huge* version of ‘God is a DJ’ by Faithless, Tom from editors running towards me screaming during ‘Smokers outside the hospital doors’ and another epic Mumford and Sons set, but something didnt feel quite right.

It was probably due to the rain that battered the site on Saturday, and a distinct lack of sleep, but I also wonder whether it was down to a lineup that lacked any real unique moments of greatness.

It was a buzz shooting Eminem, but it isnt my kind of music and the consensus seems to be it wasnt exactly a stellar performance. Many of the bands playing are doing the rounds,  something affecting lots of festivals this year, and there wasnt much variety on the bigger stages.

T is still a great festival, with an incredibly passionate crowd and a great setting, but I think they need to rekindle the kind of variety that brought Brian Wilson and a whole host of acts who were ‘one offs’ to the various stages.

On the upside, Im incredibly happy with some of my shots (below) so I must be doing something right!

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Day two. for a minute there, I……..

So, all told a much better day. Started to get my head around what was irking me yesterday, felt in a bit of a lull but things feel much more positive now. Some really challenging shoots - Jamie T was lit with a very dull blue wash, while the XX were a few spotlights away from playing in the dark. Wandered into the crowd for Muse (as much to get a shot for my the wall of my new flat as to file!) and ended up with a few nice wideangle shots. Managed to catch a few tracks of the National - including shooting the first three. The sunshine and black backdrop made for some great studio style shots, which has definitely been something on my mind. The shot of Foals frontman Yannis I particularly like as it doesnt feel like a live shot, has a crispness to it that doesnt mirror the brilliant energy of their performance. I’ve no idea whether that makes it a rubbish live shot or not, but I like it so it’s going up heh.

one day left. never enough.

(oh, and I’ve just realised I’ve forgotten to do an edit of a shot of the national, so you’ll just have to wait for that.)

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Yes, Bingley has a festival. No, it wasnt just crap X factor rejects (although toploader did play on the friday - i went to the pub instead)

Now in it’s fourth year I think, Bingley’s biggest park (possibly only big park) was transformed into what I have to say was a cracking little venue. Decent views from most of the arena, good sound and some pretty surprising headliners (Doves and Editors) While the bar only seemed to have 3 people working on it, forcing punters to spend half of a band’s set queing to get a pint, on the whole it seemed a pretty decent affair - and for £25 for 2 days pretty immense value.

Oh, and for those lucky enough to have hospitality passes (thankfully a photo pass counted too) a damn tasty BBQ was laid on - with special Bingley Live cup cakes to top it off. Lovely.

I have no idea why, but Leeds always feels a bit special for me. Maybe its because it was the first festival I ever went to, or the first one I ever worked, or maybe it’s just because I know my own bed is only 15 mins drive away.

I was looking forward to this year’s festival for pretty much one reason - Radiohead. On the saturday morning, when I saw the while LED strips hanging down at the side of the stage, the rest of the day was pretty much spent waiting for the main event. Unfortunately, an hour or so before the band went on, we heard that we’d have to take photos from the very left hand side of the pit. And then to make things worse, the lighting was pretty pants for it. It’s a shame that as a fan, the photos didnt do the band justice, so when I went to watch the rest of the set I grabbed a few frames from the crowd. I dont think it was their best set - then again I’ve seen them play some pretty special gigs.

But, this wasnt just a radiohead gig - there was a festival going on. I think, as I’ve said before on this blog, the atmosphere this year has been a bit lacking, and I was really dissapointed that Leeds had dropped the usual ‘metal’ friday had been dropped, and I thought the artic monkeys were pretty underwhelming. Having said that, they did follow the Prodigy who were absolutely immense. Much like them crooked vultures, who sound like some kind of enormous jet rock band thing. just *huge*.

Friday night was certainly coloured by news that Oasis had split - I’ll do another post on that, but being in the press tent as it unfolded was a pretty stunning end to the day.

Glasvegas were pretty slow to get going, which was an odd contrast to their T in the Park set which they launched into full bore, and Bloc Party didnt quite land it. Rounding off the weekend though were two bands who really did play at the top of their game - Kaiser Chiefs and Kings of Leon - neither is my favorite band, but they both sounded great.

Anyway, once again I really enjoyed Leeds, but perhaps just a little bit less than I’d hoped.

Oh, and the photos are here.

V is a funny old festival.It’s usually a weird mix of a big name headliner, pop acts who dont play any other festivals and some random ‘international’ acts looking to get a foothold in the UK.

This year was no exception, but we did have one entertaining moment - usually Stafford gets the crap weather, D-list celebs and is generally held in contempt by the people who go to chelmsford. Well, this year Oasis played as expected at Staffordshire - and then cancelled Chelmsford. HA! A rare moment of northern justice.

Other than that nothing much exciting happened, we won the ashes and I slept in a very small bed.

Oh, and I got on stage with the killers. which was the most fun thing I’ve done in *ages*

Saturday photos here, Sunday here.

so, this may have been a few weeks ago, but i got pig flu. and a tooth infection. so yanno, its not entirely my fault that im a bit late in blogging.

I went to kendal calling with mixed feelings - I’d not been happy with my shots so far this summer, and this was an opportunity to shoot some great bands without the pressure of needing to file shots straight away. i got to hang out with friends, make some new ones and drink a few beers in the sunshine. oh, and watch GLC do a skit about Michael Jackson being a paedophile, which was very funny.

in the end i did get a few shots i like - this one of the answering machine, and a few portraits of people. i also got to catch up with those lovely fight like apes people. and then on saturday afternoon, i bit into a pie and discovered i had an epic toothache. which pretty much took my attention off everything until sunday morning, when i decided to go home.

a great festival, but an even better feeling to eat solid food again.

see the photos here.

so, T in the Park came and went, for another year. My third time of shooting the festival that I’ve come to love despite the fact that it is quite clearly mental.

a better line-up than Glastonbury (or in my opinion anyway) offered some new photo opportunities - I’ve been looking forward to shooting the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s for a while, plus seeing Blur after missing them at Glasto. And, although it didnt get confirmed until a few hours beforehand, I set off with a hope that I’d get clearance to shoot the Killers from side of stage.

i had a great time - it’s difficult not to working with the team at T, including Andy Stubbs as a photographer side-kick. but, on a photographic level, the overwhelming majority of my stuff just didnt cut the mustard. it’s strange to talk of form when essentially all i do is stand infront of a band and point a camera at them, but i feel very out of form at present. not capturing any of the energy or feeling of the acts, as my pretty lacking lady ga ga shots show.  i’m not sure if it’s just fatigue of seeing so much live music in the past few years that very little excites me any more, but i’ve been left feeling pretty underwhelmed by alot of the acts i’ve seen this year - and it comes across in the photos.

i did manage to grab a few shots i like - some portraits of peter doherty, tv on the radio, and this shot of Damon Albarn that has a nice festival vibe to it. anyway, i’m not sure what to do really - i’ve got kendal calling coming up before V and Leeds, so it will be good to challenge myself in a very different environment, but otherwise i dont know if i should go to an art gallery, take photos of trees or just try and avoid imagery. given my usual absence of planning, i imagine whatever happens will be made up, but if you see my dubious talent lying in a field somewhere, please pick it up and return it - i’m lost without it.

For all that they’re not my favourite live band, this was still pretty cool. shooting the first threee from the front of the stage was a real buzz, althout the process wasn’t helped by some very on/off lighting.

doesnt seem like a week since i was sat in the park with a beer pondering what exactly i was doing there. but still, time flies. anyway, this is my shambolic attempt at a mini-review and a few of my favourite photos.

I’ve got to say I thought glasto this year was pretty average. the lineup didnt feel like it had any magic - when you get lady ga ga and the ting tings at the top of the 2nd stage bill, things have gone a bit wrong. and having three headliners who were all playing other shows was a shame. I know you dont go to glastonbury for the headliners, but it does add a bit of magic.

I spent most of my weekend wandering round the smaller stages - mainly the park - and sunday i got to see the queens head and jazz world stages properly. only band i shot on the pyramid all weekend were spinal tap who were of course epic. on thursday I managed to make Maximo Park’s performance at 4pm (though a warning for anyone reading this - check that stages havent moved from the year before or you might end up as confused as I was) and also got to shoot Zane Lowe’s set in the BBC Introducing tent, which went out live on ze radio.

favourite sets were probably the horrors, who played as the sun was going down on the park and were immense. a near ten-minute sea within a sea closed off a really powerful set. also of note on the park were bon iver, who i’d not heard of and now can’t stop listening to. i also got to see the maccabees play an acoustic track in the bbc3 village, which was pretty cool.

fight like apes were once again magical, and getting to see them early meant catching the capitol years, a band from america who were top. really good tunes and well worth checking out.

sunday ended well, on stage with the black eyed peas. i can’t show some of the photos, for various reasons, but a good selection are up on flickr.

so, a few days until T in the Park and what I am sure will be another terrific festival. Particularly looking forward to seeing Nine Inch Nails and Jaynes addiction back to back, and fingers crossed for getting on stage with one of the headliners.

You can view the full set of my photos here, or below are a few of my favourites.