Me Vs The World! Photography

Photo Set

I HATE red lights at gigs!
..and excessive use of the smoke machine.

Q&A

Right back at you :)

Q&A

Yes I shall put some up :)

I was going from the beginning of this year then moving up to recent pictures - That might change though, as I’m putting Headstock ones up sooner.

Exit Ten / The Casino Brawl / Dividing The Line - 25/01/10 Red Room, Nottingham

There seems to be some sort of unwritten rule at gigs, that the first band on - no matter how good, will never get much of a reaction out of the crowd, and tonight unfortunately is no different. Whether it’s because they generally aren’t known by the audience, or people haven’t loosened up yet. Or maybe because in tonight’s case the gig was advertised as being in the Rescue Rooms, so people were still filtering in, slightly confused, three quarters of an hour after the doors opened.

What ever the reason Dividing The Line fail to get the crowd warmed up. At most a handful of people nod or tap along with the music, and after each song they do receive a gratified round of applause from everyone, because that’s the thing - there is nothing wrong with them. In fact they play a solid set, trying to involve the audience in between songs and thanking everyone for choosing to watch them and not Glassjaw who tonight are playing in Rock City’s Main Hall. But the curse of being the first support means that they don’t quite get what they deserve in terms of participation.

Next on are The Casino Brawl who do a much better job at getting the room riled up. The audience still seem a bit weary, with a gap of about a meter and a half between the stage and first row. But this space is quickly engulfed by vocalist Jonny Ferguson who brings the mic stand into the middle and spends most of their set there, occasionally joined by bassist Jamie Common. Their set consists of songs off their debut album with a few older songs thrown in from their ep, to thank the fans that are there for them - and there are quite a few. The whole front line is full of people moshing and screaming the words back at Ferguson, occasionally breaking out into a pit.

The audience seems to double in size as everyone packs themselves in tightly, this time without a huge gap between them and the stage, in anticipation for the main event. As Exit Ten set the stage on fire with the first song of their set the whole crowd comes to life, with people at the back putting just as much heart into singing along as those at the front. Vocalist Ryan Redman interacts with the crowd, leaning forward into the masses and holding the mic out to the excited fans for that personal touch. Half way through the set he states ‘You know how sometimes you get to a venue and think it’s going to be really shit…well you guys have proved me wrong about this one.’

This sentence sums up the night, because no matter how small the venue is, if you’ve got a core of dedicated fans its always going to be worthwhile.

Photo Set

Photo Set

Let’s start this off.

First post - it’s always going to be a bit awkward trying to figure out where to start. So, I’ll post up some photographs taken this year, and start this off properly on Sunday, after Headstock Festival.