For the next couple of weeks the BlackLOG is dedicated to the joys of the V Festival in Chelmsford
Once again for the Saturday we were joined by Stunt Cock (Joe) and La Terriere (Kirsty). Before we had even picked them up we ran into trouble as the A120 Bishops Stortford bye pass was closed, forcing all the traffic to funnel through the town centre. Fortunately I know a few cut-throughs and so managed to avoid the worst of the mayhem…
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Mrs B and I preparing for a full on musical extravaganza... |
Having failed to get a photo pass (thanks for nothing local paper) I decided to take a chance and smuggle The Beast in again this year. No real problems getting through security on the gate as they are more interested in making sure glass and drugs don't get in....
Incidentally I'm truly amazed at the amount of drugs that do make it onto the site, as we had to run (well amble to be more precise - with The Beast and the Kitchen Sink on your back you really aren’t capable of running anywhere) the gauntlet of around 10 police sniffer dogs and their handlers….
I have a feeling that the dogs might be suffering from “the bystander effect” or “Genovese syndrome”, where the more people or in this case dogs, that there are, the less likely any of the canine crew are to take any action other than sniff each other’s bottoms…..
Once inside we made for the 4 Music stage and I assembled the Beast (he gets stripped down and distributed around the various pockets and secret compartments that make up the Kitchen Sink). While the others sat down to recover from my driving I made for the Arena (Tent) to catch Twenty Twenty.
Twenty Twenty (The Arena)
Twenty Twenty are a 3 piece pop/rock band based from Cambridge (so almost local). They are made up of lead vocalist/guitarist Sam Halliday, brother and bassist/vocalist Jack Halliday, and drummer/vocalist Sonny Watson-Lang.
While I suspect I'm not their demographic, I enjoyed what I heard of them ..
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| Sam Halliday - "The Puppeteer" |
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| Jack Holliday - "Love's A Freak" |
Kassidy (4 Music Stage)
I returned in time to catch Kassidy - a Scottish alternative folk rock band, made up of Barrie-James O'Neill (vocals, guitar), Hamish Fingland (vocals, guitar), Lewis Andrew (vocals, guitar, accordion, keyboard), and Chris Potter (vocals, guitar).
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| "I Don't Know" Who is who in the band - if any fans know drop me a line and I will complete the pictures.... |
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| "I've Seen The World" and it nicked my razor..... |
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| I returned to find Mrs B and Le Terriere, with an unknown large guy sandwiched between them...While I certainly couldn't complain about the quantity, I'm not so sure about the quality... |
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| "Oh My God" Have you seen how many people are here? |
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| "Stray cat" Or is that a bad wig hanging on his head? |
Big Country (4 Music Stage)
Next up - the delights of "Big Country". With the original lead singer, Stuart Adamson, having given up air over 10 years ago, it was left to Mike Peters (The Ex Alarm lead singer) to take on vocal duties.
Mike Peters
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| "I Could Be Happy Here" Tony Butler - (original member) |
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| Mike Peters and Bruce Watson (original member) "In a Big Country" |
Some faces in the crowd
If you recognise yourself in any of the following pictures pop on down to the comment section and say hello |
| Looks like someone forgot to bring toilet paper.... |
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| I've won...The winner of the hairy armpit competition was later disqualified when DNA tests proved that she had back combed her normal hair..... |
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| Winner of the clean shaven armpit competition, although a lack of deodorant meant she got to celebrate on her own .... |
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| SC getting in some sneaky watch sales while LT was out getting (or possibly getting rid of) drinks. |
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| It took me a good 20 minutes to get far enough back to get this lot in shot..... |
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| Watching Me, Watching You.... |
At this point SC and LT left in search of different sounds (I think it was Ziggy Marly) while Mrs B and I enjoyed a very laid back set with Aloe Blacc
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| "You Make Me Smile" |
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| "I Need A Dollar" That way Aloe will know that he is at least worth two of "50 cent's" |
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| Some Friends of The Beast - I think they just wanted their pictures taken with Mrs B... |
Rain stops Play
Just as we were set for KT Tunstall followed by Bruno Mars the heavens opened which sent us scurrying for the nearest indoor venue - which happened to be the Comedy tent, where we caught Irish comedian (Andrew Stanley, I think - this is getting a bit like Wikipida with lots of
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| When did KT Tunstall grow a beard? |
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| Wait a moment I smell a rat..... Bruno Mars doesn't do Stand up and I'm sure he doesn't look anythig like a bearded KT Tunstall.... |
Lostprophets (V stage)
Didn't know much about them other than they were Welsh and not Stereophonics. Took a couple of songs but they warmed to my ears....
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| Jamie Oliver – synth, turntables, samples, vocals Looks like he's cooking up a storm.... |
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| Stuart Richardson – bass "Make mine a 99 with two flakes" |
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| "Hey, what have you done with my Prophets you bastards....?" |
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| Ian Watkins - Lead singer |
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| Is it me or do drummers have more fun....? Luke Johnson hitting the skins like there is no tomorrow... |
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| This girl clearly has love in her eyes.... |
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| While she might have thought she was smokin' hot turns out Fag Ash Lille was just smoking....
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| Looks Like Carry on's Charles Hawtrey didn't die after all.... |
One of my favourite Live bands, the lead singer Ricky Wilson is always good value for money...
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Ricky Wilson surrenders before he even gets started.... |
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| "Dead or in Serious Trouble" I have a feeling this guy is still fast asleep in the middle of Hylands park....probably wake up in time for next year... |
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| "I Predict a Riot" |
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| "When all is quiet" Ricky has a well deserved little rest |
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I can’t see… |
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At least someone was happy with their Shark dental plan... |
Plan B (V stage)
For me the big dilemma of the Saturday was whether to go and see Razorlight or stay where we were for Plan B. In the end the fact that we had a good spot and were going to be coming back for Arctic Monkeys made the decision for me…..
I prefer Razorlight’s music but Plan B is good live and besides I’m more likely to go and see Razorlight in the future….
have I convinced you that I made the right choice …..
I hope so because I’ve yet to convince myself, I still have a feeling that I should have gone with Plan A...
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| "I Know A Song" |
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| "Writing's On The wall" |
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| "She Said" |
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voice of an angel, looking like butter wouldn’t melt….. |
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But wait…. Plan looks like he is spoiling for a fight |
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| "Darkest Place" |
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| "Couldn't Get Along" |
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Arctic Monkeys (V stage)
Great songs but in truth I felt I would have liked a bit more from the headline act.....Not much chat and a dead pan delivery....on the plus side their song titles are good for captioning pictures...
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| "Reckless Serenade" |
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| "Don't Sit Down Because I've Moved Your Chair" |
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| “Red Light indicates that doors are secured” |
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| "I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor" |
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| "You Probably Couldn't See For The Lights But You Were Looking Straight At Me" |
That was just day one, click here for day 2
Looks like a nice festival. :)
ReplyDeleteMy god "my day in a sentence" that was a quick response, you almost got your comment in before I published this weeks blog...
ReplyDeleteKaiser Chiefs were the first band I ever saw live, I did enjoy live show despite being soaked by flying cups of Strongbow. That was back in 2006, I'm going to make a point of seeing them again.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see we share the same thoughts on Plan B and Arctic Monkey's live sets.
The amount of drugs that get into these events also astounds me. The dogs themselves are probably high.
Please try to ignore the mistakes in my comment, I really shouldn't be doing this at 1.13 in the morning.
ReplyDeleteCalamari said...
ReplyDeleteKaiser Chiefs were the first band I ever saw live, I did enjoy live show despite being soaked by flying cups of Strongbow. That was back in 2006, I'm going to make a point of seeing them again.
My first concert was the Police at the Rainbow in 1979 and I can report nothing was thrown in those days.
Glad to see we share the same thoughts on Plan B and Arctic Monkey's live sets.
I see a lot of live music so my expectations can be fairly high…
The amount of drugs that get into these events also astounds me. The dogs themselves are probably high.
I’m just glad they don’t have Camera sniffer dogs….
Please try to ignore the mistakes in my comment, I really shouldn't be doing this at 1.13 in the morning.
If that’s the case I probably shouldn’t be blogging at any time of the day
Looks fun! Glad The Beast made...I enjoyed the photos. I also laughed out loud at the "shark dental plan".
ReplyDeleteWatching people dance in their groove is one of my favorite things about concerts. Looks like you had quite a show!
ReplyDeleteBrooke said...
ReplyDeleteLooks fun! Glad The Beast made...I enjoyed the photos. I also laughed out loud at the "shark dental plan".
Yeah the shark dental plan was certainly funny until he started biting people…..
Nikki said...
ReplyDeleteWatching people dance in their groove is one of my favorite things about concerts. Looks like you had quite a show!
The joys of people watching, certainly lots of opportunities at V, especially as there is such an ebb and flow between the different stages, food venues, bars and toilets….
I'm incredibly jealous of your catching an Arctic Monkeys set. But, did you manage to catch Tunstall at all, or did the rain put the permanent stops to that? either way, looks like it was a hell of a good time.
ReplyDeleteDang, dawg, great photos! Reminds me of back in the day, when I photographed Peter Gabriel's WOMAD show. So much going on. Good, good times. :)
ReplyDeleteHilarious freakin' captions!! Amazing pictures!!
ReplyDeleteI esp. love the one of you & Mrs. B. That's lovely.
I love how you've stepped up the concert photography. There's nothing like getting an amazing photo of a musician in action. Maybe it'll get noticed by somehow who will want you to take pictures of live music for a magazine or something.
The big guy was damn hilarious.
And I'm returning very soon, btw. Like, now I think. Haha.
Good times, good times. Can't wait to see the rest!
A Beer for the Shower said...
ReplyDeleteI'm incredibly jealous of your catching an Arctic Monkeys set. But, did you manage to catch Tunstall at all, or did the rain put the permanent stops to that? either way, looks like it was a hell of a good time.
The problem with having a large camera is that while it is splash proof it is not drench proof, so I was forced to take shelter. So while I caught a glimpse of KT on a big screen I didn’t really get a change to listen properly – it helps that I have tickets to see her later in the year in a much more intimate setting – fingers crossed I can get The Beast into that….
Dawn @Lighten Up! said...
ReplyDeleteDang, dawg, great photos! Reminds me of back in the day, when I photographed Peter Gabriel's WOMAD show. So much going on. Good, good times. :)
Thank you I do my best…Did you get to do the Peter Gabriel concert officially or in a clandestine manner?
LilPixi said...
ReplyDeleteHilarious freakin' captions!! Amazing pictures!!
I must admit with the quantity of photo’s I’m struggling to come up with new material…thus falling back on song titles when I can
I esp. love the one of you & Mrs. B. That's lovely.
It is amazing how much I hate photo’s of me, which is probably why I’m happy to spend so much time on the other side of the lens…
I love how you've stepped up the concert photography. There's nothing like getting an amazing photo of a musician in action. Maybe it'll get noticed by somehow who will want you to take pictures of live music for a magazine or something.
It’s just so frustrating that I can’t pick up a photo pass. So far I’ve been lucky and the fact that I have a lot of confidence means people don’t often question why I get to use what is effectively a professional camera and assume that I’m there on some official capacity. Sadly when push comes to shove I know the BlackLOG doesn’t have the weight to persuade security that I should be allowed to use the camera… That said I guess I should be grateful that I get away with what I do....
The big guy was damn hilarious.
He certainly looks like a character, I must admit that I’m glad he is not a blood relative…Harsh but honest
And I'm returning very soon, btw. Like, now I think. Haha.
You have been missed
Good times, good times. Can't wait to see the rest!
The problem with taking lots of photo’s is the time it takes to whittle them down, I have got the day two photo’s down to about 200 and need to get those down to about 50….
[i]"It is amazing how much I hate photo’s of me, which is probably why I’m happy to spend so much time on the other side of the lens…"[/i]
ReplyDeleteI've heard this uttered plenty of times by plenty of people. It really is a lovely photo, though.
And the last thing you said is one of the reasons I don't host as many photos online as I used to. You have to go through so many, and sit & observe for so long, to weed through to the very best photos.
And who knows, maybe you eventually will get that photo pass. ;~}
LilPixi said...
ReplyDelete[i]"It is amazing how much I hate photo’s of me, which is probably why I’m happy to spend so much time on the other side of the lens…"[/i]
I've heard this uttered plenty of times by plenty of people. It really is a lovely photo, though.
Nicely focused framed and everything just not a great subject….I guess I’m always a tad disappointed that I never look like a hunky male model….I’ve always clung to the belief that I would get better looking as I mature….but my estimate for when this happens has gone from 60 to about 90 recently….
That said Mrs B took a good one of me holding the Beast the other day… or it would have been if that person had not walked in front of me at the moment of click, fortunately The Beast looks good though….
And the last thing you said is one of the reasons I don't host as many photos online as I used to. You have to go through so many, and sit & observe for so long, to weed through to the very best photos.
I know a lot of people don’t actually bother reading the BlackLOG they just like to look at the pictures so I guess I’m stuck publishing pictures or I lose most of my audience….Perhaps The Beast should ditch me and go solo….
And who knows, maybe you eventually will get that photo pass. ;~}
I guess like taking a really good shot you actually have to work at it – if it was easy to get a photo pass it probably would not be worth having….Fingers crossed that one day I get the chance….P.S. Sorry that I took so long to get back to you, badgering you for a new post and then I don’t even have time to comment on it… Will get there ASAP