Now, I wouldn’t particularly call myself a music snob….but I have very little tolerance for dance music. The only band I really come close to saying I ‘enjoy’ is Sneaky Sound System, if only for the fact the guy in the band bears a striking resemblance to Faramir from Lord of the Rings. So spending my Friday night watching electrindie darlings Midnight Juggernauts wasn’t the most enticing prospect.
I’d turned up late, because clearly, watching the football and thus my team’s captain hobble around like a lame horse was much more important. And as always, when you turn up late to a sold-out show at Capitol, there’s really only one option as far as standing room goes. The DJ podium. Even the fail-safe position side of stage wasn’t an option, it’d been blocked off with a curtain. So the night began with the one thing I hate doing; battling my way through a tightly packed crowd. And apologising. A lot. The DJ’s on the podium were thankfully accomodating as they usually are, and the lack of security was a pleasant surprise. It’s such a prime spot, about 2-3 metres back from the stage, and about a metre above the crowd’s head. Certainly makes up for the fact Caps doesn’t have a photopit.
There was a relatively decent lighting setup (decent by Capitol standards anyway). I guess that’s a normal thing for electro acts? I can’t say I found the band to be much chop. I vaguely knew one song. The vocals on one of the other songs sounded like the Bowie pisstake song by NZ folk comedy duo Flight of the Conchords. Which I’m sure was unintentional. Tried shooting on AV mode, but had to switch back to M just out of habit. I think using AV and Spot Metering is going to need as much practice to get a hang of as M did. Got some relatively nice stuff with AV, but I think I’m too much of a control freak. I think I was up on the podium for about two or three songs before the security bloke magically appeared and asked me to move on. I half-heartedly pleaded my case to stay there for a bit longer, but he was politely insistent. Given there was no point continuing to shoot if I couldn’t do it from the podium, I headed for the door. I checked my watch on the way out. I’d been there for 30 minutes, probably shot for between 10-15 minutes of that time. I’d always vowed to myself when I first started out that I wouldn’t become one of ‘those’ photogs who just turned up to shoot a band for a couple of songs. Oops!
