Didn’t stay for the whole show but yeah, here’s the photos:

Soak supported, here’s one shot:

Think this was my first gig in 2014? I’ve yet to use my QuickDraw to change lenses. No covers tonight.

So during Christmas day I purchased myself another lovely Fuji X series camera as it was a deal I couldn’t refuse. Essentially the camera comes out as £190 odd as you get a £100 rebate from Fujifilm and an additional £100 from Amazon.

Quality of the camera is on par to the x100s because they essentially share the same sensor, only differences are features like viewfinders and controls. The thing that stood out for me was the interchangeable lenses so I can now shoot wider shots and more importably the articulating LCD which replaces the need to a viewfinder. It makes me shoot in crazy low and high angles.

Anyway, here are some photos taken at a concert. GUESS WHICH ONE IS TAKEN WITH AN X100S

This was from the Christmas Spectacular at Royal Albert Hall, really fun time

Ignore the crotch in the last shot.

Watch me go I guess

So this is it, the final Manson guitar has arrived in my hands. Very impressed with how it turned out.

So some background, this was originally a CE-7 red guitar, but I managed to convince the guys at Manson to refinish my one pretty much after it was completed to black glitter with the intent to match up a certain 7 string Mattocaster guitar. Here’s a pro shot from Mansons

I added custom machined black anodised knobs for the controls and headstock… they didn’t have the hardware I wanted but I prefer the look of this in the end!

But yeah.. really impressed with the sound you can get from this. Beefy MBK-3s (or BKP Aftermaths) with some graph tech ghost piezo saddles for instant acoustic action. Here’s a cheeky video of my playing stuff

and here is me rocking the piezo saddles

and more photos…

Hard to tell you how much sparkles is on this thing (they know how much I love the sparkles and have been progressively bombing the thing with it)

They used the retro logo for the headstock too. All tweaks put together makes this a fairly unique 7 string guitar. Pick up a bag today.

I saw CHVRCHES at Shepherds Bush Empire, here are some photos I took

I like the lip white outlines here

I’m a nice guy

First time I’ve seen CHVRCHES live. Skeptical about whether or not they’d be good as a live act given the lack of “real instruments” and vocal FX used in the studio album. Fortunately it was a pretty darn good show. HERE ARE MORE PHOTOS BELOW THE FOLD

I also used my cheeky X100s to take a shot or two, this was one of them

Not bad eh, was really hard to autofocus though so back to DSLR

If you haven’t heard of Giant Drag, listen to this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dugZU0QCYg. Anyway this was their last tour so I made sure I was there. It was also a show where I’ve braved into with just the X100s instead of a ragingly heavy 5d mk ii.

It was refreshing taking photos with it. Firstly because you can get away with using it during gigs where they won’t allow you to bring DSLR cameras and secondly you can hit up the slower shutter speeds and take a pretty stable shot. Autofocusing was the main issue. Image quality doesn’t beat a DSLR but it’s nearly on par (and holds up pretty well in low light).

Here’s a shot of her guitar using a crazy 1/8 shutter speed, see stable stuff:

Annie played a nice balance of new and old, obviously keeping the favourites like Kevin is Gay and Wicked Game till last. The crowd wanted Slayer but she forgot how to play that

“How do you use this thing?” Me after spending 2 weeks on an X100s and suddenly wielding a 5d mk ii again. Was an extremely fun shoot! More photos BELOW THE FOLD

Me playing Cruel by St Vincent, fun song