My first show of CMW was Stu Larson at the Rivoli. Great stuff with a cool and chilled vibe. People were actually telling other people to shush so that they could get into the soft folky songs of Stu Larson and the best harmonica player ever, Natsuki Kurai. This before the crazy scene at the Horseshoe shooting FIDLAR, where I found myself in a tight wave of people pushing towards the stage in what then became the tightest mosh pit ever. Once the first chord of the first song was struck, I got crushed against the stage by the force of what felt like a thousand people. Almost immediately beer started to be thrown around and I knew I’d leave after the first song. Not worth my camera getting wrecked. Next thing I know a guy flies over the top of me towards the stage smashing my camera with his foot (I think?). Probably the hardest blow my camera has ever taken. Whilst being banged around ferociously, trying to capture some images, someone stepped on my shoe and as I got shoved, it fell off my foot. So no shoe, absolutely squished to the point of being crushed, and beer drenched, I decided I had enough. Now the hard part of trying to get out of the insanely tight mosh pit. No lie, it took at least one song (although it felt like an eternity) to muscle my way out from the front of the stage. My camera took some serious beatings on the way and I finally made it to the sidelines thinking ‘what the fuck?!’. With only one shoe left and no obligation to cover any other bands for the night, it was straight into a cab and home. After cleaning my camera for about an hour and checking to make sure nothing was wrong with it, I checked the images quickly and to no surprise found the majority of my FIDLAR shots out of focus. Surprisingly, considering I was only shooting for half a three minute song, I got the images needed. Oh yeah and the worst part, my iPhone got bent from the force of being crushed as it was in the front pocket of my jeans. Yup, the iPhone 6 Plus does bend.
Anyway, I missed several shows during the week but did cover one of my faves, The Franklin Electric at the Great Hall. Love those guys. Also shot Milk & Bone and K.I.D which were a couple of nice surprises as well and enjoyed their sets. At least I didn’t lose my shoes this time…
Thanks to Quip Magazine.
Visit Quip Magazine for the review of the shows here and here.
My images from the shows can be viewed here.
*Shot on May 2nd and May 8th*
