With Happy Mondays and The Farm playing to a packed and enthusiastic house!

Happy Mondays

Another fun night shooting for Brighton and Hove News courtesy of Nick Linazasoro, and this time it’s not a grass roots venue or emerging artist. Quite the contrary in fact, with the legendary Happy Mondays playing to a very happy Brighton Dome audience. This is not a scene I have ever immersed myself in, but the music is still familiar to me. And there was no doubting the joy in the room and the infectious fun vibes that Bez inspires through his phenomenal stage presence. It is also great to have such a lively subject to shoot.

While waiting in the pit and snapping elements of the stage set up, I was very happy to see there were still zero mic stands, it makes it so much easier to frame the image as well as suggesting the artists will be moving quite a bit! Add this to Firouzeh bringing the performance alive with her dance moves and vocals and I had a feeling this was going to be an interesting night of photography.

Following this explosive opening, the rest of the band joined, with the understated yet charismatic presence of Shaun Ryder taking centre stage. I can’t deny I did get caught up in the joy and energy of the sound. And the easy banter from Shaun with his audience made it feel like a room full of old friends.

As is the usual rule in larger venues we were given a three song limitation in the photographer’s pit so it can get a little frantic in the space. Particularly as there were five of us there and we did have to chase the light a little. I also managed to snap a few full stage images from the circle.

Shaun Ryder – lead vocals
Mark “Bez” Berry – percussion, freaky dancing
Mark Day – guitar
Gary Whelan – drums
Dan Broad – musical director, guitar, keys
Firouzeh Berry – vocals

The Farm

The support act were also clearly a favourite with the audience, playing some instantly recognisable singalong numbers. The Farm, hailing from Liverpool, but with their beginnings linking them strongly to the Madchester aesthetic, combined with the added strength of the dance rhythms in their sound gave their live performance infectious vitality. The easy communication with the audience from front man Peter Hooton echoed the atmosphere of us all being one big happy family.

The Farm:
Peter Hooton – vocals
Keith Mullin – guitar
Steve Grimes – guitar, keyboards
Carl Hunter – bass guitar
Ben Leach – keyboards
Roy Boulter – drums

Photographer’s Stuff

When shooting in larger venues like Brighton Dome it does feel like a luxury to have the freedom of the pit and to be able to move around unhindered. Being a larger, more financially lucrative business means the use of lighting is usually more complex. However, as different parts of the performance area are lit in various ways it requires more adjustments in settings throughout. So there are aways pros and cons. Thankfully the dry ice was not overdone tonight, so sharp images were easier. But there was a lot of pink and blue light. I also found myself switching between one shot and servo as the performers were either very static or very lively. I wanted to explore some slow shutter speeds with the dancers during the show but the short pit time didn’t allow for much experimentation. Hopefully at the next grass roots venue.

Tonight I was mainly shooting at f-stop 2.8 with my ISO moving between 3200 and 6400. Shutter speed on 1/100. Sticking to my usual kist of the Canon EOS R, 85mm and 35mm.