Spiritualized At the Royal Albert Hall

November 2011

Spin Magazine out of NYC used to be the sort of USA equivalent of Q here in the UK. They used to have three double pages at the start of every issue showcasing the most interesting and best live music photography from around the world. Each image would be full bleed across the double spread. I first noticed it when Dan Boud out his spread up on Flickr, then not long after they syndicated one of my shots from the NME, I think it was either The Cribs or The Go! Team. After that, I dropped them an email and asked for direct access to those pages, I wanted a commission, but they didn’t do that, they were always filled on spec, they wanted to genuinely fill them with the best they could get that month. So I used to send a bunch of gig listing to them and ask what was their dream shot out of those artists, and then try and wing it with the respective PR’s. It worked to god damn well, I ended up on stage with Oasis on their last tour literally just by winging it. But that’s another story….

For this gig I wanted to try something different, so I hired a 17mm tilt shift lens, it kinda worked, I do like some that I got. Other than that, Spiritualized played a great gig, and I was humbled to have AAA access in one of the greatest venues on earth.