"Australia Day LIVE -2009"

Natalie Bassingthwaighte

Lovers Electric

Yesterday I shot for FasterLouder with Paddy at the "Australia Day Live" Concert in between the Old & New Parliament House's. The concert wasn't as good in my opinion as previous years but the lineup was definately varied;

Trial Kennedy, Lovers Electric, Jessica Mauboy, Natalie Bassingthwaighte, Dan Kelly & The Ukeladies, Wendy Matthews, Gurrumul, Brian Cadd and John Schumann & The Vagabond Crew.

The highlight for me was actually getting to take photos of Wendy Matthews, as daggy as that sounds. She was great and definately somebody I never thought I would get to shoot.

Foreshore 2008

The Foreshore crowd enjoys The Presets as the rain begins.

Now in it's second year, The Foreshore music festival was even bigger with three stages and acts such as PNAU, The Dukes of Windsor and The Presets.

PNAU

Me The Conqueror (Supporting Mammal)

Steve Gray of "Me The Conqueror"

Tonight I finally got to check out Canberra band; "Me The Conqueror". They were supporting Mammal (See Photo in previous post).

Trackside 2008

Bluejuice

Today was the second Trackside Music Festival and what a lineup it was;

The Living End, Cut Copy, The Panics, Bliss N Eso, British India, Something With Numbers, Sparkadia, Muph n Plutonic, Carpathian, Bluejuice, Grafton Primary, Little Red, Hell City Glamours, Los Capitanes and many others.

It's fantastic that Canberra is finally getting some great music festivals and Trackside is quickly becoming a favourite of mine. Last year it was stinking hot temperature wise. This year was the opposite, cold, rainy at times and even hail.

I particularly enjoyed the set from Sydney band; "Bluejuice". I had heard of this infamously crazy band but never really heard any of their stuff.

While standing side of stage, taking a photo of the lead singer and Allan Sko of BMA. I noticed the other singer attacking a full tequila bottle. From that moment, I knew it was going to be a good show and I was right. It was mindblowingly good.

Despite the weather, it was a fantastic day with some awesome bands playing.

Gyroscope

Daniel Sanders from Gyroscope

AMAX @ Filthy's

My good friends Amy & Max (AMAX) playing their semi-regular spot on a Tuesday night at Filthy's.

Def Leppard

Tonight I had the fun task of shooting English rockers; Def Leppard. All of us photographers were given tickets (and a plus 1) to see the show and then allowed to shoot 3 songs at the beginning of the set.

I was wondering how good the band would sound nowadays. Let's just say, I was really impressed. They brought out all the classics and threw in a new song or two. It was  a great night.

Thommo and a lady from The Canberra Times were in the pit as well. All of us running around like mad things once the show started to try and get the best shots. I think I managed to get some pretty good ones in the end and had a fun night doing it.

Stonefest 2008

Grinspoon

The Dandy Warhols

This year, Stonefest celebrated it's 40th Birthday. Bands coming along to celebrate, included: Grinspoon, The Dandy Warhols, Faker, Regurgitator, The Grates, Blue King Brown, and many others.

2008 also marked a new location for the Stonefest main stage. Moving from near the UC Refectory onto one of the large grassed areas. In my oppinion, a much nicer spot.

The Vines @ ANU

Australian garage rock legends; "The Vines" graced Canberra with their presence tonight, playing at the ANU Bar to a pretty full crowd.

MAMMAL

One of my favourite bands to shoot is Mammal, from Melbourne. Ezekiel Ox the lead singer gets completely into the music and is fantastic to take photos of as he is always so expressive. Here are a couple of my fave shots:

Mammal playing at the ANU - November 27th, 2008

Mammal at The Greenroom - July 3, 2008.

Mammal at The Venue - 9th August, 2007. - This was the first time I saw the band. The most fun I have had shooting a band at the time.

AMAX @ Cacophony Space

Max and Amy are AMAX!

Two of my good friends have formed a very talented duo and have begun to play at venues around town. Their music is original and really catchy. If you see their name on a lineup somewhere, do yourself a favour and check them out!.