Thunder – Christmas Shows December 2011
January 7th, 2012 § Leave a Comment
Thunder - Xmas 2011
Although no longer a recording band, and despite a farewell tour in 2009, Thunder are way too good a band to disappear completely. They resurfaced in July 2011 for a one off appearance at High Voltage, and by most people’s reckoning were the best band at the festival. Buoyed by their continuing popularity even in retirement, they decided to put together a special Christmas show in December. That sold out within hours so they added a second date, at the same venue, Nottingham’s Rock City.
Thunder Christmas shows in past years attained almost legendary status among fans, and it was no surprise that both shows were packed to the rafters. Fortunately, as sole photographer allowed at the show I had the best seat in the house, with a photo pit all to myself. That, combined with the lighting skills of Scampi and a new toy (er.. new camera) to play with, made these two shows possibly the most enjoyable shows to photograph I can remember. I hope the pics reflect some of that.
Each show followed a similar format – starting with an acoustic set comprising a mix of Thunder tunes and covers of other well known rock and soul songs, and following that with a full on electric set of mainly Thunder songs. Highlight for me was a magnificent cover of Wings’ ‘Live and Let Die’ (the James Bond theme). Brilliant.
The aftershow party, that I left at 4.30am, was pretty enjoyable too!
Here are the pics…. (of the shows, not the after show party)
Saint Jude – Birmingham 18th December 2011
January 7th, 2012 § Leave a Comment
I first saw Saint Jude when they supported The Union a year or so ago. Lead singer Lynn Jackaman is charismatic and has a great powerful voice, and their album ‘Diary of a Soul Fiend’ still gets frequent plays on my car stereo.
Now managed by Thunder’s Danny Bowes, they embarked on their debut headlining tour in December. I managed to catch one of the shows, in Birmingham. Saint Jude attracted, and wowed, a sizeable crowd, and it was fun to shoot them, despite the challenge of very dark stage lighting and the usual ‘three songs no flash’ restrictions imposed by the venue.
Here are my pics of the show
