In my recent posts about unpublished photos I mentioned that I started by smuggling my camera into gigs so I thought I would share a few memories of that time.
Back in 1990 I had invested in some Nikon kit and I used to smuggle it into gigs under my jacket – as I recall it was a camera body and either an 85mm or a 135mm lens with the recently discovered Kodak Tmax film rated at 3200ASA.
Having said that I did not get off to a good start as, when I went to see Deborah Harry in South Shields, I was in the crowd and shot a few pics before I got the tap on my shoulder from security with the polite suggestion that I should stop taking pictures – the results were not that brilliant because I had maybe only shot nine photos but I was not there officially.
VIDEO: I Want That Man by Deborah Harry
A week or so later I once again smuggled my camera into a gig this time at The Riverside in Newcastle.
It was The Black Crowes who were touring to promote their debut album and I do like this shot of the singer on stage and engaging with the crowd.
VIDEO: Hard To Handle by The Black Crowes
Bizarrely I saw my favourite band, The Men They Couldn’t Hang, at The Riverside that June but for some reason I did not take my camera and, to this day, I still ask myself why because I have covered quite a few of their gigs over the years?
However, the following month I caught another new band – The Almighty – who were also promoting their first album. They were a Scottish hard rock/heavy metal band and a marked contrast to the sound of The Black Crowes. The obvious focus of the band was their tattooed frontman Ricky Warwick.
VIDEO: Wild & Wonderful by The Almighty
And in early 1991 I caught Love/Hate who were also promoting their debut album – Blackout In The Red Room – and I do like this shot of singer Jazzy Pearl which made it to my portfolio which got me onto the photojournalism course in Sheffield (alongside the shots of The Black Crowes and The Almighty).
But, bizarrely, when I was living in Carlisle in 2018, I asked to cover a solo gig by Pearl and had the permission of the club owner to shoot a few pics. I got some nice shots of local support band Falling Red and Doomsday Outlaw before I got into position for the headliner.
I was happily snapping away when I again felt the tap on my shoulder and was told in no uncertain terms that I should stop taking pictures – this was despite me getting permission to take the shots and was in stark contrast to my smuggling a camera in unofficially years earlier.
Ian Duncan Media 