As 2017 has nearly come to an end, a year in which I have spent much more time on photography than ever before, in particular on concert photography and nature photography, here are five of my favourite concert pictures I made this year, not always just for the particular shot, but also for the memories I have of those shows.
I can’t tell why, but there’s so much beauty in everything this guy does. I really love how Nathan Gray creates all these masterpieces; this year he published a biography and Nathan Gray Collective full album, a book about monsters for small and older children, there was a re-issue of the Casting Out ‘EP’ and now he’s about the publish his acoustic solo album Feral Hymns. In each of these, there’s so much that speaks to me. It’s so awesome and inspiring to see what a human being is capable of when life has not always been what it should be and how one deals with it. Never forget, we are vital!
This picture is from April when I went to the Cologne and Eindhoven shows of Nathan Gray Collective. I was only planning to attend the Eindhoven show, but then I saw Nathan was doing a book reading in Cologne and I decided to add Cologne to the trip. No regrets at all, it was mind-blowing good!
I’ve seen Nathan in the past 7 years over 30 times (that’s like about 4 times each year) with all of his musical project BoySetsFire, The Casting Out, I Am Heresy, Nathan Gray Collective and the New Recruits. Can’t wait for February to come, as on 2 February I will be at the Family First Fest in Cologne to see BoySetsFire for the 20+ time! Unfortunately I didn’t get a ticket for the solo show in Cologne the day after as I had already booked my train tickets when I heard about the tour. So maybe, if I could get my hands on a ticket for that Cologne show, I might just go to that one as well!
More pics of these shows.
2) Polar
I’ve seen Polar a few times now and mostly in small venues, like the Box in Tessenderlo or Kavka in Antwerp. I can’t imagine they will still play these small venues in one or two years, because these guys are killing it every time and have really great songs. I really love the energy they spread in the room. I listen very often to songs like ‘Black Days’, ‘Until The Light’, ‘Mountain Throne’ and ‘Deus Ex Machina’. Definitely worth checking out!
3) Stab
One of the bands I liked most photographing this year was Stab at Muziekodroom in Hasselt. Especially Simon Leleu, their bass player. Lots of movement and great facial expression during the set! I loved their live set! And it’s a band that’s coming from Kortrijk, just a few kilometers from my hometown.
More pics from that show.
Jimmy Eat World was my first – and so far only – concert I could shoot from a photo pit. All other gigs were from the public, which makes it often hard to shoot as I also have to keep an eye out for crowd surfers or mosh pit people. So this time I had the privilege to take pictures of this band I’ve been following since their ‘Bleed American’ album. I loved the energy on stage that night at Melkweg in Amsterdam!
More pics from that show.
5) Mad Caddies
Mad Caddies is a band I’ve seen a few times and that is really fun to see live. When I asked my girlfriend what she thought of the music, she said she wanted to join me to this one (given our quite different music preferences, it is really nice to be able to attend a show together once in a while)! When people started to dance and move forward, my girlfriend quickly moved to my other side and was surprised I didn’t really took notice of the dancing people. I told her I am used to the much heavier stuff while shooting hardcore gigs and now she can’t wait till I get home safely when I’m out to shoot hardcore gigs. 🙂 This was another great night with the Caddies!
More pics from this show.