Traces Of The Real

Most gigs I go to have one, if not two, support bands. I wondered early on whether to try and shoot both acts, or just concentrate on the main attraction. The problem is that two different bands, on the same night, will share a lot of equipment, so there are similarities between the resultant pictures. The one above is of the excellent Subplots, who opened up for Retribution Gospel Choir (see previous post). Looking at both shots is like playing spot the difference – or maybe more accurately spot-the-similarity. If you look at them both you’ll see that they are sharing the same drum kit, and bits of the RGC back-line are visible behind Subplots.

I like the idea of a series of photographs taken from the same vantage point in the same venue. The building itself and it’s interior fittings – the walls, the lights, the stage – provide the continuity from shot to shot, but the performers, and their equipment, vary from night to night. Having two shots with the same equipment in the same position on stage, even if they are of different acts, wrecks this concept. I can’t use both of these pictures so it has to be “goodbye Subplots” – or maybe “goodbye Retribution Gospel Choir” …