2022 in Shows
I hope this finds you well mid festivities.
We are at that time of year when everyone is putting out their top ten lists.
And I would too had I actually been well enough to go to 10 things.
But I wasn't.
2022 was mostly a washout for me. I spent about 50% of it sick and 80% of it getting ignored.
Recovering from the last few years is tough.
I tried to be more consistent in pitching for work through the year. At least as consistent as I could be.
What do you think is worse, getting ignored or getting rejections?
Personally I'd prefer the latter.
That way you can work out what you're doing wrong and do something about it.
I am not sure if I will ever be able to get back to the things I was doing before and if I do I don't see the opportunity to advance.
It seems like there's only 4 jobs in the creative industries in Scotland.
That's why I want to build this Substack newsletter into a platform that I control.
I want to photograph and write about things that interest me. I want to interview bands and artists, shoot shows and make little things that push my skills.
Maybe I should run shows, who knows?
Maybe the Twitter exodus caused by the takeover by the Emerald Manchild will benefit all of us who want to make and distribute our own content. I have certainly been able to discover a lot more blogs and writers in the last couple of months than in the last few years.
I said this year was mostly a washout for me. But it wasn't a total washout. I gained a new client who hired me a further nine times after the first thing I shot for them, obviously because I am THAT good at what I do.
It is nice to be able to go into another year with orders in the book and dates on the calendar.
But tell me, is increasing your fees because they made you lose at Whammageddon reasonable?
Also I was able to see and/or photograph a few things.
These are some of the shows that I enjoyed the most.
NewDad
This band were part of the soundtrack of my lockdown. Along with AA Williams, Dry Cleaning, Noveller, Mogwai and a few others in case you were curious.
During that time I'd listen to Radio 6 quite a lot and hear half of Shaun Keaveny and half of Steve Lamacq's shows. NewDad were one of the artists that they played a few times and one that just stuck.
Particularly their song "Blue".
I saw them twice in 2022. Once at the beginning and again at the end. Bookending my year nicely.
The first time they were supported by Edinburgh's Swim School while the second time they were supported by Cloth.
Polar opposite support bands.
Swim School are very loud, Cloth are quite understated. Both worth further investigation.
At the first gig NewDad played everything they've released up to that point. At the end the crowd were shouting for one more tune and the band sort of sheepishly replied that was everything they had.
Second time around they played new song after new song and only a handful of the same from the first gig.
I remember at the first gig there was a tiny delay when they came onstage so a couple of them could pour a drink. Obviously they were pouring a pint of Guinness. Second time I saw them they have a different Bass player, who came onstage carrying you guessed it, a pint of Guinness.
It's like a test of how Irish is your band.
Sparks
We had the tickets to see Sparks for 2 years.
It was supposed to be the tour of the Steady Drip Drip album.
Ron and Russell are in their 70s now. They started this band at the end of the 60s.
And yet this isn't two old guys trying to recapture their prime.
They have 2 movies out. Edgar Wright's Sparks Brothers documentary and their musical Annette with Leos Carax. Which are both wonderful.
They bring a new album out every couple of years, did a collaboration with Franz Ferdinand as FFS, made a radio play for Swedish radio and have relentlessly toured. All while inventing and reinventing their music yet always managing to sound like Sparks.
Sparks heyday is right now.
Go and see them while you still can.
At this gig they had no support band so played a little longer than a band normally would.
They also had perfect sound. One of the best that I've ever experienced in the famous old Barrowlands. It was so clear and clean. No distortion or coming home with ringing ears.
Why can't they all be like this?
The set list took songs from their whole career. From their first album right up to Annette.
Songs from their 2001 album Lil Beethoven made up the majority of the set list.
If you've ever found it intimidating checking out a band with a lot of albums like Sparks I'd suggest starting with that one.
Some of the songs from this album are live staples of their set. Others I reckon were put in to give Russell a break from running around. Pictured is the Rhythm Thief.
They played some of my favourites too. 'Get in the Swing' being the one that comes to mind.
I've seen Sparks 5 times and never seen them perform that.
The Soap Girls
I don't know how or where I discovered these South African Sisters.
Possibly through YouTube. They do a lot of streaming shows and have a lot of music videos on there.
when I was at school there were a lot of female fronted bands that I really used to like. Veruca Salt, the Breeders, Belly, L7 and I could go on. The Soap Girls manage to capture whatever those bands had and make it their own. They have catchy tunes and lovely harmonies and mix that with a good dose of Punk Rock and Metal. Doing that loud/quiet thing very well.
They have an ethos of doing your own thing and accepting being weird . Their song 'Society's Rejects' pretty much sums it up.
I do wish that this had been a busier show for them. They're really fun to watch.
Completely nuts of course.
But in a good way.
Sleeper
Another band I used to enjoy when I was at school.
Although I never got the chance to see them perform first time around. The closest I got was at T in the Park where they were on in a tent. Along with Elastica and Supergrass. the 3 bands of that moment. I saw none of them as it was impossible to get in.
I saw Spare Snare and the Delgados instead so I think in hindsight I got the better deal.
My pals Miss the Occupier were the support at this gig which is the main reason of why I went.
And they were good of course.
Sleeper were performing their 1996 album 'The It Girl' and some other hits too.
With the original line up from that album.
Between each song Louise would give a little intro or tell a story about each song.
It was actually quite refreshing watching them as they played with a lot of freedom.
The freedom of a band who isn't chasing hit records.
There was a little interval after the last song on their album before the band returned and played hits.
Inbetweener obviously.
They also pulled out their cover of Blondie's Atomic that they did for the Trainspotting soundtrack.
I had completely forgotten about that. Blondie either wanted too high a royalty fee or didn't want to be associated with a movie about drug addicts so Sleeper stepped in. It was a nice little bonus.
Although they didn't play Delicious which was disappointing.
Frets: Blake Butler & Grant
I had the opportunity to go to either of the Frets gigs. Both in former churches. I chose to go to the second showing in the Mackintosh Church. A beautiful and atmospheric venue with the added benefit of being a shorter walk in the rain for me.
The Frets gigs are stripped back acoustic shows that Douglas and the Creeping Bent organisation started putting on at the end of lockdown.
I think seeing well known artists doing something a little bit different really struck on something and they seem to have been very well attended and spoken of.
This one was a special night. James Grant, Bernard Butler and Norman Blake playing each other's songs from their respective long and glittering careers. They took turns about doing a song each but didn't always sing their song. The three different voices worked really well together. Especially James Grant. For me he was really the glue that held it all together.
I shot 2 gigs at Celtic Connections in 2022, this was the second.
You can see the rest of the set on my website but the photo I've used here is one I shot using film. In 2021 I set myself a project to use a roll of film every month and I was aiming to keep it going.
And I did. Until I got covid.
Dandelion
This was the first thing I went to after getting Covid and I felt absolutely terrible.
I got sick and just couldn't recover. One day I'd feel ok and be well enough to do something and then I'd spend the next three days unable to do anything.
The Dandelion festival was part of the Unboxed series of events. Or whisper it, "the festival of Brexit".
Despite this dubious claim to fame it was quite entertaining.
They had a cool stage set up and a pretty good line up.
It was Niteworks that I really wanted to see.
I photographed them in the Barrowlands a few years ago. And while that was a good gig and they sounded amazing I wasn't very happy with my images from that night. mostly because I couldn't see them. It was all strobes and back lighting.
My photos of the support band with the proper stage lighting switched on were spectacular. It has always annoyed me that I wasn't able to do the same with Niteworks.
So I was very happy to see them playing in daylight, where I could actually see them.
The other bands this day were good too. Les Amazones d'Afrique, Newton Faulkner and This is the Kit were all fun to watch and seeing the first showing of Hen Hoose was pretty good too. I shot this as if they had hired me. Which they should have done as this took place about 800 steps from my house, but didn’t.
Hope that your ‘22 wasn’t a total washout either.
Catch you in the next one.
Slainte!
Andrew