Lawson Champion Tour, 02 Academy, Bristol, 5th March 2013

 On Tuesday 5th March 2013 I was given the amazing opportunity to photograph Lawson during their Champion Square Tour at the 02 Academy in Bristol along with two supporting acts, Mike Dignam and ROOM 94.

I have been very fortunate to photograph in a variety of press pits before, some outside such as The Big Chill, and some inside such as Pilton Party, so I had a good understanding of which camera settings I wanted to use beforehand, however that always changes when you get to a venue. It was all very exciting for me.

I arrived at the venue just before 7.30pm, just in time for the first act, Mike Dignam. Mike Dignam is made up of five members; Mike Dignam himself, a 23 year old singer/songwriter from Preston, Roo Walker a guitarist, Sam Hocking a mix engineer, Sam Lord a bass player and Charlie Keeny on drums. Altogether the different members of the band have worked with a variety of A-List musicians such as Janet Devlin and McFly.

Mike Dignam.

The video on the left was made by Mike Dignam's videographer/photographer. The name of this gentleman is unknown as I did not have enough time to ask, but if I did, then credit would be given where credit is due. If you watch the video all the way through, you will see me numerous times in the stage pit. The video on the right is a Mike Dignam cover of a song written by Ella Henderson 2012.

               

To view more information about Mike Dignam, see their website: Mike Dignam.

Four membered band, Room 94 from London, of which three are brothers, were the following act to appear on stage. Kieran Lemon, lead vocals and guitar, Dean Lemon, backing vocals and drums, Sean Lemon, backing vocals and guitar who are joined by mutual friend Kit Tanton on bass.

During ROOM 94's performance, I kept seeing their sneaky photographer popping up in different places on the stage. I can't begin to imagine how difficult it was to move amongst the bands equipment.

These two left images are of Kieran Lemon, ROOM 94's lead singer. He was incredibly active, so I had to be able to think on my feet in order to make the right photograph of him. Kieran didn't make it easy, but I enjoyed the challenge. I have never known a lead singer to play with their hair so much! He was playing with his hair in the majority of the images that I made of him.

The video on the right is a new single from ROOM 94 called 'Chasing The Summer' that will be released shortly. The video is not the official video. Have a listen. ROOM 94 do not currently have a website, but they are on Twitter: ROOM 94. By the looks of it they have a lot of exciting things planned for the next few months, and they are currently on tour with Lawson, so I would definitely keep an eye out for them in the future.

                 

LAWSON. The moment I was waiting for had arrived, the London based band Lawson were about to walk onto the stage. It was all very exciting as I could feel the adrenaline running through me. Lawson is made up of four members; Andy Brown, lead vocals, Ryan Fletcher, bass guitar and backing vocals, Joel Peat, lead guitar and backing vocals and Adam Pitts on drums. They played a variety of their best songs including 'Standing In The Dark', 'Taking Over Me', 'Learn To Love Again' and 'Die For You'. It was all very exciting. For the majority of the time that I was shooting, the band were stationery so without knowing, they made it so much easier for me to make photographs.

Here are some atmospheric images. The left image is Lawson's song list, and the right image is a sign that says "crowd surfing and throwing objects will get you thrown out".

The image on the left was taken by ROOM 94, and the image on the right was taken by Lawson. I didn't realise quite how busy and packed the venue was! If you look carefully at the image on the right you will be able to see me in the press pit.

Overall I am really happy that I was allowed the opportunity to photograph in the 02 Academy, so thank you to Aaron Buckingham and Mikey Jirku (Lawson PR) for making this possible. I'm very pleased with some of the images. What do you think? Have you ever been to a Lawson gig before?