The second day of Sŵn, I’ve decided to get about a bit more, a decision that would see me shoot a shedload of acts and have a pair very sore feet.

My first in-store shoot at the worlds first record store Spillers, for one man band Sj Esau, who would be playing another set at another venue but I could’nt make that so I settled for I think a 3 song set, which is usually what I get to shoot anyways.
Loop pedal, guitar and lots of twiddly things made for an entertaining little set, a bit strange shooting there with the bright colours and cd racks with its narrow size ensuring I was blocking everyones view if I stood up to shoot.

Tommy’s bar, what a journey, walking in the dark out of the centre of Cardiff in search of a student union bar, walking through creepy office blocks I find the campus but no sign of the bar, asking two young ladies who I eventually realise are far too young for me to be asking them where  a bar is but thankfully they knew where the union building would be.
Quite a cool little venue for a student bar, good lighting but I still used the flash for most shots, The Peth were headlining which would have been ace in this tiny venue but I had no chance of getting back here later on, so on I went to the Barfly.

The Joy Formidable at Clwb Ifor Bach, this would be the third time of shooting them within a few weeks, a big turnout for them upstairs on the big stage, lighting is awful mostly, for headline bands it gets a bit better, got some great energetic shots.

I decided to check out Das Wanderlust at the Reardon Smith Lecture theatre, which meant I had to leg it through subways to the museum building passing a christmas ice rink and big wheel, wish I would have had time to take a few shots.
It is an impressive sight and a bit intimidating for Das Wanderlust to be playing in a grand theatre, no flash needed here majestically lit as you would expect in a theatre.

I just had to see Broken Records at the Barfly, so another sprint there and sprint back to the museum for Euros Child, who felt a bit underdressed in t shirt and jeans.

Another sprint back to the Barfly for Amazing Baby, where my flash decided to not work, great stuff. Did the best I could, then went to the Buffalo Bar, a very small upstairs stage but quite cosy and cool, got some good non flash shots, its strange how for years I shoot non flash without a problem then when I’m forced not to use it I struggle a bit, but all the same I’m glad to have shot Flashguns as I missed them at In The CIty.
Some new batteries solve the problem and I’m all flashed up again for Cats In Paris at Clwb Ifor Bach.

An exhausting day topped off when some idiot taxi driver ran a red light straight into the side of a passing car, what makes him more of an idiot is probably not noticing the police car behind him seeing everything.

The train to Cardiff is long.
Arriving in Cardiff for Sŵn festival, walking up and down searching for hotel, turns out I walked past Stereophonics instore at Zavvi, wondered what the queue was for, oh well.

The Wales rugby game was on, what fun, hordes of reds, police horses and closed roads making alot of bands late and throwing my carefully laid out timetable out the window.

Gallops!’ gig was relocated to Kaz Bar due to license problems at Ten Feet Tall, which i hear is a pretty cool venue. Going on over an hour late to a packed out wine bar, a bit strange but cool, Gallops! went down well, lots of nodding heads.

A normally lit bar, no stage lights, no major issues just an easy task of getting the exposure sweet.
I love Clwb Ifor Bach, a venue with two stages one downstairs one up, Rolo Tomassi were downstairs, no real stage very cosy which makes for a raucous as ever performance from them, I got very close maybe too much at times but I were pleased with the shots.

The good thing about the delays meant I could catch the rest of Johnny Foreigner’s set at the Barfly, like most Barflys, no barrier, all black walls, stage ceiling, not that impressive lighting but with flash got some nice results.

I’m usually too shy to talk to bands but I talked with quite a few over the weekend, Kelly from JoFo, James Yuill, Little Comets, Pulled Apart by Horses, Dananananaykroyd. I may well be coming off like a little star struck kid, just saying its a good thing for myself to be able to talk to them.

Got some nice shots of Casiokids at Kaz Bar too, some nice in crowd moments, a good start to the festival, I did’nt do too much exploring just staying within the Barfly and Womanby street which houses both Clwb Ifor Bach and Kaz Bar so all very close to each other.

Off back to the hotel, past the cheerful busker, one cool dude, the hotel by the way opposite the back of the Cardiff International Arena, I think Motorhead played that night, yes.

So I would venture up to Manchester twice, less than two weeks after In The City, first would be Blood Red Shoes at Academy 3, which would be a bit of a disaster due to poor choice of position.

My second stay at the Merchants Hotel, I can see myself opening a tab there.

Onto Those Dancing Days at the ace Deaf Institute in Manchester just off Oxford Road, really retro but trendy venue, lighting worked out well for me. Its a new club night called Now Wave who look set to be putting on some great bands, the  DJ set was spot on too. Supporting were Joy Formidable who went down really well,  great that they were supporting, love shooting them.

Was rammed in there and was even more difficult getting around but people were sound about it there unlike at the Blood Red Shoes gig, though the other photographer had well can’t remember what they’re called but it directs the flash behind you and into people’s faces, suffice to say folk were not best pleased.

I even went up to this balcony/seating area for some high up shots of Those Dancing Days, only regret were not going up into the seating area at the back for what I would imagine would be a killer wide angle shot, next time.

The only drawback of Now Wave, well for myself anyways is that it starts late so I could never get a train back, I would have to stay over every time, well until i can drive.

Day Four was a much more eventful day, the very last day though of In The City.

Bar 38 pretty much had pop on its mind, some good some very bad, for example Dolly Rockers, singing with backing tape, cringeworthy, Antigone were’nt bad though.

What were great were Tubelord at the Studio, managed to get some good shots of them, not a fan of the LED light in there though, LED lights were a theme across many venues, some were used ok though.

I managed to wrangle a photopass at the last minute for Ipso Facto at Academy 2, would be my first time of shooting there, first though I shot Little Boots again! at bar 38 then legged it to the Academy, nah I did’nt I got a taxi, it was chucking it down though.

Go to the Academy only to find out the lineup had changed Hatcham Social were now on before Ipso Facto which meant I did’nt have time to shoot Ipso Facto due to having to pick up my bag from storage before 10, Hatcham were ace though and much more fun to shoot than the last time I shot them.

Oh I forgot about 1913 who were on before Hatcham, had their set cut short, they were not happy, drum sticks were thrown at the sound lady, moonies were pulled and lots of swearing, great stuff.

Picked my bag up and headed to night and day for the rest of the DiS night, shot Grammatics but time was yet again not on my side I could’nt stay to shoot These New Puritans as I had to get the last train back.

Loved In The City would love to carry on these festivals with Swn and Camden Crawl coming up.

So I liked In The City so much I decided to head back up to Manchester for the final two days, The Merchants Hotel was my next lodgings, not 5 star, but smack bang in the middle of Piccadilly.

I pretty much went it alone on the second day, Johnny Foreigner were the band I had to shoot at the end of the night, first off to Bedlam for I Am Austin, a band not far away from where I live, first time of seeing them, not bad.

Off to the uber trendy Central One or One Central for the hyperactive Soft Toy Emergency, great photo opportunities with these, also No Picasso were fun to shoot at the very cool Cellar Vie, not as lame as its sounds.

I rushed back to Chicago Rock, yes Chicago Rock had bands on, but Johnny Foreigner were cancelled, that was a big kick in the teeth.

Technically its day one of In The City as The Warehouse Project was the launch party, but its day two for me and forever shall be.

I spent the majority of the early hours of sunday fighting with an painfully slow ibook, but onto my ‘final day’ at In The City.

Day started off meeting Shirlaine Forrest again and Gary Wolstenholme , awesome DiS photographer who kindly let me tag along with him as I did not know the area that well plus I never planned to flip between venues all night, quite the rush as it goes, having to deal with the different light setups various venues had.

Shot a few bands, before heading down to the NME show at South with Gary and Danny North (yes another namecheck) to shoot Detroit Social Club, then I legged it to Night and Day for first two songs of the ace Spinto Band then legged it back to South for Little Boots, this is pretty much the way it went from here on.

It was a bit mad for Little Boots, a ton of photographers flashing away at the poor lass in a very tight space,  then it was back to the mansion and  off home at the unruly time  of five in the morning.

Some of my best shots so far were of Dananananaykroyd at Sŵn including the wall of cuddles and their raucous selves.

Sŵn probably tops In The City for myself in terms of bands I wanted to see and shoot, had a great time.

Click here for all sets on flickr from Sŵn Festival 2008, including Dananananaykroyd, Johnny Foreigner and Rolo Tomassi among others.

Fightstar returned to Wrexham last night on their tour, supported by Fei Comodo, playing at Central Station, not as many screaming girls this time as there were when fightstar supported yourcodenameis:milo.

To see more pictures click here

Dananananaykroyd running about the place as if they owned it, which they did on bonfire night.

Quite the varied lineup with I Am Austin, Polly Mackey and You Love Her Coz She’s Dead put on by Don’t Die Just Yet at Central Station, Wrexham.

To see more pics of Dananananaykroyd and the rest of the bill click here

Club night ‘Now Wave’ at the frankly wonderful Deaf Institute in Manchester, imagine a small theater, trendy bar, glass balcony seating area, retro speaker wall display and lots of cool kids dancing to er Those Dancing Days and the Joy Formidable.

For more pics of The Joy Formidable and Those Dancing Days click here