Unlike Bjork’s concert [1], which I couldn’t photograph… to even have a faint memory of it. I did get the chance to shoot Miyavi with my good gear, without having to sneak it in… which is good, because this new lens is super huge.
Thanks to Noizu who let me in with it.
I finally bought the 2-disc Back to Basics concert DVD. I’ve become cheap because I buy other expensive stuff from Asia — I just spent $30 for a Bluray concert of Eason Chan because Exaggerate looked so freaking awesome. But I couldn’t spend more than 10$ for Back to Basics, even though I really liked the album.
I had… a like/don’t care relationship with Christina Aguilera since her debut alongside Britney — I was always a Britney fan because she had ‘something’ which we can call ‘it’ and I always felt Christina didn’t have that thing that make you want to root for her… but I was often blown away with her voice anyway. I knew the few steps to Genie in a Bottle, What a Girl Wants and Come on Over… almost to heart. I also dug that she had spent some time singing in Spanish with some good quality ballads and that infectious Falsas Esperanzas. She was the prettiest during those days — do you remember how amazing she looked in the MV for Pero me Acuerdo de Ti [MV]?
Her skin complexion then, non-sun-tanned and platinum blond, made a perfect match with the pinks which were highlights among all those grays.
Then she went all Dirrty. I did have an issue with her Dirrty days, even though Beautiful and Fighter are a couple of her strongest songs and I appreciate the change to more grundgy or gothy looks, but her literally dirty look and the sexual nature of the concept just reminds me of Tara Reid in her Wild On days. It’s just really disgusting. In the end, I never bought that album and I sorta forgot about Aguilera (or Britney). In fact, during that transition, I was becoming a Pink fan — you can tell from this post.
I have a point, bare with me.
Alongisde my Back to Basics concert DVD, I bought the Pink: Live from Wembley Arena — which would be her I’m Not Dead tour, and I watched them back to back.
It struck me that I could get a better sense of Christina watching the concert than I did with Pink. As I sat watching the second DVD, I thought to myself “wow, Back to Basics has a more cohesive theme than Pink’s concert.” To someone that considers herself a Pink fan, I felt a renew respect for Aguilera then.
It was then that I got it.
Continue Reading…
I curated a new Flickr gallery~~~ xD
Concert photography is more than taking a photo of a band playing. It’s about the energy, it’s about the lights, it’s about that specific moment that made the performance better. A concert isn’t only the band, a concert is also the fans…
Visit the gallery for full view~
Did you see it?
It was amazing – LOL, the closest thing to it since I doubt he will ever perform here. I think it’s becoming a fixture… watching Sigur Ros, Bjork, Jonsi on live streams. xD
Anyway, in case you missed it – they will be re-running the nearly-hour show pretty much all of today. Just go to the NPR website, and check if the live stream is ready for re-viewing.
I’m learning from the Japanese and their Short PV, which is PV Teaser… and the Koreans and there music video teasers. LOL Why not just release the PV, eh? xD
click on the img for a 1024 x 768px wallpaper.
Some initial images of the event in this FLICKR GALLERY.
Coming up~~~
Photos of:
HMV JP takes top marks on shipping.
It only took 2 days! TWO days for my order to arrive~~~
It took Salyu 3 years to release her 3rd studio album, but it’s not like we were deprived of new music. In fact, Maiden Voyage contains many of the singles that Salyu had release these past years [6, if I count correctly]. You could say this could be a compilation of sorts, but it surprisingly works nicely as an album.
The album art gives you the visuals of flying… almost in a dream-like fashion — I mean, Salyu IS floating on a mattress and/or pillows, right? These visuals work really well with the overall themes and overall energy of the songs (yes, I actually grabbed the song book and followed the bouncing ball).
It also looks like Salyu is experimenting with her own music by finally stepping onto the writers chair, and even working on the music herself. Of course, she’s not doing it alone but with the help of Takeshi Kobayashi who has been there since the days of Lily Chou Chou. The collaborations between Kobayashi and Salyu are what we have come to get used to as far as Salyu’s sound is.
Interestingly enough, Salyu’s song (written and composed as least with the help of Tatsuya Kokufu) L.A.F.S (which stands for Love at First Sight) reminded me a little bit of what Salyu used to sound as Lily. Somewhat off-beat melodies, with really simple lyrics, but really moody.
Overall, the album really flows well and feels like a whole, except maybe for the oddball BIRTHDAY, which threw me off… in a really good way. The song, written by Salyu and composed again by Kokufu, sounded like Shiina Ringo and Bjork had a lovechild, if that were EVER possible.
I’ve taken to Salyu’s music because it’s soothing, as well as quite slow and easier to follow with a songbook. Salyu is really quite good to practice your reading and pronunciation. However on BIRTHDAY, she slurs her words and sounds completely different. I’m looking forward to more of that sound in the future. Hopefully.
As for the concert DVD. Well, it’s totally worth the price you pay for this limited edition with DVD
Screencap galore after the break~
What happened to MTV Unplugged anyway? It feels like it just went away. I do remember Alicia Keys and Maroon 5 had MTV Unplugged albums, right? Or was it only Keys?
Anyway, Vampire Weekend on MTV Unplugged.
Does that mean they’re famous? I thought only famous… like household names had MTV Unplugged albums. I really liked Vampire Weekend’s debut, and their sound translates well on this unplugged scenario. But what’s missing? I guess I’m used to really different arrangements. As it it now, they just sound kind of the same.
Check out some clips (6 songs is a full show?) over at the MTV website.
* seems like the embedding didn’t work for me.
Woh~~~oh~~~!!
Freaking bouncers… *note to self* always kick around to get a photographing wristband so bouncers don’t bug. I went to shoot Brett Anderson last night, and well – I actually had never heard of him before I heard he was coming over.
It was pretty good… though I liked the guitarist better. LOL – He was a great subject tonight, and his shots are some of my favorite of the night… which is running long. I really need to go to sleep, but I wanted to post the set =D
I’m sorry I couldn’t get a clear shot of the drummer… no lights pointing at him whatsoever!
and~~~ I dunno why I like this shot so much. xD
Okay, if you haven’t read the Quickie one, do so here –
I needed some time to find the setlist, which I couldn’t really find so you’ll have to rely on my memory and how it connects the online videos of the concert. Lucky for you, Wikipedia did a fairly good job… I think.
Here’s the songs that were played:
It’s 4.20am, so quit it. I worked hard to get those photos out as soon as I could… over 700 photos, that were reduced to a little over 600, because 100 shots were awful. I managed to get at least 20% useable photos, some pretty good too~
But you’ll see…
All photos are not public yet, only half… but I’m already tired. They will be made public this afternoon. They are about 145 photos. Low resolution… big enough to post online and share via e-mail. If you do, a link back to amy-wong.com ~~ you’d better do.
For bigger resolution, I mean… RAW files~ or big JPGs, email me~ all contact info needed in the following link with the photos…
Head over here… watch and read.
That one up there is a big stitch… 4 photos into one.
