Cardiff Arms Park held host once again to the annual Cardiff versus Swansea rugby Varsity match. Cardiff had been thrashed 19-0 the previous year so there was a lot riding on them doing well this year. The match initially did not start well for Cardiff with Swansea looking to be the stronger side.

Cardiff soon found their form though and took the lead.

Some stunning penalties ensured that Cardiff stayed in the lead. The crowd turn out for Cardiff was massive!

Swansea put a great fight but Cardiff continued to dominate.

The end score was 19-9 to Cardiff, crowning them Varsity the Varsity winners. Cardiff also won overall in the others sports winning 17 games, drawing 1 and losing just two!

The pitch was invaded by celebrating Cardiff fans at the end… The score was up on the screen for all to see!

On Saturday 25th Febuary 2008 Sum41 played Cardiff University Great Hall, they are not a bad I have followed particularly closely in recent years. My only real memory of them was in my younger days listening to Fat Lip, alongside Blink 182. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I turned up for the gig, but it turned out to be one of the more musically enjoyable gigs. Oh yeah and they also had the best lighting setup I have seen at the union. So good to see a band who have really made the effort with lighting, way better for the crowd, and more importantly better photos!

They were supported by Sound and Fury, and also Reuben.

The crowd were loving it, a surprisingly varied age range too!

The lighting for Sum41 was truly stunning, I just hope I have done it justice because it took my breathe away! Props to the lighting guys for making the show something really special. So often the lighting can really let a show down, I guess I notice this more than most due to my work relying on it, but sometimes the stage is so badly lit you can barely see the band!

This was my favorite shot from the night, so difficult to get any kind of interaction with the band sometimes, so nice when you can capture a moment like this. Sum41 definitely know how to work the crowd too, I guess years of touring helps with that!

All in all a good night, who knows I might actually listen to Sum41’s new material.

Reuben bass player

Fun bands to take photos of. Got a couple more gigs coming up in a few weeks, more details soon!

Oceana played host to the first of the hopefully bi-annual Caridff Fashion Week taster. The Ice Room was pretty well filled where several local designers displayed their clothes.

CUTV were also filming some pieces for interviews. It would be great it Cardiff Fashion Week were to take off, there are some really talented designers in Cardiff and it’s fantastic to see their wares being put out there.

A few weeks ago, for two weekends in a row I took photos of Fun Runs. The course was exactly the same, but for different causes. Saturday’s run was for the Cardiff SVC (Student Volenteering Centre). Above is the winner of the race.

It was the first year it has run, and there was a great turn out, many opting for fancy dress! Always good to see people really putting the effort in to getting dressed up! The Welsh judges hearts were stolen by this outfit, and this was the winner of the fancy dress competition.

20th Feb 2008 was the night of the NME awards tour, the usual Indie music tour, not really my kind of thing but the lighting wasn’t too bad, makes it a lot more fun! The Cribs were headlining, but first up were Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong. Then Does It Offend You, Yeah?

What’s up with bands with such long names? Above singer from Does it offend

The headliners The Cribs the took to the stage.

Drummer shots rarely get into publications but I always like to get a couple, sometimes they work out. Perou originally gave me the inspiration to look beyond the lead singer and guitarists! It’s always a challenge to get focous on the drummer amongst the kit, but it worked out here.

Can’t remember too much of the gig, and forgot to write anything down at the time, hence the sparse wording! A couple of these appeared in Quench issue 64.

The Cribs are are actually quite listenable

The great thing about shooting gig photography is that exposes you to a lot of music that you would otherwise not listen to. I don’t tend to listen to the radio a whole bunch due to not wanting to listen to the rambling of most DJ’s and the lack of fresh, good music. Sometimes you can miss a band which you really like.

Monday 18th February 2008 saw Gallows return to Cardiff, they are one of the biggest up and coming bands in hardcore punk scene at the moment, the sea of black jeans were worked up and ready to fire. I got there just after the first warm-up act SSS.

Luckily there were another two to go, and the hordes of fans were getting into it. The second support band, Fucked Up (a band from Canada!) was fronted by lunatic of a guy who wasn’t afraid to get involved with the crowd, and the crowd were in no position to argue.

Nothing really stuck out about the Set Your Goals for me, here’s one of the lead singers.

The headliners, Gallows hit the the stage up and put on a good show, not taking ginger comments from the crowd lightly! This shot was used in Quench issue 64.

They seemed genuinely amazed to be there, only this time last year they had been supported for My Chemical Romance at the very same venue.

Frank Carter getting into it

Even bigger things are in-store for Gallows, it’s nice to see a band who can still really connect with their fans.

I have lots in the pipeline at the moment, couple of portfolio shoots coming up and going to be photographing at the new bi-annual Cardiff fashion week, on Sunday night this week. It is going to be held in the Hilton and will hopefully be the start of a long string of them in Cardiff.

I showcased the flyer for the new Cardiff Dubstep night in a previous post, I was also asked to go along and take a few photos of the night itself.

In the background you can see the sound system brought in specially for the night, quite a beast of a setup!

The wheels of steel

The turnout was great, especially considering the niche market for the Dubstep genre. Props to the Baron and his crew for making it happen.