Don't You Forget About Me

Gail and I travelled back to the 1980s tonight as we went to a Simple Minds gig at the Royal Concert Hall.

I had won some tickets in a competition through our local newspaper, the Nottingham Post, so it was a cheap night out. The seats were up in the gods, so we were quite some distance from the stage. Of course I had my camera with me, and had chosen to go with a telephoto lens, rather than a prime lens, just in case were weren't near the front. In fact we were so far away from the stage, that we were sitting next to one of the lighting guys.

The concert was a sell out, and everyone was having a good time singing, cheering and dancing along to the various songs that the band performed. I recognised some of the tunes, but I didn't buy any of their albums when they were big during the 1980s. But after hearing them tonight, I might go and buy one of their greatest hits albums.

Wishing I Had A Photograph

Does anyone remember a band from the early 1980s called a Flock of Seagulls? They were just about a one hit wonder with the song "Wishing I had a Photograph (of you)"

I bet you're wondering what they are doing now. Well here's a shot of them enjoying some sun by the canal.

It's A Groovy Party

The Disco Prophets are one of the local bands that we go and watch and take photos of. What makes them special for me is the leader is a friend of mine from my childhood days in London.

Tonight they played at a gig at a local pub for charity. Their second one with the new line up.

They play great 70's and 80's disco music, and all the pub staff were dressed up in vintage gear. So it was all great fun.

The pub were using some multi-coloured LED lights, that seem to play havoc with our cameras, as these two photos of Fay illustrate. The above one looks fairly normal, albeit with a green tinge, while the one below shows what happened when the blue lights came on. It was even worse in red.

Mind you, if any of you can remember Top of the Pops from the 1970s, they always used to do lighting and camera tricks like this, so I don't think it looks out of place.