When I was approached to shoot the festival Art Against Discrimination a few month ago I didn’t know what it was about or what the lineup would be looking like. Once I dug into it, ….. well I had no choice but to accept. I really loved the concept of the Festival: Local Bands, a good cause, and loads fun. It turned out to be a very nice evening, a lot of nice people, very good atmosphere and some nice music.

On a technical note: The light was not easy to work with. All I had during the first gig was bright blues with some magenta, all coming from the back and very little light coming from the front. Thank god, it changed during the evening. I used the 1D only with the 70-200mm, 28-75mm and 15mm.

The rest of the pictures here or in the slideshow below.

Alpha Academy from Göttingen played as a support group to Guano Apes at Den Atelier the other night. They rocked pretty well, I loved their sound and so did the crowd.

On a technical note: The light was not at it’s best for the gig. Very dark, very plain and the pit was nearly as crowded as for the main gig. I used the 28-75 F2.8 all through the 3 songs.

The rest of the pictures here or below in the slideshow.

When “Open your eyes” was released back in 1996 (yes, … I am that old) I was hooked. I couldn’t get enough of that song. I loved their album “Proud like a god” …. and no I didn’t learn to snowboard because of them. That’s an entirely different story. Anyways Luxembourg was part of their tour to promote their new album “Bel Air”. The show was amazing, it’s during gigs like this that I usually realize how much I love that job. A very nice first concert of the year ….

On a technical note: The pit was really crowded, movement had to be kept to a minimum. The light in the first song was really good, during the second and third it was not really a walk in the park. I used the Canon 1D MkIV with the Canon 15mm F2.8 and the Tamron 28-75mm F2.8 for the three songs.

The rest of the pictures below or on flickr here.

I’ve photographed Selah Sue in March 2011 for the first time. I was deeply impressed by her performance, and was looking forward to photogrpraph here again. This time at the Rockhal, a bigger venue which was packed.

Technical note: The light varied greatly between the first 3 songs, which was nice for a change. The background remained quite dark though, which made me focus a lot more on portraits that the whole scene.

The rest of the pictures here or in the slideshow below:

I photographed William Fitzsimmons for the first time back in 2009, he was here as a support act. I got to talk a bit with him after his gig and found him to be very inspiring. I bought a CD and still listen to it on a regular basis today. When I heard that he was touring I was really hoping he would make a stop in Luxembourg. The waiting paid out, I’ve rarely experienced a crowd so quite during a song that you are actually afraid to hit the shutter release, ….. but that’s the way a William Fitzsimmons concerts is to be enjoyed.

On a technical note: It was a very nice and easy concert to photograph. The second song was red light only, and since the whole set was quite static I didn’t shoot too many pictures during this one. For the other two songs the light was normal. Bright white/yellow on Mr. Fitzsimmons with the remaing members of the group left in shadows. I shot all the pics with the 28-75mm F2.8.

The rest of the pics here or in the gallery below:

When Heather Nova started singing “Island”, … the room just fell silent. Her voice is mesmerizing, you can’t help put listen and get the goosebumps. It’s really hard to resist the urge to put down the camera and listen. I am sure that if there is such a thing as reincarnation, well she must have been a Mermaid in a former life.

I’ve seen Heather Nova a few times now and I am always blown away by her performance. And judging by the reaction from the crowd, I am not the only one. The mixture of her voice and a very strong guitar makes for a concert not to be missed.

On a technical note: The light was really bad for this one, most of the time it was on white or yellow spot on her and very dim if any light in the background. It made it hard if not impossible to pick up any detail in the background. I used the 28-75 F2.8 and the 70-200 F2.8.

You can see the rest of the pictures here or below in the slideshow:

I remember the first time I’ve heard Razorblade, It was while Snowboarding  in Italy, … I was hooked straight away. I’ve listened so many time to “History for sale”. Coming Closer is just an amazing song. I was hoping to able to photograph them one day. Well the day has come …

It was the last gig of their tour, and you could see they were exhausted, but they delivered anyways. Justin’s Furstenfeld’s voice is impressive on the recorded albums but it is unbelievable live.

On a technical note: The light was difficult for this one. There was no in-between, very harsch or very low. Since I photograph in Manual mode I had to change settings all the time. While it is a good practice to get the feeling for the light it makes it difficult to be spot on with your metering. But it makes for a nice challenge. I’ve shot the whole gig with my trusty 28-70F2.8.

The rest of the photographs below or on flickr here.

The guys from Project 54 asked me if I was willing to go and photograph them for a whole concert with all stage access. It was not in me to decline such a nice offer, …. I did this once or twice before for other bands and I must say it’s a change to no be restricted to the pit and have more than 3 songs to photograph a performance. I do however still try no to be too intrusive, for the band and for the spectators. They didn’t pay to see a photographer running around on stage.

Technically: The guys asked for the lighting technician not to use red spots too much.  It’s a dream come true  .. they used them once or twice during the whole gig. The light was varried and quite ok, yellows, greens, magentas, blues you name it. I used the 1D only and switched lenses. I used the 14mm Fisheye, 28-75 mm, 70-200 mm, 50 mm and 85 mm. Give the luxury of time I wanted to test my two fixed focal lenses. I was quite impressed, although they remove a lot of needed mobility in the pit. I don’t think I would use them in a really crowded pit.

The rest of the pictures below in the slideshow or here: