Lordi - beasts from Finland

Time to wake up this place a bit. I have been pretty busy last weeks, plenty of work all over the place, lots of great pictures, just no time to post it here. Anyway, let's start with Lordi, the winners of Eurovision song contest few years ago. These beasts from Finland came to little town of Cerknica and played on friday the 13th. This is one of those gigs where most of the people watch, lot less will listen, which is bad as their music is done well and sounds very cool, especially if you listen only and not watch. What else can i say, well maybe the fact that there was so much firepower in front of the stage like this was pyrotechnic show not a concert..and when it all fired..it was loud and bright. Here are some beasts as seen in Cerknica....

Oasis - from snow to a great show

After few days off and some great skiing in Italy, another great thing came and took me and my camera to work. Oasis came to Treviso and did a great show. I saw them for the first time and was happy to be in the pit for the time allowed. Shows in Italy are always very good, simply because italian fans are super wild and loud from song one, and bands simply love it. Here are some moments for all Oasis fans ... Enjoy!

James Burton - the man who played with Elvis Presley

Sometimes a crazy day turns into a great evening. So was last friday, when a true living legend came to Graz, Austria. James Burton, a name that might not be widely known to non-mucisians, but a living legend. He was the guitar player of Elvis Presley for many many years, played with musicians like Johhny Cash, John Denver, Jerry Lee Lewis, Emmylou Harris, Elvis Costello, Roy Orbison and many many others. His biggest fan Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones, gave a speech on his introduction to Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, he has been nominated for a gremmy this year too.

James Burton is also known by his unique style of playing called chicken picking, which is otherwise known and used in country music scene. Take a look at his guitar lesson here. It is very interesting and you'll see how familiar this sounds and how hard it is to play :) We were lucky to have met him backstage for a little interview, which happened in between the concert (yes, they actually had a 20 minute break and we were let into backstage to do it, something new for me too, as usually this things happen before or after the gig), where he played with two other ex-Elvis Presley famous TCB band..Jerry Scheff and Glen Hardin. So cool, again :)

James Burton with his famous Fender Telecaster shining gold ...

Altough he is always very calm and quiet, he sometimes rocks too :)

At the end, he even gestured to throw his guitar to the fans below :)

And a special in-between backstage shot of the band and legends in there...
from left, Jerry Scheff - bass, Paul Leim - drums, Glen D Hardin - keyboards and James Burton with his typical hat and a bit of smile too...

Psycho Path - the last gig

Slovenian band Psycho Path had their last gig. No more Psycho Path. I never was their biggest fan, but loved their music (they describe themself as Sexy, heavy, sonic indie rock band from Slovenia) when i had a chance to hear it and take pictures. Their singer Melée is usually in another world when on stage and her performance is cool to listen and watch. It was the same in SubSub club last week during their gig where all former band members joined them too. I never shot the last gig of one band before, but i don't think this is the last gig, they'll be back, fans want it. Here are some moments and their last group shot after stage was empty. So long PP!

How do i refill my batteries?

There are concerts. There are concerts that are very cool, there are concerts that you enjoy, there are concerts where you work and enjoy(well most of them are like this), there are concerts that you work and wish you could enjoy more and there are concerts where the performer gives you so much energy that the word "enjoy" is not the correct selection anymore. One of those performers is Salomon Burke, a soul legend from USA. I saw him first back in 2005, this time he came to Graz and played in my favourite Orpheum theatre. Mr. Burke can't walk anymore, but his voice walks all over the place, with big steps and leaves you with open mouth for some time. Salomon Burke lives with 21 children and 98 grandchildren and tours all the time. He says he'll continue doing it while he can. And to answer my question on top, this is how i refill my batteries, completely, for a long time :) Of course, holiday season was excellent too and few days off during New Year and Xmass break felt really good.

I wish everyone a great 2009 and thank you for reading this blog lines and coming back :)

On stage with ex Bijelo Dugme singers

Another great night in Tivoli. This time no screaming teenagers, but a few thousand screaming lovers of ex you-rock group Bijelo Dugme. 3 of their legendary singers (goran Bregović is not cooperating in this project) joined forces and created an event where they sing all the known songs and make halls go crazy. It was no different this time, and lots of emotion in the hall. Great night, great work conditions and again some stage shots. At first i didn't plan to be there at all, but it turned out it is possible so why not :) It is always nice to get a photo with artists loking at you and screaming fans in the back..it is just so cool :)

Mladen Vojičić - Tifa, Željko Bebek and Alen Islamović posing for me :)

Alen Islamović

Željko Bebek in his typical white dress

Tifa and the lights ...

.. the end ...very loud and crazy..

Stage view

Why do i love stage access on big concerts? Because if offers a totally different view on happening in the hall and you can really feel what musicians feel during their show....here are some snaps from recent concert of Tony Cetinski (a very popular croatian singer) in Ljubljana. I was on stage for some 5 songs, not being able to move much but instead catching moments from the back..pretty cool actually :)

Easy Livin' with Uriah Heep in Ljubljana

Finally a true rock band in our little town. Uriah Heep ended their 2008 tour right here in Ljubljana. Not so many visitors but great gig and fans all over the hall. I love this type of shows as the band was really relaxed from song one untill the end. They seemed to have enjoyed it really big time. And one more thing happened that i never photographed before, a guitar player in a rock band wore Crocs plastic blue "shoes". Usually it is all black down there or snake skin covered..this was quite funny. I guess there must be a reason for doing so..and i know Crocs are really comfortable too :) I really enjoyed this concert and it served as a big contrast of my assignment a day before, when more pop type artist filled up the big hall right next door. I am also happy with pictures and those cool moments in backstage that don't happen that often with original rock bands that actually started before i was born. So cool!

... see the shining cross ? This pic made my day!

Here's one group shot for Miro - Uriah Heep, 13. december 2008, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Jinx Jinx Jinx

Just a quick shot i made seconds before Jinx (an excellent croatian band) finished their sold out show in Cvetlicarna, Ljubljana. It is always great to see them play, this time i had a chance to run behind them and see the end of their show from drummers perspective...pretty cool :)

Kid Rock - or how we drove for 8 hours in a snow storm

Kid Rock played in Schladming, Austria. After leaving Slovenia, loaded with weather forecast, saying we're to expect a nice sunny day everything seemed to be working just fine. Soon after crossing first tunnels in Austria, no more sunny day but true winter conditions with quite heavy snow falling from time to time. Here we go :)

I was going for an assignment to shoot Kid Rock during press conference and concert, marking the opening of ski season in Schladming. This is an event worth seeing as there is less and less special pr stuff being done with major artists in the area. It is also a good opportunity to get closer to the artists and of course shoot some daytime images, not only typical concert coverage. This one was actually nice as it was held in the middle of the ski hill, outside, and Kid Rock drove himself to the place with the snow "ratrack" (what's the english word for that?). He came out with a cigar, changed clothes and actually talked a lot. We had 15 minutes for some images, not beeing able to move much, so most of the stuff is done from one position but catching different moments, like smoke exhaustion his cigar playing, nice explanations and some posing. Pretty cool. Well, it was off to the warm sorroundings of the bar next to the stage and lots of time before the concert. That was normal, even snowing stopped during our 3 song time and 30 photographers around me. This was a record number this year on a concert like this.

Well the adventure didn't finish after that, but actually started as on the way back (around 240 km for us) . We got stuck before tunnels due to major truck accident in one of the tunnels and it was snowing quite nicely. After 2 hours of waiting, wishing, hoping, we managed to get outof the jam and tried searching for an alternative route. GPS helped and took us around the mountains and into more snow storms. We came back, and what it took less than 3 hours to get there, took more than 8 to get back home. Pretty cool, a ? :) Anyway, here are some images of Kid Rock.

Original Kid Rock

Kid Rock during makeover

Kid Rock as Schladminger

Kid Rock as Schladminger, but still smoking

Kid Rock as Kid Rock

.. his microphone flies ...

.. he actually flies too ...