Mad on her? She’s alright, I suppose..
With a distinct sense of deja vu, I headed out to Cardiff on Saturday to catch the opening night of Madonna’s latest world tour, “Sticky and Sweet”. Taking in 27 dates around the globe, this will be her first tour since entering her 50s.
I last shot her in 2006 at the same venue on the first night of her last tour. God knows where this Welsh guinea pig testing ritual comes from.. The previous tour saw her running around in black leather, pole dancing and grinding away on a mounted saddle before crucifying herself on a big mirrored cross. With this in mind, the events of the first four songs tonight were a little more contained. Good fun to shoot though.
As was the case last time, I was shooting from the sound desk which required a 400mm f2.8 lens and THEN having to crop in. When you’re shooting on 1000ISO on a mk2n, it’s not a very comfortable experience due to the worry of digital noise on the image and since the arrival of the mk3 and the D3, I was very aware of other photographers happily shooting away at twice my ISO with no worries. Booo…
Shooting these big events are a world away from the smaller gigs of city halls and student union bars that I used to frequent. Backstage in the media area, the photographers have a free bar, free food (with “sticky” being thai chicken and “sweet” being loads of little desserts), free wifi access and power points plus, before we head out, we’re given a run down of what to expect from a team of very helpful tour managers. Depending on the artist, this can be anything from “you’ve got three songs, no flash. Have fun!” right through to being given choreography keypoints such as when I shot the Rolling Stones and was told “at the beginning of the second verse of the first song, Mr. Jagger will remove his coat and throw it to his left”. When the moment comes, it’s all done so casually, it looks to everyone watching as though he’s just getting into the music and warming up to the crowd. Incredible..
It may seem a little saccharine to some who yearn for the unpredictability of creative expression but I guess it’s just horses for courses, as they say. Even though part of me is left a little cold by stadium gigs, I can’t help but applaud those who truly know how to use their stage.
Giving photographers a free bar sounds like asking for trouble..
I heard that during the show she compared McCain to Hitler and Obama to Gandhi. No hyperbole there then.
Looks like she has been spending a lot of time at the gym. Great images, they look good for 1000 on the 2n. Free bar – if only I could land a few of those gigs. Many togs shooting that night?
Miles: No, that’s really handy actually. I was at a bit of a loss over which candidate to vote for in the American electio..
Oh.. Hang on.
I think I’ve spotted a problem..
Will: Yeah, being the first date there were shed-loads of us. Think about 30 or so plus journos and camera crews. As for the 1000ISO, noise ninja is my friend..
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: D3! That said, I don’t believe it would have been worth my while going to that gig. How much do F.2 400′s cost these days??
As always, glorious shots, my liege!