Mark Knopfler at The Royal Albert Hall - London

Q Magazine have got a Fuji advert in the lastest magazine, its the full page ad about me using Fuji's etc.. Anyway, had a nice email out of the blue form an old mate Nick Hood, who saw this advert in Q Magazine. It was really nice to hear from him. He told me it has been about 20 years since we saw each other.. Made me feel really old.

Tonight I went to the Royal Albert Hall, London and photographed Mark Knopfler. Firstly, I met up with his manager, Paul Crockford we had a natter in the production office for a while and off I went and shot the show. Mark Knopfler really is a legend. He is quite an amazing performer.. About half way through the show and after many well know hits of his, he went straight into 'Sultans of Swing'. Whilst he was playing this, I realised that I hadnt heard him play this live since Dire Straits played at the Lyceum Ballroom, London in around 1977 or 78. Perhaps someone could tell me when that was exactly.

Supergrass & The Boogaloo

Went to KOKO in Camden town, London and photographed Supergrass.. the lighting was absolutley crap. Really really bad. It was very hard to get any shots at all... Makes it all seem worth while, not. I left KOKO and headed up to meet up with Gerry O'Boyle. We had to do a shoot for London's Time Out Magazine. They are doing a review of the Legendary 'Boogaloo', Gerry's music joint in Highgate, North London.

Gerry O'Boyle - Copyright 2005 Danny Clifford

The Boogaloo has now become the place to regularly see major stars sitting at the bar or wherever. They have some great bands, singers etc performing there. Well worth checking out the site www.theboogaloo.org .

I had a nice big photo of Cheryl Tweedy of Girls Aloud in one of the UK's National paper's The Daily Mirror. I also had some other stuff in the same paper, some small little band from Manchester....

The Charlatans

If you like looking at great photos, which I do.. Funny that eh!! Anyway, check out this site http://www.willrolls.com/ He is without doubt, the best travel photographer I have seen in a bloody long time. In fact, I dont remember seeing anything better.. He is one talented photographer ( and a really nice chap as well).

Tonight I photographed The Charlatans at The Hammersmith Palais, in London. The lighting was pretty poor. Met up with Raymondo & Malcolm before the gig. The support band, Countermind, sent me Raymondo & Malcolm to sleep.. No doubt I will be proved wrong and they will be enormous. They are managed byRusty Egan (ex Rich Kids).

Girls Aloud in London

Well it was Girls Aloud tonight.. Carling Apollo Hammersmith, London. I did shoot them last year out in Newmarket, that time it was awkward to shoot. Very high stage, bad, bad lighting. So, didn't know what to expect from the lighting here at Carling Apollo, but thought it should be better than Newmarket. It was... All quite good. Again quite amazing how different the audience were. There were kids from about 5 or 6 to OAP's or should I say Senior Citizens... Girls Aloud were, funnily enough, very good.. I must admit, I know I sound a bit sad, but, they were very, very professional. Got home edited up the shots and hit the sack. I think I need more vitamins, sleep or something.

Cheryl Tweedy -
Copyright 2005 Danny Clifford

Morcheeba

Tonight it was Morcheeba at The Shepherds Bush Empire... Seemed like new personnel in the band. The very nice people at Morcheeba's press office sent me through a CD of them, thanks to Vicky, I hasten to ad. I haven't managed to listen to it yet. Maybe over the next few weeks I will get into it when I have some time. Everyone tells me they are great, so, we will see..

The Music

Photographed the Music at the Astoria in London.. I have photographed them a couple of times before. Anyway, good gig.. They love dancing around the stage. They are one of those bands that not a lot of people that I talk to have heard of and yet, they seem to have a very large following..

The Tears

Off to Shepherds Bush Empire, West London. This time to shoot The Tears.. I must admit, I don't know much about them.. I understand that a couple of them were in Suede. There were more female photpgraphers in the photo pit that any other band I have shot in recent times.. Quite a few of the ladies had little 'Argos Specials' . They were not photographers, but obviously new the right person somewhere and got themselves a pass.. Well, good luck to them, they all seemed to enjoy it.. I suppose, the photo pit is a pretty cool place to watch a show anyway.

Andy Wright's Birthday BBQ

Went over to my mate Andy Wright's house for a lovely BBQ. It was his birthday. Had a really nice chat with the a couple of the chaps in Big Linda ( Great band). Also had a laugh listening to a few stories from my mate Mick Flinn who was in the New Seekers & The Mixtures, many moons ago.. Also, had a nice chat with Mick Hucknell. I shot a few shows for Simply Red the year before last. They are just about to go out on the road again now. He is one talented geezer.

The FA Cup phew!!

Well, didn't the boys do well.. Manchester United were the better team all the way through.. But Arsenal won, which is the most important thing.. I wont mention this again, but would publicly like to say hello to two of my mates, Tony Edser, in Sweden and Phil Hilborne , who are both Manchester United supporters.. Tony is from Maidenhead, Phil is from Basildon, Essex..ummm!

By the way Phil, I haven't forgotten.. Sort it out when I see you.

Avril Lavigne

Avril Lavigne is in town again, so off to Carling Apollo, Hammersmith to shoot the show.

Moby at Brixton Academy

Had a stressfull day, more paperwork, editing, sending print out to various places.. Then headed off to sunny south London, Brixton to be precise. As a North London boy this part of town is alien to me. When I cross back over one of the bridges of the river Thames, heading North I am much happier.. Anyway, photographed the one and only Moby at The Brixton Academy. He didn't stand still at all, seemed like he was on speed (maybe he was). I always thought that Mick Jagger was the fastest mover out there. Thinking about it, he still is, but Moby is a future contender...

Oasis at The Astoria - London

I photogographed Oasis tonight at the Astoria in central London. All I can say is, that they were utterly fantastic... Brilliant.. I love them. Zak Starkey has now joined the band and he is one of the best drummers in the world. I have photographed Zak for many years now, in fact he is on my website in the Who section posed with my old mate Keith Moon. I think Zak was about 14 then. I have also photgraphed him a lot in recent times with The Who, as he was until he joined Oasis, the Who's drummer.. So, back to this gig. I think that Oasis are without doubt, one of the best bands in the world, if not the best. On the photos front, the lighting was a bit odd tonight. Seemed to be very little of it and it all seemed to be coming from directly above the band, leaving dull shadows on them. Oh well, such is life..

Cream - The Final Show !!

Well I photographed the final Cream show at the Royal Albert Hall, London. All long distance shots... I actually knew loads of the songs.. It was odd watching the 3 legends doing after all these years.. Glad I was there and got some really nice shots. I think the ticket touts (Scalpers) made a lot of money. They were doing plenty of business before the gig. Mr Big Tout was sitting outside the RAH in a brand new Bentley. All of the other touts kept reporting back to him..This was carfully being observed by my close mate Jon who was with me for the night.

Pete Doherty & Mayday at Trafalgar Sq - London

Went down to Trafalgar Square London with Pete Doherty. Pete was headlining at the Unite - Music Against Fascism concert. Pete was brilliant, he played and acoustic set and half way through, jumped down off the high stage and then surfed into the crowd. Alan Wass was playing acoustic on stage whilst Pete was doing this.. At the end of his set, Pete threw his guitar into the crowd. We then met up backstage with Leon Greenman an Auschwitz survivor. What an amazing man, I wish I had been able to speak more to him. I shot Pete, Alan Wass and Leon Greenman together. Then Pete went walkabout and we took photos all the way round. I got some some amazing photos. We then managed to get a taxi for Pete and had it waiting outside. The Police then formed and arm-linked courdon and tried to make a safe tunnel for Pete run through to get into his awaiting Taxi. Amazing that his oblivious manager hadn't planned the exit route for him. No car !! "Oh we'll just hail a taxi..." Great plan chaps after a gig in Trafalger Square. With about 8 thousand people trying to get close to Pete. I must recommend your security and travel tactics to The Rolling Stones when they are on tour.. At least they would have a laugh......