David Gilmour Royal Albert Hall London

Copyright 2006 Danny Clifford

Well, here is one of the greatest. David Gilmour or Dave as he was formerly known to the world when he was with Pink Floyd. The show started earlier than most. It was about 7:30. I made by the skin of my teeth so to speak.

Copyright 2006 Danny Clifford

David was accompanied on Keyboards by Richard Wright from Pink Floyd and Phil Manzenera from Roxy Music. On his thirds song, Davis was also joined on stage by David Crsoby and Graham Nash from Crosby, Stills & Nash.. Duhhh.... Anyway, although I normally dont listen to the music when I am shooting as I am too busy shooting.

Copyright 2006 Danny Clifford

I did my best to listen to this. This was utterly fantastic.. I only wish I could have stayed and watched the whole show.. Well, Pink Floyd, Dave Gilmour, Roger Waters, Richard Wright, Nick Mason, I am a fan of them all. I must remeber to bring pads to neal on next time I am shooting at the Royal Alber Hall.

Bank Holiday in Manchester

The day started early for me. I checked out of my hotel at about 8.30. I headed over to Manchester United's Old Trafford ground.

Copyright 2006 Danny Clifford

I arrived and eventually got my accreditation and went into the ground to shoot the England Soccer Team training before their warm up matches prior to the world cup in Germany in a week or so.

David Beckham

Copyright 2006 Danny Clifford

So, shot about 20 mins of the training. Then I headed over to the Europa Suite where Sven Goran Erikkson, England Head Coach was holding a press conference.

Copyright 2006 Danny Clifford

I shot that and then after Sven, England defender Rio Ferdinand came in for a quick press call. All quite interesting. The press were all just asking about Wayne Rooney, will he make it to the world cup with his broken toe or not.

After all of the England events. I prepared myself for the next shoot. This was Sir Elton John at the Manchester Evening News Arena. Funnily enough, in Manchester.. There were about 5 or six photographers shooting this.

Copyright 2006 Danny Clifford

We were only allowed to shoot one song.. Luckily it was Benny and the Jets.. Which is about 6 or 7 mins long.. So, thank you Elton..

Copyright 2006 Danny Clifford

Before Elton came on he was introduced by the one and only comedian Peter Kay. Who is hilarious. After the show, I quickly sent some of my shots out to the papers etc etc and the got in my Jam Jar (car for those who dont speak cockney rhyming slang) and headed off to London. It was about 12:30am when I left Manchester... I got back to London a lot faster than when I came up on Saturday..

UNICEF Soccer Aid in Manchester UK

I left London at about midday. Headed up the wonderful M1 motorway or Freeway to any Americans reading this. Almost as soon as I started I hit traffic. This was one hell of a journey. To make it a short story, this trip should have taken about 2 and a half hours but it took me 7 plus. I actually arrived at Manchester United's home ground, Old Trafford as the game was under way.. Anyway, after waiting outside for a steward to show me into the ground, I got in and quickly got my gear out and got photographing.

Copyright 2006 Danny Clifford

There were quite a few footballing Celebes on the pitch. This was England versus Rest of the world after all.

Copyright 2006 Danny Clifford

Robbie Williams had done agreat job of pulling the big names in for this event. Even the legendary, Maradonna had flown from Argentina.. Not to be confused with Madonna who I had just shot in LA last week. Anyway I did manage to get some nice shots. At half time I bumped into Rob Cable, who was also shooting this event. The game finished England 2 - Rest of the World 1.

Copyright 2006 Danny Clifford

Rob and I had a chat and then after the game both wandered out and said goodbye. He was heading back to London, I was staying as I was shooting more in Manchester over the next few days..

Busy Busy

Kind of mad today, got up late, considering I am pretty jet lagged still. Had to rush out to Calumet in London and sort some bits out for the weekend. I need quite a few bits and bobs as I have a few different shoots this weekend. All of which are up in the north of England. I bought a copy of Classic Rock magazine and saw I had a nice half page shot of The Blackk Crowes in there. I then drove up to Camden Town to have a quick look at the outside of The Carnaervon Castle. This the famous music venue right near Camden Lock. They are displaying some of my images outside the pub. Each image must be about 6 feet by 6 feet. I didnt have time to pull over and take a good look. So, just saw a quick glimse as I drove by. I will go back and have a proper look. I then got stuck driving out of Central London in all of the holiday traffic. Take That are perfoming at Wembley arena. This the last of their arena dates and there is a small chance that Robbie Williams might turn up and play with them. So, I may well go to Wembley and see..

Turbulent Flight to London

It was one of those flights !! We left LA on time at 5:42. Shortly fter take off I realised that it was going to one of those flights.. It was only about an hour into the flight when the turbulance started.. It seemed to continue for the duartion of the flight. As soon as the seat belt sign was turned off I got up got my laptop and edited some more Madonna photos. This proved to be quite diifficult as the plane was jumping all over the place. Anyway, gave up after a few hours and did my usual and watched the map on the screen in front. I also listned to the pilots and air traffic controllers. I must admit I felt like a train spotter. But with 10 and a half hours to kill, there are only so many times you can watch King Kong.. Anyway, we arrived on time in London and guess what, it was raining and grey.. Bit of a contrast from my trip to LAX earlier..

Los Angeles - London Again

What a beautiful day. It must be 95 degrees here in Thousand Oaks. Blue sky and all. Umm.. looking forward to the grey sky's of London. I am going to have brunch with my mum and dad and then take a drive to the airport. When I was at the Madonna gig the other night, I met a journalist from the Daily News out here in LA. His name is Fred Shuster. He is American, but once lived in London. We had a chat in the press room and he was hilarious. Anyway just read his review in the Daily News which was equally entertaining..

Madonna World Tour Opening Concert

Today is the first concert in Madonna's Confessions world tour. My brother Simon and I headed off from Thousand Oaks just north of LA late afternoon. We arrived at the Great Western Forum at around 6pm. After parking up we made our way to the Forum Club entrance. There were a few photographers already there. Kevin Mazur & Dave Hogan & Jeff Kravitz were there and it was nice to see them. It wasnt long before many many other photographers arrived. After some time we were hearded into the Media Room. Then we waited for a while and then we were led out into the arena. We were shooting from the back of the Forum. This was a bloody long way from Madonna. Anyway, after a 50 minute delay, Madonna come onto the stage and burst out of a massive disco silver ball. Kind of similar to the one she came out of at MTV Awards in Lisbon, Portugal at the end of last year.

Copyright 2006 Danny Clifford

We got to shoot the first 3 songs and then pushed our way through the crowd and headed back to the Media Room.

Copyright 2006 Danny Clifford

From what I saw of the show, she was on real form. What with all of the dancing and singing, she must be very fit. Also one thing I noticed is that she is definatly singing live. Not Lip Syncing Elton.. That is what Elton John accused her of doing when I was at the Q Awards a year or so ago... She was definatly singing this time.. Other than a couple of slight miss-hits, her voice was great.

Copyright 2006 Danny Clifford

Simon and I then escaped from the Forum and headed of out of there and got a bite to eat. Then headed off out home to Thousand Oaks.. All in all a very late night but great fun...

London to Los Angeles

I got up quite early and headed to London's Heathrow airport. My flight left at about 10:30 am. Quoite a nice flight, considering I have only just got back from LA a couple of days ago.. Not sure where I am in the world of time zones.. Jet lagged and tired. But so what eh.. Sit back and watch the movies and map for the duration of the journey. I saw someone get arrested by imigration. He had been in some sort of trouble in the past in the UK and didn't declare it to the US authorities on his paperwork, but they seeme to know all about him. Anyway, that was his problem, naughty boy eh!!. My little brother, Simon was there to pick me up at LAX. We headed back up out of LA to the house. Had a meal and then I kind of relaxed for the evening, which was nice for a change.

Texas in London

The Scottish rockers Texas were performing at the Carling Apollo Hammersmith in West London. So, managed to get myself there even though I had had an extremly frantic day. Sharlene Spitteri, the lead singer was the focal point of the band. There were only about 4 photographers there which was nice.
Copyright 2006 Danny Clifford.














Lots of room and nice lighting. Well not really nice but okay lighting. Must say, they were very good and very together. Sounded great and it looked like they were having great fun doing it. I headed back out of London and edited my images and got them syndicated. Must admit I am very tired and jet lagged..

Los Angeles - London

Bit of a hectic day. Also, still very cloudy and misty here in LA. The weather is a bit odd for this time of year. My mum and dad ran us to the airport (LAX) said a quick goodbye and headed off through the terminal and eventually boarded the plane United Airlines and headed off to London.