Busy day in London

The day started with loads of admin.. I am so behind in most areas.. I am also very tired. Not looking for sympathy, but just feel a bit run down at the moment.. Anyway, enough whinging.. I headed into central London to collect my pass for The Scissor Sisters. They are playing a free concert in London's Trafalgar Square. So, as I picked up my pass I met up with my mate Rob Cable who was also shooting this event. When I saw the pass and details with it, I read that the PR company said "bring a ladder" this is because the stage will no doubt be very high.. I didn't have one, but knew where I could borrow one for the day. Anyway, Rob and I had both parked quite a way away from Trafalgar Square. So, with cameras, laptops and ladders, we jumped in a taxi and aimed headed off to the gig.. The taxi driver we got wasn't the normal happy go lucky chatty funny fellow that one normally expects. He as a manic depressive who actually said that he wanted to kill the Mayor, Ken Livingston and failing that, he wanted to kill himself.. He wasn't joking. Rob and I were both giving each other sideways glances.. I was hoping that, if he was going to kill himself, he did it after we had got to our destination. We managed to escape at Leicester Square and walked from there to Trafalgar Square, which isn't far at all. We did have a bit of trouble getting in, but, once inside the fortress that had been erected all was fine. There was a nice press type, media room for us to use. However, no internet access was provided, which made it a little more challenging. We were told in advance that Kylie Minogue was introducing the band. At 8:30 all 5000 photographers were herded together and were told we cannot now use ladders.. Which was nice, as I had been carrying my borrowed ladder all bloody day. We were then led into the narrow photo pit. A short while later, Kylie Minogue appeared on the giant screens. She was introducing the Scissor Sisters.. But where was she.. All of us photographers were looking around wondering where the hell she was.. Then, I saw all of the photographers rush off to the right hand side and almost out of the pit. I think I was the last one to respond. She was way up there and almost finished when I got there.. I just managed to get a couple of shots of her.

Kylie Minogue
Copyright 2006 Danny Clifford

Then on came The Scissor Sisters.

The Scissor Sisters
Copyright 2006 Danny Clifford

We were all shooting up their noses, as the stage was soooo high and just to add salt to the wound, there was a camera crew flying around in front of us... So, after the three songs we all left the pit and headed back to the media centre to send out all of our photos. When I had finished I headed back outside and saw loads of people dancing around in the fountain in the middle of the square. After photographing all of that, Rob, Yui Mok and I headed off for some food. Rob and I were both off to G-A-Y up in Charring Cross Road to photograph Lily Allen. We walked, with ladders, to G-A-Y. Lily was due on stage at around 1:30 am. This was now becoming a long day.. I went and got into the front of the crowd and then Lily came on at about1:45. She was a little bit drunk to say the least.. But, despite that, she was fantastic. The band were really tight as well. It was a great, great show.. Rob and I left there at about 2:45 am and headed out to London's main shopping street, Oxford Street, to try and get a taxi. After waiting about 20 mins and failing fast, we decided to get a Rikshaw instead. So, After some careful negotiating, we jumped into one, with all of our gear including ladders. I did feel kind of sorry for the driver. He had to cycle with us two and loads of heavy gear. We arrived safely at the other end of the West End, where our cars were parked. We did get our Rikshaw driver Andreas (from Colombia) to take a quick shot of us sitting there with all our gear.
Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid
Oxford Street, London UK












We then buggered off home.. I got home at about 4:30am and yes, very very tired.. I edited up some Lily Allen shots and sent them out. I then finally fell in my bed at about 6am..