The final act from what turned out to be a nice end to the working week and start of the weekend, Friday night at Hachfest was Rave On, a Buddy Holly tribute band. By this time the rain has turned from a light drizzle to a little more serious but still not enough to put people off as it was the last act of the night. This band really was all about Buddy holly and the breaks between songs was used to give little stories of his life or how a song came about.

The dress and gear used down to the mic on stage helped to give across the idea they wanted. Its strange that even tho I don’t really know much about Buddy Holly’s music, I still recognised all the songs they sang, which shows that he did leave a mark on the world even if he died before his time and before his prime in all probability. If I knew more about him I might have tried to capture some of the iconic pictures that are around the net of him performing as Rave On did there set.

I do have to admit I didn’t stay until the end of the set tho, with the rain steadily getting harder I took the decision not to test out the waterproof aspect of my camera + lens that night, even if it should handle all that in its stride, as I had more photos to take the next day and didn’t want issues, I didn’t take the risk.

I did get 4 and a bit songs, and a few pictures tho. I hate to think what I might have missed as its never a good thing to walk away from live music as you can always miss one of those once in a life time performances where act, crowd and atmosphere all come together to stick in your mind.. But I did :( leave so will never know.

What I do know is that what I heard was good.

Andy

Next up was a band I have seen a few times and is well know round here and a crowd pleaser, Boulevard Blonde who blast out classic covers with the crowd getting up and singing back. Part way into the set, a light drizzle started but nowhere near enough to put people off getting up for a boogie.

They ended up on the left stage so couldn’t get all the band in photos with the bass player mostly in the shadows or obscured from vision, I didn’t want to move at this time as, a) I was comfy where I was sitting b) if I did I would be walking in front of everyone who now crowded up to the barriers in front of stage.

The bonus was that it was now completely dark and the spotlights being the only light I had to worry about. So this and the great singing, guitar solo’s and the crowd getting into it more as the night went on all helped. Think a little drink might have been involved too ;)

Andy

Backstreet had a little bad timing as by this time I had realised I hadn’t eaten since midday and was hungry so toddled off for a quick bite so I’ve not got as many pictures.

But on the plus side they were on the better stage for lighting, not sure why but the right side was better with less gaps and the lights placed to captured the artists better, it was also getting darker so the lights made the photos stand out more than the daylight ones.Gotta love a spotlight picture.

Since found out that there is a family tie with Walkway, nothing like music running thru the family. Set included classics like Another brick in the wall to Hotel California.

Andy

Next up at Hachfest was a young band I had heard about prior to the event WalkWay, made up from family members and friends originally from local schools to me. The only band I can remember that actually played some songs they had wrote as well as some classic covers.

They had what had to be the youngest fan rocking to them at the front (not sure why i never got a picture as would have been good). Rocking a few solo guitar and drum sections, not afraid to let go and did a bloody good job at it too.

Much enjoyed and seemed down to earth group, don’t let the wacky trousers fool you ;). They were loud and they rocked, I should know my head was next to the speakers for most of it while I sat taking pictures.

I think I spent too much time mucking about trying out different camera settings as light was going and the stage lights became more important as the set went on, looking back I should have just taken less good quality photos at higher ISO rather than trying different things and taking lots of OK photos. ahh well..

Andy

Next up was a band I had not seen before, Matt White and the Emulsions.

I just knew I would like them after the recognition of the first few bars of the first song, a bit of Tenacious D – Tribute. Not sure all the crowd got what this band were going to be about, singing about the greatest song in the world. But I liked it straight off :)

Other classic covers followed and was one of my fave bands of the day and one I would go see again, with a front man who like his job, some may say too much, but its his job to be full of it and leave it all on the stage. They were cut off in there prime and could have done with a couple of more tracks personally. Good solo guitars and one I happily listened to and tried to remember to get a few pictures at the same time. Good job band… Hope the pictures do them justice.

oh, they were on the good stage for lighting. So got a few more pictures I liked :).

Check out the next few posts for more bands from Hachfest 2010.

Andy