SF-Dano wrote:Marty, did you attend the after party? That must have been something.
I was there on a crew pass with The Union, a band I’ve been working with for the past year or so, doing a long term project to capture photos of everything they do (musically) since they formed. They were there as one of the nominees for an award (which they won – Best New Band) and also because they were one of the three bands scheduled to play on the stage during the evening (the others being Alter Bridge and Cheap Trick). That was obviously a great privilege for them and something that I definitely wanted to make sure we had pictures of.
As I had a crew pass I had pretty much all area access, but as I wasn’t a guest I couldn’t partake of the gourmet meal served to everybody else. There were probably 40-50 tables of 10 being served, all populated by rock stars and other people in the music business. It was fascinating scanning the room and seeing all these idols greeting and chatting with each other.
I basically hovered by the stage next to The Union’s table, snapping them when anybody interesting came by. I went and had a chat with Neal at his table, and there were quite a few other people (journalists, designers, PR people, musicians) who I knew there, so I didn’t get bored.
As each guest accepted their awards and left the stage, they were escorted off to the right of the stage, exactly where I happened to be located so they all came right past me. Robin Zander even ruffled my hair as he walked past me knelt on the floor taking pictures.
Earlier on all the more well known artists had to walk a red carpet past all the press. The Union were just in front of Neal so I was probably stood about 5 yards away when that interview (in the post above) took place.
It was a fascinating evening – the first time I’ve been to an event like that. What made it even better was that my all time favourite band – RUSH – were given a special Living Legends award, and Geddy Lee had flown in to collect the award in person. I got to meet him, albeit briefly, for the first time in over 30 years of following the band.
Apart from the Awards section, the evening was remarkable for the live performances as well – it was the first time they had included live performance slots. The Union played two songs. Obviously I am pretty familiar with their stuff now but it was nice to see it played in front of, and being appreciated by, their peers, many of whom had probably never heard of The Union before that night.
Alter Bridge also played two songs, on the second of which they were joined on stage by Slash, to great applause.
The evening was wrapped up by a set from Cheap Trick. Funnily enough I had been to their full show in Wolverhampton two nights earlier, but they are always great fun to watch and they sounded great. I don’t know how long they were on stage as I had to leave after about 4-5 songs to catch my last train home. So, unfortunately I didn't get to attend any after show activities. Maybe next time.
Marty
Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 11:04 pm
