Zurich, 11 May 2011
After much chasing around by our press liaison (thanks Pat!) I got notified on the morning of the gig that the photo-pass was granted. In the end it turns out I was the only one for this gig and, in speaking to another photographer I sometimes see, he was told there was “no press, they don’t need it” as he’d been trying for days to get a pass! Also there was no contract, which was nice given what I’ve read about Them Crooked Vultures and potentially QOTSA in the past.
Komplex was a sell out, absolutely packed with 2,700 appreciative fans. As was the football stadium just down the road for a big game between Zurich and Basel. The latter being the reason the streets were crawling with police when I left at 9.30 before either event had finished. It also meant that parking was going to be a bigger nightmare than normal, so I opted to leave the car a few km’s away and cycle to the venue.
I used both bodies; 1D4 with 24-70mm and the 5D2 with 70-200mm. Starting ISO around 2500 although I dropped it to 1600 on the 1D. As usual f/2.8 or f/3.5, but a big range of shutters since the light was mostly dim, but then bright for short bursts. Not much colour though, and hence some relatively ‘flat’ images.
