As usual parking near RCA Club is a bitch, luckily I have found a little street that usually has room to spare. Car not too close, a little walk after a gig, that´s how I like it. Already rather a large crowd is waiting for the doors to open. Alright, have some more fresh air and look around, shake a hand here and there. The door opens and someone puts a sign on the door: SOLD OUT. I use the moment to ask if photographers are already allowed passage, but no.
I am genuinely happy for the band and the club that they have a full house, the music is going to be fantastic, so I am totally OK. At the same time I know that my chances of getting really good shots have just gone down. Too many people to move around and no space between the stage and the band´s audience. Yellow light beams are pointed at the monitors – I wonder why. Later Bryan Beller and Guthrie Govan will joke about how those same yellow lights effects their visual sense whilst playing. It’s one of those stage and lighting mistakes that can easily be avoided: allow an experienced photographer early access and he/she will point them out. For free.
The band starting about an hour later than advertised, in the Portuguese underground music scene a given. A packed place. I am stuck between the crowd and another guy with a camera. During the first two songs we do our changing of position dance, trying hard not to bump into anyone or anything. Ignoring the fever I started the day with. Different lens, try from here – awesome music, powerful rhythms, breaks, style switches – can not get there, can not see the drummer. Go upstairs; get some more shots.
Coming down again, it´s obvious that I will never make it back to the stage without annoying a good deal of the audience. I listen for a while and when I feel my eyes go all watery I decide to leave early and hopefully sleep off what is left of my cold. What a fantastic band!
