Given the mystery and general randomness/erratic behaviour of Peter Dohertys last couple of years, I was wondering on the way to Newcastle whether or not we would even get a gig out of this evening. Considering that Mr Dohertys music floats on a completely different plane to my musical tastes, I was also unsure about the level of his following and how busy it might be.

I guess the queue around the block to get in soon put me in my place.

Well, unfortunately, although the place was full, I’m afraid I just couldn’t quite get into this gig.

I’ve photographed the heaviest of metal bands and even when the going gets tough, people butt heads, get back up and shake hands again. I’ve seen crowd surfers fly over the top of my head, get a little slap on the wrists from security and be sent back on their merry little way.

What I’m not used to is seeing what were to be fair, morons, in identical pork pie hats and skinny leg jeans, fighting with each other and thinking that they generally owned the place. For the first time in the Academy, security were actually having an ongoing battle with these idiots and the atmosphere was very uneasy.

When Peter Dohertys took the stage flanked by a band including Graham Coxon, there was nothing ‘wrong’ with it. The crowd were really into it (and I could tell because the fighting stopped) however as previously stated I just don’t really ‘get’ the fuss and hype behind music such as this.

Anyway, as far as photos were concerned, there was plenty of scope for play. The lighting was generally good, lots of purple washes, but Peters hat was throwing up lots of shadows in shot and I obviousy had to work around that.

Shot on the 10-22mm and 24-70mm.