How to rock a stage: Taking Berlin

On the keyboard - Cassandra

Last saturday I had the pleasure to be the stage photographer of Taking Berlin at The Standard.

When I entered the bar where they had their gig I was stunned by the great stage and the amazing lightning, making me euphoric just thinking about what great pictures I could take that night.

The bar also had a table tennis table - which should be a main feature of every good bar - but anyway, when Taking Berlin headed on stage and started playing it was like magic.

Their music makes you wanna dance, feel good and just enjoy life. So far so good if you're casual audience.

But as a photographer they stunned me in another way as well. They rocked the stage. Literally. Like jumping around and pose in different ways to entertain the audience. The bass guitarist even tried to climb on top of the speakers - he failed, but hey, climbing up with a bass in front of you can be pretty hard and at least he tried! :D

They were not that immersed into playing their songs to have concentrated faces but showed emotion! You could see how they enjoyed to play, to sing, to entertain live.

On the bass guitar - Hamish

So this was like gold for me, you could only dream of such musicians as a concert photographer. I was so excited and in mood to document this performance that I took more than 700 shots within half an hour. Sorting out and editing was hard work, but those pictures are some of my best concert shots so far.

There are bands who make good music but fail to have a good live performance. Taking Berlin doesn't. Don't miss them!

Their next gig is on the 16th of January in Sydney, for more details go to their Facebookpage.

And most impertently, listen to their songs on Soundcloud.

You can find all pictures - including pictures of the band members that haven't had space in this post - of the concert on G+ in this album.

Read more about my work as a concert photographer in About Toothbrushes, Bbq and Ildiko.

Behind the drums - David

About Toothbrushes, BbQ and Ildiko

What a great weekend! First of all, Melbourne became a sunny place again! =)

Right in time for the Latina Festival at Johnston Street where Foreigners from all latin countries contributed their tasty cuisine and their music combined with free dance classes all day long.

Sandringham Beach

On Sunday I had a run on the beach...such an amazing feeling to run next to the sea. At one point a put one of my earbuds out of my ear to hear the ocean. Wonderful....so wonderful that I didn't see a wave coming and my shoes and my jogging trousers got wet (I was running really close to the water).

In the afternoon I went to a BWS (Beer Wine Spirits - a supermarket that distributes nothing but alcohol in opposite to usual supermarkets which don't sell any alcohol at all) for some Cider and to Coles (supermarket like Spar) to grab some steaks for a Barbecue at my friends Josee's place. Two hours later I finally arrived at her place - she lives on the damn other end of the city and my train line wasn't operating this weekend because of reparation or whatever works, so I had to take the bus. Starving and thirsty we began to marinade the meat while drinking some cold Ciders.

Kangaroo-Sausages

When we found Barbecue Honey-Sauce in the fridge we wanted to marinade our pork spare ribs like real Wannabe-barbecue-pros with a brush! The problem was, we didn't have a brush. But! I had a toothbrush from Etihad Airlines with me - on long distance flights each passenger gets a tiny toothbrush, toothpaste, a sleeping mask and a pair of socks. So we used this (fresh and unused) toothbrush to marinade our ribs. It worked and the ribs were simply nomnomnom! :D

Beside the rips we had Kangoo-Rooh! And, yes, they were Kangaroo-Sausages. To all of you, who I told that Kangoroo meat is chewie (at least the one, I ate in Germany), the sausages are much better (especially better than they look on the photo)!

Me and my toothbrush (which I've never seen again)

After the Barbecue we went to the concert of one of Josee's housemates, performing with his band 'Ildiko', whom I was really excited about to hear.

I've never seen him before. But when I had breakfast at her place a few days ago I suddenly heard some noises from behind a closed door. A guy playing guitar. But he played it so touching, so smooth and with such an energy! 

So I came into the kitchen and asked, totally astonished and excited: "Guys, do you here that?!" 

I just got the answer: "Yeah, that's my housemate Laurence, he's pretty good, isn't he...?"

You find all pictures of the concert in this G+ Album.

But listen to him yourself or download his last Album for free or as much as you wanna pay: 

At last some impressions of the concert:

Laurence's Guitar

Laurance performing

A guy with awesome hair(cut)

This guy was just attending the concert but I liked his haircut, so I asked him for a photo. While I was taking a picture of him, one of his friends asked me if he could take a picture of me taking a picture of the hairy man. So that's the person to whom the middle finger points ;)

Ben, Laurence' and Josee's Housemate playing pool after the concert