What better way to celebrate 150 years of Queensland being a state than to hold a concert curated by Queensland’s most famous band of recent times, Powderfinger. For a mere $25 dollars the concert became one of the best buys of the season, allowing punters to view not only Powderfinger in full flight but also The Cairos, The Middle East, Yves Klein Blue, and even more excitingly, a once only reformation of the revered Brisbane band Custard. As if that weren’t enough concert goers were also treated to a copy of Powderfinger’s new album, which would cost $25 in any shop anyway.

As a fan of Custard’s upfront and often witty rock I was there to see them, and they delivered busting out plenty of crowd pleasers including the classic ‘Apartment’. The band didn’t miss a beat, frontman Dave McCormack exchanging banter with other band members like they had been playing together every day for the last 10 years. One musically uneducated older crowd member (clearly there for Powderfinger) quipped that the band must think they are Nirvana! Not a comparison I have ever heard before or since, but amusing none the less.

Part of me as a music photographer looked forward to seeing Powderfinger as I had noticed some elaborate lighting equipment set up on the outskirts of the stage for the special show. Bernard Fanning is also a very charismatic front man, which certainly makes a night of shooting go by a bit easier.

The light itself was fantastic with strong washes of colour pigmenting lucious smoke with good fill light provided by strong lights up front. Personally I think this is the best way to light concerts as the backdrop provides colour and a visual interest that compliments performance, where as the fill light fills the features of the performer, allows for a higher shutter speed to freeze action, and prevents any background colour washes from contaminating the performer’s too heavily, which may result in some pretty ugly combinations.