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2024-12-02 Me First and the Gimme Gimmes - The Academy, Dublin

Christmas came early this year for me.  Never did I think that  Me First and the Gimme Gimmes  would be playing Dublin, and never did I ever think I'd get to shoot one of their shows! Well, that all changed last week when they played the Academy in Dublin on a cold, damp, Monday night! I've been a fan since 1997, when one of the lads I worked with, brought in a copy of Have a Ball . It was love at first listen! I did manage to catch them live back in 2019 when they played the O2 Forum in Kentish Town , London, and it was every bit as good as I'd hoped, but it paled in comparison to Monday night in Dublin. So, how did it come about?  Well, back in 2013, I interviewed the band for a now defunct Irish website called Chunk.ie .  Over the years, I've stayed on their PR roster, so I took a chance and emailed my contact there.  Lo and behold, a few emails later and all was sorted, I was down to photograph the show. How was it?  Brilliant, amazing, fantastic,...

2022-11-24 Fontaines DC - Hammersmith Apollo, London

I headed to London late last week.  It was my niece's 18th birthday and I'd got us tickets to go see Fontaines DC in the Hammersmith Apollo.  I hadn't been to London since June 2019 when I went to see Me First and the Gimme Gimmes play the Forum, Kentish Town.

Why I booked a 7:00am flight I'll never know, but I did and so I had to be at the airport for 5:00am, which meant me leaving home before 4:00am.  It was going to be a long day!

After some sightseeing, it was time to make our way to the Hammersmith Apollo via the underground.  Ordinarily a simple trip, until someone makes a mistake, and we get the wrong tube...  Anyway, we got there in time, that's the important thing!

What can I say about Fontaines DC that I haven't said before?  They were superb, from the moment they walked on the stage, they owned that crowd! Kicking off with A Lucid Dream it was non-stop action till they finished with I Love You and the crowd sang every note!

Here's the setlist (courtesy of Setlist.FM) and I've linked to a few videos from the gig on YouTube:

I don't have a lot of photos.  I only had a small Sony with me, so the quality is a bit shite, plus the lighting was super saturated blues, reds and greens!  Oh, and I was located right at the back of the theatre, miles from the stage, so that didn't help...

As a bonus feature, you can have some photos of London also!











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