IN PICTURES: MY TOP 10 LIVE MUSIC GIGS BY JOHN WILLIAMS
I have a tiny part to play in the story of the Roundhouse’s 50 years as an arts venue. I’ve been working in venues and in live music since I was just shy of 16, first in a cloakroom, then in bars, then in ticketing and record companies, before eventually moving into photography.
I’ve been lucky enough to capture many artists over the years at the Roundhouse. Here are just a few of my favourites…
July 2009 - Bat For Lashes. This was one of the first proper shoots I did, having spent a couple of years taking photos of friends’ bands. It was for the iTunes Festival (now Apple Music Festival). I’d just bought my first professional camera and I was also working for EMI at the time. My EMI editorial work led me into the venue with a photo pass. Seven years on and I’m still proud of the results.
Credit: John Williams, under the Creative Commons licence CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
July 2009 - Jamie T. Another one of my favourite pictures taken at the iTunes Festival 2009.
Credit: John Williams, under the Creative Commons licence CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
March 2015 - Ella Eyre. I’ve snapped many artists at the Roundhouse over the years. I’m pretty proud of this one from Ella Eyre’s gig back in 2015.
Credit: John Williams, under the Creative Commons licence CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
February 2016 - Keaton Henson. I had the pleasure of documenting the 'In the Round’ series of intimate gigs. Every night was different to the last, so it was difficult choosing an image. I had to settle with my personal favourite, Keaton Henson, an artist who’s troubled by the attention that his profession attracts. His music is the very definition of delicate and this gig was one of the quietest I’ve ever had to shoot. The lighting on the night matched the music - spectacular in its intimacy, and the fact that Keaton is hidden behind a music stand is, photographically, testament to his reluctance as a performer (I like to think).
Credit: John Williams, under the Creative Commons licence CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
March 2016 - Roundhouse Rising. I worked hard trying to capture everything that was going on over the course of this weekend. Here’s one of my favourite images from the festival. I’d seen Sera Eke walking around the venue all day, but once night fell, she stepped up to the stage at Torquil’s bar with a performance brimming with energy.
Credit: John Williams, under the Creative Commons licence CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
June 2013 - Cat Power. This snap was taken from Cat Power's first London show in five years.
Credit: John William, under the Creative Commons licence CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
September 2009 - Pete Doherty. Another famed name I captured back in 2009, performing material from his solo album after his time with The Libertines.
Credit: John Williams, under the Creative Commons licence CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
May 2016 - Debris Stevenson from 'Dirtee Verse'. I arrived at the Roundhouse with thousands of others who were about to watch a small British band you may have heard of, Radiohead. It was the hottest ticket in town, but that’s not the reason I was there. I was capturing Debris Stevenson in 'Dirtee Verse', a spoken word show featuring grime, hip-hop, performance art, rap battles and poetry. It blurred the line between artist and audience, dashing from one stage setup to another. Two hours of blistering imagination coming to life, while Radiohead blew the roof off upstairs.
Credit: John Williams, under the Creative Commons licence CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
May 2016 - Radiohead. Two nights after taking that shot of Debris Stevenson, I was stood in front of Radiohead! Pretty much a dream come true. Here’s my favourite shot - of Ed O’Brien rather than main man Thom Yorke. Such a striking pose and compositionally very dominant.
Credit: John Williams, under the Creative Commons licence CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
June 2016 - Poetry Slam Final. Last but by no means least, a favourite from the Poetry Slam final, featuring poets who’d competed in heats to perform on the Roundhouse stage. I felt so lucky to be part of the evening, where 12 young poets performed 2 poems each. I couldn’t believe the magnitude of the judges’ task because the standard was so exceptionally high! Photographically it was a long night, with me doing constant laps of the space, capturing the expressive faces and poses of the performers. But the artistry on stage was second to none.
Credit: John Williams, under the Creative Commons licence CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
