Really cool and down to earth guy, he was over doing press ahead of the Blink 182 gig in The O2 on June 12th. Had only a few minutes, but he knew the deal. Lots of shots, and here is one of my faves.

Well, the man they call Andrew W.K. knows how to ‘Party Hard’ and that’s no mistake. He also knows how to put on a great show, and he didn’t dissapoint. Great fun to shoot, no po-faced standing in one place nonsense here, this was pure entertainment. I think he nearly hit me too while he was head banging. The perils of the pit…

The Riptide Movement released their second album ‘Keep On Keepin’ On‘ in April and to mark the event they made it on the cover of Hot Press. Here is the fruits of my shoot with them, which invovled some in studio (well, a white wall in the office), and onto Grafton Street where the lads are regularly seen busking.

The original line-up of 80′s Madchester legends Happy Mondays performed the first of two nights at Dublin’s Olympia Theatre, and I was the only snapper there, so exclusive shots abound…

Sounded great, and to hear lots of songs played that I have covered throughout the years was fantastic, ‘Kinky Afro’ still sounds as great now IMO. Oh, and even got the official seal of approval on the photos from Rowetta, who tweeted me to say “Top photos. Thanks Graham x”. High praise indeed!

Mr Costello brough a giant wheel and friends to Dublin’s The O2 as part of The Spinning Songbook tour. Basically most of the set was at the whim of where the rather large wooden wheel fell when spun by the onlooking punters. Very vaudaville, good theatrics and of course, fantastic songs to call upon.

The 4th annual Inspirations concert in aid of Barretstown took place in Dublin’s Olympia Theatre with a stellar line-up. Sinead O’Connor, An Emotional Fish, Something Happens, Paddy Casey, Cerys Matthews, Republic Of Loose, The 4 Of Us, Engine Alley, Lir and Ham Sandwich where the acts who paid homage to their musical inspirations in amongst their own greatest hits.

This was the first night of The Maccabees tour to promote their third album ‘Given to the Wild’. It was great set, a fantastic mixture of new and old material, and the crowd in the sold-out show were loving every minute.

Here is all the live stage action from the sunday. The acts were Whipping Boy, Royseven, The Original Rudeboys, Leaders Of Men, Wallis Bird, Sharon Shannon and Lisa Hannigan.

Day one of the Hot Press presented music exhibition, The Music Show, which took place at the RDS, Dublin on the 25th and 26th of February 2012. It was a great weekend, with lots to see and do. My main brief was to cover all the action from the Live Stage. So in no particular order, from the saturday, we have The Cast Of Cheers, ASIWYFA, Bressie, the Minutes, Shadowplay, Aslan, The Minutes, Chris Slade (ex AC/DC) and Jerry Fish.

Congratulations to Blur who have just won the outstanding contribution to music award at the Brits in 2012. I have no idea how relevant the gong is, but it has had a positive effect on their album sales the following day, so no bad thing I suppose. They have always been one of my favourite bands, and was very much in the Blur camp in the Vs Oasis ‘war’. ‘Roll With It’ or ‘This Is A Low’. Come on people, no contest…

Herewith is a gallery of shots which contains, amongst other things, some photos from their performance at Oxegen 2009. I loved it, shambolic, songs for hardcore fans, off the wall, what’s not to like. Unfortunately most of the crowd didn’t get it, being that Parklife was released before they were even conceived. Have also thrown in a shot I did when I had the pleasure of meeting Alex James when he was doing an interview with Stuart Clark about food, over breakfast! Incidentally his ‘Blue Monday’ cheese which is sadly no longer in production I believe, is amazing. Please start making it again… There is also a pic of Damon on stage with the excellent The Good, the Bad And The Queen. Finally, Graham Coxon in solo mode at Electric Picnic in 2006. All I can say is I can’t wait for the new material…