I-23
Think Floyd at the Playhouse Theatre May 2022.
Many of the posts that I share on social media are focused on my landscape photography so I thought I would share a quick post of something a little different. Sunday the 8th of May 2022 I attended a performance by Think Floyd at the Playhouse theatre in Weston Super Mare. I took along my camera to record the experience.
All photographs were made with the Leica M10 Monochrom and Voightlander 50mm APO Lanthar.
Guitarist Richard Morse fills the Playhouse Theatre in Weston Super Mare with the iconic Pink Floyd sound from his Fender Stratocaster.
Think Floyd is made up of band members Lewis Hall on Bass, Richards Morse on Guitar, Steven Farmer on Drums and Kirk McLeod on keyboards. they have been touring for over 25 years in the UK and abroad and are well established as the UK’s number one Pink Floyd tribute show. I saw the band perform for the first time pre-pandemic and was excited to return and see them again. If you’ve seen Think Floyd perform, you will be aware of just how good they are and well deserving of the excellent reviews they receive. If you get the chance to go and see them then jump at the chance, you certainly won’t regret the decision. A link to their gig list for 2022 can be found here https://www.thinkfloyd.net/gigs
The show begins…..
And what a show it was.
I was assigned seat number I-23 which was near the back and situated to the left-hand side of the stage. The Playhouse is quite an intimate venue, so I wasn’t so far from the stage that a long focal length was required. I used my favourite pairing of a 50mm prime and the low light beast that is the Leica M10 Monochrom to try and make photographs that captured the drama of the performance. The M10M is also incredibly quiet and even though the music would have likely masked any noise from a camera with a louder shutter, it was reassuring that I wasn’t going to disturb the people sitting next to me.
Lewis hall belting out another Floyd classic with a superb vocal performance.
Kirk McLeod on Keyboards, Richard Morse on Guitar, Steven Farmer on Drums and Lewis Hall on Bass.
Lewis Hall looks to the sky as Think Floyd belt out another Floyd classic.
Richard Morse and Kirk McLeod masked in the atmosphere of smoke and lights.
Steven Farmer shines bright as the bands drummer giving an energetic and focused performance.
Lewis Hall on Bass under the superbly choreographed light show.
Kirk McLeod on keyboards producing hypnotic tones.
Richard Morse absolutely nails the solo to Comfortably Numb.
Richard Morse in the spotlight.
The show draws to close and the band receives a well deserved standing ovation from the crowd.
An empty stage following a mesmorising performance by Think Floyd.
The lighting at the show was superb and carefully choreographed with the smoke machine adding to the atmosphere. This provided me with the opportunity to make some really dramatic photos. I am usually very careful not to blow out highlights and will usually underexpose slightly. I decided on this occasion not to worry too much about this. I wanted bright pure white highlights to add to the overall energy of the photographs. Think Floyd is as much about the visual impact and theatre of the performance as it is about the music. The two go hand in hand as you would expect from a Pink Floyd tribute band. There was a limitation to the photos I could make as I was in a fixed seated position throughout the performance, but I enjoyed the challenge.
The performance included many of the Pink Floyd classics including Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Wish You Were Here and Comfortably Numb which were performed flawlessly. Details about the band can be found on their website at https://www.thinkfloyd.net/ on twitter @ThinkFloydUK and Instagram @thinkfloyduk.