It’s an early start for Maleficent. They are playing at 6.30, well actually nearer 7 as the doors aren’t open at 6.30. The lights are good tonight and it isn’t too difficult to get some exciting pictures. I am planning to see Royal Treatment Plant who are headlining the Barfly, so I hang around after Maleficent have played. The other bands are not gripping. It’s nice to chat to people in the bar. At the end I head off to the Barfly and Voltane goes for Spit Like This at the Unicorn.

Last minute gig for Maleficent. I was looking forward fo a quiet evening at home when I saw their myspace bulletin. I might hve just stayed in anyway, but they are on early and I like the Purple Turtle because they have lights and use them.
Maleficent have a new part in their show tonight: Heidi joins them as a person dressed in bloodied bandages.
There is a certain amount of disorganisation which leads to Maleficent playing somewhat later (they are still on first). Somehow I end up staying to watch another couple of bands but still get home (fairly) early.

I'm on my 7th consequtive night out and appreciated a little lie in this morning. Tonight I was struggling to choose between who to see. But fortuitously Maleficent are playing as second support at the Bull & Gate whilst Joana & the Wolf are headlining at the Dublin Castle. I make my way to the Bull and Gate hoping to manage both gigs.
On the way I have bought a new lens; a 30mm f1.4 made by Sigma, this fills a gap in my armoury between 20mm which is often too wide and my 50mm f1.4 which I love, but can be too close to shoot full length unless there is no crowd. Its a secondhand mint copy which I picked up from a shop by the British Museum for hardly more cthan it would have gone for on e-bay.
The man who does the proper lights at the Bull and Gate seems to have the night off and they are unusually poor (like a typical night at the Barfly). I used flash as even my D300 with a 1.4 lens won't capture anything in pitch black. Although the 1.4 still provides an advantage for focusing. I normally focus fast moving bands with the camera set to continuous focus, since I got the D300 the number that are out of focus has reduced significantly.
Maleficent provide another theatrical performance with a certain amount of gore. Most songs seem to be a bit morbid, at times there is an air of Shakesparean tragedy. The number of dead bodies is apparent in my pictures.

It's a pretty full turn out at the Barfly for these two Italian bands. After chatting downstairs, we head upstairs in time to catch the last song from the second band on (whose name I didn't catch). They have an audience dominated by youg girls (I think it's a 16+ show). As the band finish we head for the front. Rather embarassingly some of the young girls have taken their tops off and are prading in their underwear. We avert our eyes, as do the band who may be too busy packing up to notice.
There is a bit of a delay before Maleficent take to the stage as everything is cleared away and new stuff set up (you can see I'm au fait with all these musical bits). Maleficent put on a visual extravaganza that even the barfly lighting fails to ruin. As always these days flashing lights are employed with increasing periods of strobing as the set goes on, until the last song is lit entirely by strobe. This is exactly the same sequence used for Mab and for the last band I saw here. From this pattern I presume there is a standard Barfly guide to lighting, pity it's so short. After a couple of songs I give up trying to capture photos in the brief moments of lightness and use flash. Everything is a bit random so I just take lots of pictures relying on probability and a Nikon SB800.

After another (brief) break we are treated to a powerful show by Mab. It vis a performance brimming with power and confidence. As they are late starting their setlist shows they have dropped a song. They finish at 11.10 which is still too late to catch the last southbound train (2320 from Camden Town) but miles too early for the first nightbus (0025 from Tottenham Court Road). Transport on Sunday nights is quite Kafkaesque. On a positive note the nightbus comes as timetabled and is remarkably fast.

Readers may remember that I was not impressed when I visied the Fly earlier in the year; As it was Simona's birthday and both Maleficent and Ophelia Torah were performing I decided to give the venue another visit. AS I was expecting little, it proved to be better than expected. The adition of a video screen upstairs showing the bands downstairs has clearly demonstrated the inadaquacy of the glorified xmas tree lights deployed on the bit of floor which comprises the stage. To allow the video camera some light they now leave on the room lights; this gives just about enough light to take photographs.

This evening is part of the Festival of Sins which seems to be a series of nights each based around a sin. Whilst there were a number of people dressed in rubber and leather, and some other odd things, I'm still not sure what particular sin was the theme for the evening. The night starts with a fashion show of rubber dresses some of which look quite daring, all of which look extremely hot on this summer evening.

Apart from the general sinners, Maleficent have attracted a reasonable crowd, including much of MAB, Voltane and Origane-Fashion.

Apart from the general sinners, Maleficent have attracted a reasonable crowd, including much of MAB, Voltane and Origane-Fashion.

No night buses tonight, which is a relief as I am still worn out from only having 4 hours sleep yesterday. Saw several bands before Maleficent who were all 'industrial' in various sub gendres, very tiring. I guess they were ok if you like that sort of thing, although there was one band doing some sort of industrial rave.Whilst I don't like to run anyone down on this blog (well apart from huge sections of society who watch reality tv and youths who wear dull stripey t-shirts) I have to say that with a computer and some voice effects even I could produce music like theirs. I am completely at a loss as to why they had 5 people in the band.They might have been ok if they hadn't taken themselves seriously, but they had various political messages projected on the wall behind them during the set and seemed to take themselves very seriously. That band also seemed to have a large following of underdressed young girls (presumably over 18 as it is an over 18 venue) which I can't explain. 
Maleficent split up a while ago and are now reformed with only singers Simona and Jason remaining from the original line-up. They are joined by ex-susan acid mainman Dr Sickx on Bass (and programming), Pete Turner on Guitar and Frank on Drums.

A maleficent gig is definitly a show and is full of costume and choreography. Having two lead singers who are not tied down by instruments makes for a fast moving performance and a for a photographer in relatively low light a real challenge at the bounds of possibility (in other words you end up with a lot of shots which are blurred through speed of movement or out of focus). By then I am shattered but I like a challenge. Unfortunately my concentration on the visuals is so intense I can't really comment on the music. But those I'm with seem to consider the performace a success on that score as well and I'm sure they're right.

An early start for this gig at the underworld. Maleficent were billed to play at 6.30. It all seemed a bit of a rush as the doors opened at 6.30. Fortunately one of the bands due to play later in the evening had pulled out so we had time to catch our breath before they played.