My Morning Jacket - Somerset House 17 July 2011

Closing out Somerset House's 11 night musical extravaganza, My Morning Jacket were supported by The Head & The Heart. 

I'm not sure about the place as a venue, sure, it's spectacular to look at, but walking out to shoot the first band... the atmosphere is weird... Maybe it's the clouds & the wind & the threat of rain or the fact that everyone must have been suffering a severe vitamin D deficiency by that point in the 'summer'... 

Anyway, after accidentally starting a rumour about the Head & The Heart amongst the press desk guys and the assembled photographers I kinda had to eat my words... although still not 'my cup of tea' they were miles better than the last time I saw them, more cohesive as a band, sounding fuller & more rounded, I did enjoy photographing them, and from the first three songs (we were ushered out of the pit after that) it seemed like they were putting on a good set...

After their set, back to the terrace for a beer & a gossip with the other photographers... a great bunch of people & I met the lovely Matt Kent at last, after years of on line conversations. He was very honest about my work when I was starting out & his advice was invaluable... check out his amazing work here!

After 45 minutes of cloud watching & fretting about the onset of rain, it seemed our luck was going to hold & we were all escorted back to the pit for My Morning Jacket...

Being significantly louder than their support, earplugs were firmly wedged in for the three songs, but I gather they didn't disappoint! The wind picked up just in time for Jim James' locks to get ruffled giving him the air of a mad professor & he strode around stage in his big overcoat, special effects box slung round his neck...

Photographically speaking, an exhilarating night... maybe next year I'll get to shoot a few more nights...

To see more photos, follow this link to Ragged Words...