Music

 

Can a 9 year old be trusted with an ST550?

Friday, November 20th, 2009

My little girl embarked on an adventure  of a lifetime, but before she left I handed her my very much loved ST550, I wanted to find out if it was just me or was this little puppy as intuitive as I thought. Being a technofile, I’d pretty much worked my way around the settings after 10 minutes, but I didn’t tell her anything about the settings. Mwah ha ha.

Off she went and here is her story and pictures!

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Hi, I’m Amira and I went to Euro Disney for my birthday on a very fast train, I couldn’t believe the station was so close to Euro Disney, helpful people carried our bags to the hotel while we carried on straight into the Toon Toy park. It looked so realistic just like the telly. We went on a spinning car ride with Lightning McQueen and Tigger was right next to us, making a wheeeeeee sound, when Tigger asked for it to go faster Nannie was enjoying it so much she had tears of fun in her eyes.

Getting away from the baddies

Getting away from the baddies

We had a new camera to try out, it was easy to use and I like that was able to get the screen on the front to work. My first picture was a bit blurry, but after that I got the hang of things and really started to enjoy taking pictures. I worked out quickly how to check if the pictures I took were blurry or not.

When we were in the Phantom House ride I let my mummy take the pictures because I was worried that I might drop the camera when frightening things happened, first a spiders web appeared, then it got larger and larger and the train we were in went right through the yucky sticky web, with the spider still in it! Skeletons kept appearing from the walls , going “woooaaaah” our ghost train rocked from side to side, I cuddled grandad, closed my eyes and put my hood over my eyes.

Scarey Ghost Train

After a skeleton tipped a bucket of spiders over us we thought the scary ride was over, the ghost train went down a big dip making my tummy tickle my tonsils. We tried lots of rides on the first day and laughed at all the fun we had over dinner in the Hotel. Tigger came up to the table, I was excited to see him from my Winnie the Pooh books which are my favourite. I was even more excited about the next day and even dreamt of Winnie when I finally fell asleep.
When I woke up, I ate yummy Pain Au Chocolate for breakfast. Later I watched as Mummy, Grandpa and Auntie Danella went on Space Mountain, after the ride Grandpa felt really ill and looked pale, he went back to the hotel for a lie down and mummy couldn’t stop laughing. The rest of us went to the Parade which was amazing, the floats were colourful and all my favourite Disney character were taking part in the parade

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Indiana Jones was just like the movie, Auntie Dan was very brave she was the only one who went on the ride, we were relieved that we didn’t have to go on it to and cried with laughter. Thunder Mountain had boats that went on the water, it was perfect. On Friday we went to the stunt show, it was amazing there was a shootout and stunt men fell from the highest roof , one stuntman even caught on fire but the flames were put out by a fireman, everyone cheered like mad.

This was by far the most entertaining holiday I’ve ever been on and I would thoroughly recommend it to other children as it really does bring the family together, with laughter entertainment, surprises and a few scares.

Thank you for reading my first ever blog.

Amira

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UK Big Air Competition

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

Action from the Day

Brits Indoor Big Air Final 2009
2* TTR Rated World Tour Snowboard Event

With DJ Tony B cranking out some quality snowboarding anthems, snowboarding personality James Thorne compering and Ben Knox, Jack Shackleton, Andy Nudds, Sparrow Knox, Sam Turnball, Sam Rodgers and Lottie Kierle all chucking down hammers through the practice and qualifying heats, The Brits Indoor Big Air 2009 was shaping up to be an epic battle of the titans.

Clear the 16 meter gap, or at your own peril bring the knuckle of death into play.

Ben Knox was first to drop in on the biggest kicker ever seen in the Brits Snow Tour series (Fact!), on the top of the slope the atmosphere is decidedly edgy, a whippy kicker had seen several riders catapulted out of contention and consciousness, encouraging cries escort Ben to the kicker, flat lining from the top Ben went huge with a Safe Air, landing nicely on the sweet spot, the tension breaks up top, riders start chatting again,  Andy Nudds looking focussed gets a fist from Ollie Jackson, then throws down a perfectly stomped 720 to set the bench mark high, Sparrow Knox drops in switch, spins a 720 and clips the knuckle, a huge Invert from Jack Shackleton saw onlookers diving for cover as he drifted out of the landing zone.
Sam Turnball is an upcoming talent who hit the knuckle in the worst way possible, (head first) fortunately Sam’s shiner will enable him bragging rights for a few weeks, already milking it hard in the bar, the other Sam, Sam Rodgers of the female variety decided not to be outdone, over cooking a frontflip spinning 540 degrees on the wrong plane to also land on her heid, wait as I come to think about it Kat, Lottie and Emily all landed upside down at some point, the ladies competition really was a battle of attrition as the runner up shown here, face replete with an Ice burn chin pays  testament to.

 Women's Winner

 As the men’s competition wore on, Sparrow’s huge and technical airs ensured a podium finish, Jack Shackleton got his eye in, stomping an inverted 540, ( he claims he didn’t mean it) Andy Nudds continues to step up under pressure, and after the qualifiers it was apparent that anyone trying to wrest gold from his grip would have to pull something very special out of the bag. Ben Knox tried, going all out on both his runs, but Sat 19th Sep was Andy Nudds’s day and this youngsters progression through the sport continues apace, part of the victorious “Battle of Waterloo 09” squad, Andy Nudds is a Big Air specialist, set to take it to the International stage.

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Look out for Jack pictured above and Nuddsy joining
the other UK Challengers for the LG World Cup Big Air
Takes place @ Battersea Park on the 30th October.

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Rockingham Castle

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

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About a week ago a couple of friends and I went to Rockingham Castle, we’d woken up on the Sunday morning and found the weather had been kind to us in that it wasn’t raining for a change!  We didn’t go inside, as our interest lay in the views of the castle and its grounds.

We wandered around the courtyard, from where you had the most stunning view of the Northamptonshire countryside.  There is an old school and Church attached to the castle too, the whole place is steeped in history and has quite a romantic feel.

My favourite photo of the day is the one of the bench, we were sat on another bench across the garden, and this particular bench was calling to me as it looked more decrepit than the others, and was in a little corner surrounded by rose covered walls.  My friend and I got some very strange looks - not least of which were from his wife!! - as we sat on the gravel in the middle of the pathway to get the photo we wanted.  Our efforts paid off however, we were both happy with the end result.

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We also had to sit in the middle of the gravel pathway getting curious glances to take this photo.  This was rather more challenging and we had to spend a long time getting the exposure right on this - we either blew the highlights getting the tree exposed correctly, or the tree was too dark and the gravel was correct..  A little time and effort ensured that we got there in the end.  I’m not so happy with this as the composition doesn’t sit too well with me, but being able to get the exposure right means a lot in itself.

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This is a more general view of the castle and its impressive garden from the centre of the formal garden.

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And this one shows the stunning view you can get from the Castle.  I would recommend a visit here, its a very photogenic place and a lovely way of spending an a sunny afternoon.

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Goodnight V 2009

Friday, August 28th, 2009

The view from the V Main stage

So, nearing the end of festival season, and V is always a good mid-point for me in seeing how things are going. This is a view you don’t get to see very often, let alone with a camera. About 2 minutes after this was taken, the Killers walked on stage to play their closing headline set of the 2009 V Festival at Weston Park, Stafford.

Next up is Leeds - so more from me later!

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Sea Drum

Thursday, August 6th, 2009

I laugh in the face of fear, and so after trying a kite jump on dry land, I found myself chuckling ironically as my effort exceeded all my expectations, it was amazing! For a brief moment in time I was set free to soar the air, leaping from the 2D plane to 3D felt magical, I felt alive and all powerful,  that time passed too quickly, I felt a shift in perception as my stomach floated from my navel to gently tickle my tonsils, “Uh Oh”, out the corner of my eye the horizon was rising quick, it was at this point I realised taking my kite out in a bona fide gale was stupid, and I was going to have to do some severe damage limitation, hurtling towards the ground, I forced my body to relax, and go with it, nothing left to do when in a predicament such as this but revert to my snowboarding experience,  “You tense, you break!” the quickest way to untense is to laugh and so I was laughing, admittedly half heartedly when I hit the deck.”Man Down!!  Man Down!!  sheeeees had a few big falls and broke a leg before and so after I stopped biting the grass, I hesitantly looked over my shoulder half expecting to see my leg protruding at a crazy angle, I was pleased when it wasn’t, I wiggled my toes Yay I’m kind of OK, Lottie had watched this happen, when she had stopped giggling she came to help, I couldn’t see her very well, cos of the pain face I was pulling, but I cud tell she was laughing hard on the inside I wanted to join her but agony suppressed any compulsion to show

Durdle Dor Cove

Durdle Dor Cove

pleasure, so I just lay there for a bit groaning while she gradually recomposed herself. Pain and embarrasment are two of the craziest bed companions ever, but they seem to love each other, I got up as quickly as it was feasibly possible and fought the strong urge to buckle to the floor again, more  damage limitation, as my hot date was now in shreds, I’d have to man up and try to reclaim some shreds of dignity, damn you embarrasment, I just wanted to lie on the floor and sob for a while (I definitely would have if Lottie wasn’t around) you see I laugh in the face of fear, but cry like a baby when hurt and here I was adjusting to walking with one twisted ankle and one badly bruised heel, three weeks later my head is going doollally, confined to the house, daily icing, heating  and elevating the ankle hadn’t worked and so at 2.30am I cracked having turned over in my sleep I woke in pain, right thats it i’m heading out, three hours later I arrived in Lulworth Cove carpark, as I unpacked my kit from the boot a couple of joggers passed me and headed up a near vert path on the edge of a cliff, “Idiots” I muttered,  with a red hue spreading across from the East and a vast armada of angry clouds invading the coast, my hand was giving myself some huge self congratulatory pats on the backs,then out of the blue, pheeeeewthwack, pheeeewthwack “WTF!” my hand turned against me as somewhere in my sleepy head the Neuron connecting  my Brain to Ankle woke up, then connected Ankle to Path and was now connecting my Hand to Face repeatedly as the realisation that I’d be following the jogger’s footsteps dawned.

A 2km climb ensued and morning dew is beautiful, but deadly! as I jarred and slipped clumsily all the way to the Man of  War Cove. I love to clamber and despite aggravating my hindrance I was soon clambering over rocks like a

Smashing Boulder

Smashing Boulder

mountain goat…………………

a mortally injured mountain goat, that wasn’t being chased, but more carefully picking and slowly testing each step before hopping awkwardly to its good foot.
The Dorset coastline is truly awesome some call it the Jurassic Coast others don’t, but with Lulworth Cove, Man Of War Cove, Durdle Dor and Stair Hole all within limping distance I really enjoyed my inpromptu day out.

The Tectonic forces which drove the alps skyward also created some crazy beautiful scenery along our Southcoast, stretching from Durdle Dor to the Needles, the rock strata has been turned on its head to form Vertical cliffs that once were a land bridge, long since broken and semi submerged, wind, erosion and land slips continually shapes this rugged region, Turner painted here, geologists flock here, rocks land on peoples heads here, pictures can only show so much, if you have the chance visit it, I did and can’t wait to go back. I may go and visit the doc first, it’s been 5 weeks, I hate having an illogical fear of waiting rooms.

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Teeeeeeee in the Park

Thursday, July 16th, 2009

T in the Park is one of my favourite festivals - it’s essentially the Atkins diet of festivals. All meat and no veg. Then again, not sure what you’d expect to be healthy about putting 70,000 people in a field with ample supplies of Tennants and not enough sun cream.

In between shooting around 4,000 frames on my dSLRs I managed to grab a few highlight shots with the Samsung compact I’m using at present.

Welcome to Scotland (ish)

For anyone who has ever travelled up the east coast mainline to Scotland, you’ll appreciate how beautiful many of the views are along the way. This shot was taken from the train window as we passed through Berwick.

But onto the festival and yes - it was sunny! I did some shots of White Lies from the side of stage and while I was there grabbed this frame with the compact - it coped surprisingly well with the level of sunlight, which at some points just left me with white skies in my shots. Being on stage is one of the best buzzes you can get as a music photographer and a real highlight of T was shooting the Killers from the side of stage. You can see a shot of that here.

White Lies

But it’s not all about big bands and fireworks - festival season is a great time to catch bands you’ve never seen and enjoy a more intimate experience than being squashed between tens of thousands of sweaty revellers. Here I caught a band called The Answering Machine from Manchester - really catchy pop tunes and great stage presence, if you havent heard them have a listen.

The Answering Machine

Now, this has nothing whatsoever to do with music but it did seem like something I should blog. Never have I ever before come across ‘Roasted Coconut Juice’ in a can - and before you claim i’m making it up, I took a quick photo to prove its existence.

Roasted Coconut Juice is the new water

But, like a good can of Roasted Coconut Juice, T had to come to an end and it very nearly had a messy one. I arrived in the photo pit at 7pm for Snow Patrol, who were due to play before Blur. We were then told that Graham Coxon was in hospital, and that Snow Patrol would play at 7.30. Then, at 7.25, it was announced Snow Patrol would in fact go on at 8pm. At this point rumours of Blur cancelling were flying around - not good. After playing for nearly 2 hours (at one point i genuinely thought they might start taking requests they were going on for so long!) they finished up, and we were told blur would play at 10pm. Sure enough they made it, and the festival had its closing headliner. I nipped out into the crowd after I’d done my edit and grabbed this over everyone’s heads at the end of an epic ‘The Universal’

The end of Blur

A castle

And this is a picture of a castle, taken some time on Monday morning. I don’t remember when exactly, or indeed actually taking it, because I’d gone for a walk after quite alot to drink. But as random photos go, I was quite pleased to wake up with this on my camera.

Next festival is V, or possibly Kendal Calling, but I might go mad and even do a blog about something non-music related in the mean time!

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UK Snowboarding Roadtrip

Friday, July 10th, 2009

Portsmouth to Tamworth

For the first time in 18 months the Expression Session Crew, Hailing Straight Outta Portsmouth were on a road trip together and on a stifling hot day we headed to the huge indoor fridge we know and love as Tamworth Snowdome, I’d heard that the good ole boys at For Boarders By Boarders, whose nights have quickly become legendary were hosting a freestyle snowboarding competition and dishing out prizes, the official event photographers were Fear of the Park, time for some undercova brutha style guerrilla photography, but more of that later.

Greg tucks in

Driver Perks

Greg drove, on account of having the only available roadworthy vehicle, in grattitude we force fed him strawberries and cream, Mooommmph, ammmmmm, myyyaaaaaaammm was interpreted as hmm, ah lovely please force feed me more strawberries and cream.

Arriving in plenty of time, OK….. Just in time for the start of the session, we kitted up. Lottie and Greg were in fine form, mixing it with the best riders, I was challenging hard for the best spill of the night edging a box, using my vertebrae to grind it with true style, but that Daz Cockson is always up for a challenge and one upmanship, eating snow in grand style, falling victim to the gas pipe, (Daz is a true Slopestyle Jib legend props bruv)

Lottie riding the pipe

Lottie Kierle

Tough Competition

The competition was relentess and with a great park set up, there was some amazing riding on show, repping for the

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ladeez Lottie Kierle, Linzi Ashdown and Jools took on all the toys and were stomping tricks authoratively, Lucy Prior was riding full on, with smooth 180s in the quarter pipe and hitting the big Flat Down rail and Gas Pipe with gusto.

Ross Needham, Johnny Russell, Charlie Idda and Mark Raper were all throwing down hammers, with Greg getting into his stride the Finals beckoned  for two of the Expression Session team.

What happened next can only be described as the biggest ever Travesty Of Justice the sporting world has ever seen!

Finals Fiasco

As the 10 names for the final were called out Greg’s and Lotties were omitted, as Self Appointed Team Coach and Manager I had to act Fast, “Gather in team” I blasted out across the snow Lottie and Greg looking a bit bewildered traipsed over, “right guys I want you back out there, we still have a chance, we are going to play it  like we heard your names, the PA is rubbish and I’ve checked out security and think I can hold them off , if it comes to it, so go out there and win this thing and remember the mantra Jump Grab, Spin!. Don’t let me down!” still bewildered Lottie and Greg wandered off to the chairlift muttering insolently, I made a note of that for the next coaching session, poor discipline!

FBBB Tamworth finalistfbbb-tamworth finalist

I sprinted out of the freezer into reception “can I have a high viz media jacket please?”  fixing me a smile,  the receptionist  leaned over passing me a garish bib. Hi Viz jacket on camera strapped on neck  and time to shoulder barge the Fear of the Park boys out of my shots coz Lottie and Greg were in the Final, must have caused the organisers a right headache when trying to score 10 riders when there was 12 riding.  Everyime Lottie and Greg went round the judges must have been shuffling their papers furiously, thinking Who the Flap is that, meanwhile I was getting the shots I wanted, the plan was working.

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Snowboarding

The finals saw the big guns demolishing the “Gas Pipe”. 270s, 360s and 450s on and off were the order of the day as on each run the stakes were raised with ever more impressive trickery, the official starting list for  Men’s final was:

Gary Andrews, Ross Needham, Tom Hunt, Si Foster, Matt Higson, Mark Raper, Johnny Russel,
Greg Seymour——–Fact, saw it and have the pics to prove it and repping for the the ladeez, Sarah Morgan, Lyndsey Ashdown, Kirsty Smith, Lottie Kierle——Fact I saw it and have the pics to prove it

Results

Best Rider of the Night - Johnny Russell

Johnny Russell Lording it over Tamworth

Best Trick – Ross Needham. Smoothest Nosepress ever, ever ever.

Best Stack – Darren Coxson. NDE I think I saw some blood too, but Daz is made of strong stuff and was soon his chirpy self again.

The Tamworth snowboard nights run from 9 - 1 am Saturdays and after a hard shred, everyone mills around the carpark, pepes catching up with old shred buddies and making new ones too, the scene is relaxed and despite the competition on the slopes the camaradarie within the sport is amazing, we chilled and chewed the fat for a while, catching up with Ben Saka a young gun who rode with Lottie at the Saas Fe leg of the Brits tryouts last year.
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lottie-reflection

Greg’s van is superbly kitted out for road trips, I had shot gunned the front seat, Greg being  driver already had dibs on the back and Lottie had her tent, we headed for a place to park up and grab some Zzzzs somewhere / anywhere nearby, we plumped for a motorway service carpark, Greg and I settled down noisily, the thought of Lottie pitching and sleeping in her tent was making me laugh, but I had to keep it inside until finally I let go, when I heard her quietly say, “I’ll just get in my tent then” when we stopped laughing we relented and allowed lottie to crash in the van too. Dozing off was bliss, especially beleiving I had pulled a flanker, by bagging the prime sleeping location, my delusion was shortlived. I dreamt I was drifting sleepily towards the sun, the sun kept getting brighter and hotter, brighter and hotter and closer, much closer, the heat was stifling I had to get away,  I woke, Arrrrrghhh, Sun glare temporarily blinded me, the heat in the front cabin combined with the tight fit sleeping bag I’d somehow managed to zip  inside out, and my less than hasty exit when feeling extreemley claustraphobic resulted in the wild eyed scramble to the door and eventual exit that saw a random Polish lorry driver visibly worried about his personal safety, I gulped in large volumes of cool morning air and headed off for a cup of tea. I returned and the sleeping cherubs were stirring, we all headed in for a full English (Cept Lottie who had a beanburger a banana and some thistle tea).

Heading to the car several throaty roars, announced the arrival of 40 supercars en-route to Silverstone, I grabbed the camera Lottie modelled for me as I exposed for her reflection on a shiny car, petrol heads everywhere will be screaming at their pc with the name make and model, to me it looked shiny expensive and lended itself well to being imaged in an arty type picture, a nice way to round off the trip.

 

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Buzz Off!

Tuesday, July 7th, 2009

I have not used a video camera since I used to have an analogue Hi-8 camcorder, which was a long time ago. If I remember, it weighed about two kilos (and I swear that was just the battery) - and it was all made of wood (ok, I’m joking - I’m not that old!).

Noticing that my IT100 has a HD video function, I thought I would give it a whirl.

Because the camera is so small and light, I was able to maneuver in a way that would have been impossible with my old Hi-8. Unless I had the biceps of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

I don’t have a HDTV, but did watch the film on my neighbour’s from the camera. I was really pleased at the quality of it. Although, you can output to an old fashioned TV like mine or indeed watch it on your PC to see it in its HD glory.

It’s just a bit of fun, but it’s nice to know that if necessary, I have quite a capable video camera in my pocket. I just hope that I won’t end up in front of it (much).

I think for now, I will stick with photography instead of trying for an Oscar.

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greetings (from a field somewhere in somerset)

Sunday, July 5th, 2009

hi, I’m nick and I’m another of the merry band of bloggers playing with some shiny Samsung cameras. I started out on a compact camera about four years ago and now work for agencies and media organisations at gigs and festivals across the country (though I should point out on a dSLR now!) so going back to using a compact camera has proved an interesting challenge!

Last weekend was the first ‘proper’ festival of my summer - the one and only Glastonbury. I won’t try and do a review, because that would be over-stretching my writing abilities, but I’ll try give you a flavour of the weekend with a few photos, all of which were taken on a Samsung PL60.

SDC10530

while the inital weather looked like being a washout, things picked up and the general dress code was shorts, wellies and suitably over-the-top sunglasses! Here’s the park stage, complete with glorious blue sky.

The Park was, once again, the scene of various special guest appearances.

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two notable mentions go to the Klaxons, who turned up dressed as characters from Tim Burton movies for their set, and the Dead Weather - aka Jack White, Alison from The Kills, one Raconteur on bass and a Queens of the Stone Age guitarist thrown in for good measure.

One of the bands I caught who really impressed me were the Horrors - they played the penultimate set on Friday night and were a real highlight. Here’s a view from the side of stage.

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this year, I’ll be covering several other festivals and before gig season gets underway again in September - next up is T in the Park.

So, until next time, cheers!

SDC10472

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Island 50 Exhibition at the Vinyl Factory

Thursday, June 4th, 2009
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Iconic Island 50 Poster

Roxy Music are hanging out in one corner, Grace Jones is glowering from another and Bob Marley is looking over everyone. They’re just some of the stars whose iconic imagery make up the Island 50 Exhibition at the Vinyl Factory.

As I descended through the Phonica Records I found myself in an unexpectedly big space, a large concrete bunker containing a wonderland wander through the history of rock and pop.

Rock and roll on the big screens

Rock and roll on the big screens

At tonight’s launch, Don Letts drops beats alongsidethe likes of VV Brown. As we all mingle, nostalgic videos play on the big screens all around.

In the back there’s another unexpected grotto: an incredible museum of flotsam and jetsam washed up in the tide of Island’s many legends, from Paul Weller to Keane.

I then spotted one of the UK’s only Microsoft Surface table computers in action, as well as HMV kiosks should the urge grab you to buy any of the music you heard here.

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The live set

Then it was back to the main room for a bare-footed and full-throated set from PJ Harvey, alongside John Parish, before decamping to 229 Great Portland Street for a blistering set from DJ Shadow.

It’s all pretty hazy after that, but I’m left with the urge to return to the exhibition, and linger in the company of so many legends.

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