Sting at the Sage

... or "Why not to even bother taking a compact to a gig!"

We`ve all seen it haven`t we. People taking shots with a compact from 40 rows back aiming to catch a memory of the night and risking all in that furtive moment to get a killer shot even though the ticket says "No photography allowed". I generally don`t bother - not worth the effort unless you have a raw shooting top of the range compact that handles noise well, has a large telephoto capability and a n image stabilisation system to match it.
On a quick trip up to Newcastle to see Sting at the Sage and see y dear old mum and take her out to lunch the next day I decided to test my own Panasonic TZ5 out. A nice little camera in great light that suffers as soon as you need a flash or shoot in low light. Spends most of it`s time in a drawer whilst I use my marvellous Nikon D700 which was obviously made out of carrot components the way it sees and shoots in the dark!
First test - the Millenium Bridge and Sage Centre after the golden hour.

 A few splashes of colour but no great memorable shot. Main reason - these were taken well after sunset. If you want a great shot of a structure in nice light shoot 45 minutes or so before or after sunset. At that time the sky will come through as dark blue instead of a mass of black and give much more definition to your shot.
Inside the Sage - yes nice enough without being as striking as the exterior . Why not snap a shot of the lit up levels ? Can still be interesting but 100 iso will not make it on a compact - there will be movement but might still work as a memory.

 Now the gig itself. I looked jealously at the 3 photographers covering the gig with a pass. The usual 2/3 songs and then they were off having got some great shots shooting at 1000 iso and above with fast lenses on monopods / hand held if steady. No doubt some great shots , some of which would have been turned to black and white if showing too much noise - always works well to give a gritty feel.
Everyone else gets out there iphones and compacts and does their best. The more knowledgeable turn up their iso levels if they know how others start shooting on auto with their flash switched on!!! A flash on a compact at that distance lights the bald head of the guy in front of you - not a singer 70 yds away and will only result in you getting chucked out of the place or annoying people next to you. Still you take your pictures and they don`t look too bad at all - at least not on the 2.5" x 1.5" screen on your phone / camera. These will be great you think! Nope - when you see them  at home they are every bit as bad as common sense tells you they will be. I took about 30 shots at iso levels of 800/1000. My compact is not capable of shooting at those levels let alone the ridiculous option of 1600 given! So far I have kept these ones for this blog - most likely they will all find my recycle bin some time very soon.

Come on Sting your audience awaits!

Off we go!

Sting in the spotlight

The band

One of his stories

The lights

More lights

Sometimes black and white conversion does not even help

Message in a bottle final encore

So you are going to a gig, there is a no photography rule so it`s a phone or compact what do I do? Well I would say invest in a high end compact with the best low light performance you can get. Don`t be impressed by the number of megapixels that Jessops and the rest push. Imaging each pixel is a dot - the more dots there are on the camera sensor in real terms the more noise there will be. There are some great cameras around if you read the reviews and are willing to shell out the money but don`t expect dropjaw images from a low end compact or your phone. Best advice - leave it in your pocket and son`t annoy the guy next to you.

And what of the gig? Overall disappointment. having dreamed of seeing someone in the Sage for years I was disappointed to find it much less impressive on the inside than it is on the outside.The seats had me uncomfortable after 40-50 minutes and despite all I had read of great acoustics it was no better or worse than most other arenas/ venue I had been to. And Sting? Well having seen his Sacred Love tour at the Newcastle Arena a few years back which was brilliant I expected the same again. Unfortunately it was not. I felt his song choice did not work and failed to get the crowd really going, his patter was limited to a few words about the origins of a couple of songs and his boyhood trips to the Quayside market and how different Elswick is today. The usual great musicians - especially the guy playing violin but I won`t be going to see him again.