Paolo Nutini @ Paisley Town Hall
Earlier this week I had a *very* early morning! Up at 3am, I headed off to the airport where I was due to catch a flight up to Glasgow to photograph Paolo Nutini for the BBC.
Having received the day’s schedule earlier that week, I have to say that I was a little nervous. The day was due to start with a photocall on the steps of Paisley Town Hall - something which I hadn’t taken part in before. I had visions of a media scrum with all the photographers jostling for a prime position. My nerves weren’t unfounded - around 10 photographers were there to capture Paolo Nutini and Jo Whiley and, being rather short and not accustomed to this sort of thing, I was rather bewildered by the 10 second scramble for photos before Paolo and Jo were whisked away.
Foreseeing that this was due to happen, I had instead hung back and got a few shots of Paolo arriving - after all, I was there to document a behind-the-scenes perspective rather than grab that perfect press shot for the newspapers - absolutely fine by me!
I also knew that I was likely to have many more unique photo opportunities through the day as the BBC were whisking Paolo off for a tour around Paisley….and I was tagging along! First of all, we headed off to Apollo Music Store where Paolo used to buy his music (and, in fact, still does!).
We then had a very brief stop at Carlito’s…
…before heading off to the “Car Park in the Sky”!
It was great fun rushing from place to place with the film crew and hearing Paolo talk about growing up in Paisley. You can watch the whistle-stop tour of Paisley on the Radio 2 website. There’s a chance that you might catch a glimpse of me, althouh I’m pretty sure I managed to stay out of shot!
Following the trip around Paisley, we headed back to the Town Hall where Paolo was due to take part in a Q&A session hosted by Jo Whiley. Much to my delight, I found out that he was also going to perform some acoustic songs with his 7-piece band!
I then assumed that I would be required to take shome shots of the soundcheck. But, no! I was required for something a lot more exciting! First, we headed off to Paolo’s parents fish and chip shop to grab a short interview with his Dad.
It took us forever to drag Paolo away as there were hoards of people asking for autographs and photos! But when he did reappear, we then headed back to Paolo’s house! Apparently he was rather worried about me taking photos there as he didn’t want the location disclosed. However, he didn’t show any reservations to me - but perhaps that was because I kept my camera firmly tucked away. It wasn’t until we’d had a tour of the house and been provided with drinks that I decided to pull the camera out. He was so relaxed during the whole day and didn’t bat an eyelid when I started taking photos of him and Jo going through his record collection! It was so much fun!
It had been such a long, tiring but amazing day already and yet there was still so much to come! We left Paolo at home to relax before the concert and headed back to the Town Hall where we all managed to grab some fish and chips which had been sent over from Paolo’s parents chippy! There was then just enough time to grab a couple of short interviews with the support acts - Aerials Up and Admiral Fallow - before the concert started.
I spent the rest of the evening running around the venue trying to take as many photos from as many different locations as possible. In between times I somehow managed to squeeze in a visit to the dressing room to take a photo of Jo, Paolo and his band which, apparently, the band were rather excited about!
All in all it was an utterly amazing day which I am still amazed that I was a part of! You can listen to the concert on the BBC iplayer until next Thursday and also watch a video of the entire concert here! If you look closely you can see me loitering in the press pit during the first song!
Next up, Maroon 5! I can’t wait!
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