2016 IN CONCERTS.

I've always loved taking photos at gigs. I used to sneak my DSLR into venues - sometimes even with my giant zoom lens - and never once got caught. One time I was fifth row at the Radio 1 Teen Awards and ended up with some great photos of One Direction and Taylor Swift. It seems funny now, because multiple times this year venue staff during bag-check have told me that my little Olympus E-PL7 isn't allowed because it has a detachable lens and that deems it 'professional'. (What does that even mean, anyway?) Nonetheless, because I am me, and am remarkably persuasive when I want to be, on every one of these occasions I managed to convince each staff member to let me bring the camera in regardless (mostly I exasperate them and they just give up, but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do). With that, allow me to present to you some of my favourite photos from the various gigs I attended this year (fifteen in total, but only nine of them feature in this post), taken with the aforementioned ~forbidden camera~.

MONTHLY FAVOURITES: SEPTEMBER 2015.

Ah. It's nearly two weeks into October and I'm only just uploading my "September Favourites". Better late than never...right? On another note, look how ugly the graphic is this month, it seems really empty for some reason.

BADLANDS REVIEW.

On 28th August 2015, after a few release-date hiccoughs, Halsey released her debut album, BADLANDS. I first stumbled upon Halsey (though she still called herself Ashley Frangipane back then) in summer 2013. I watched a few of her covers on YouTube and couldn't shake this feeling that she had something. Over the next few months I realised I'd had good reason to sense something special in her. I found myself converted to being a fan, and after a couple of small and temporary name-changes Ashley took a big step in her musical journey and became Halsey. In early 2014 she released Ghost as her first official single on iTunes, and it was a poignant moment to bear witness to. A couple of months later, Halsey presented her relatively-small-but-ever-growing fanbase with yet another taste of what was to come, in the form of New Americana. Later on, a newer version of it would prove to be one of the most successful songs she had ever released, with people praising it left, right and centre; dubbing it an anthem for the world's youth. Fast-forward one Room 93 EP, a record deal, a few tours and exponentially more radio plays later, and we arrive in August 2015, with the release of the eagerly-anticipated BADLANDS album.

MONTHLY FAVOURITES: JUNE 2015.

June has been really busy, as was expected. I simultaneously feel like I haven't had any time to myself, and that I've had so much time doing nothing, so I'm not sure how that's worked out. Yes, I know this monthly favourites is late, but it's here, which is better than nothing. Allons-y!