FROM THE ARCHIVE: Lady Gaga at Orange RockCorps, Manchester Apollo, 2009 by Ash (photo © Ashley Bird 2009) This was my first really major concert shoot. I'd recently begun shooting for Orange RockCorps - an organisation which recruits (mostly) young people to do community work in return for tickets to concerts. Lady Gaga was new on the scene but already causing a huge stir with Poker Face and Just Dance. My first job for RockCorps had been to take photos of her visit to one of the community projects - volunteers helping paint and clean up the HQ of Body Positive, an HIV support group in Manchester. She had turned up with her hair woven into a sort of huge button. (At the time this seemed pretty outlandish, but now that seems like a pretty conservative sartorial choice for her.) Gaga then went on to headline the RockCorps concert at the Apollo, and I was really excited to be in the photo pit. I think she planned the set opening with her now well-known senses of irony and theatre. Most of the photographers were only allowed to shoot the first song… that song was Paparazzi… and she was shrouded in darkness and/or dry ice for much of it. I found it pretty funny, but only because as RockCorps' official photographer I was allowed to shoot the whole set. I was really pleased to see I got some decent shots from that first song though (so if I HAD only been allowed to shoot that, I wouldn't have been screwed). This one was actually right at the beginning, as she emerged from beneath a pulsating mound of these dalek-like panels, and just caught the light in an interesting way. There's a name for those panels, but I can't remember what it is. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? The rest of the set was amazing. Being up close to a performance like that - with her four costume changes (in a roughly 30 minute set if I remember correctly), the dance routines and lighting all giving me plenty to shoot - was a real privilege. I could also see from that close just how hard she works on stage. It really puts lazy stool-bound boy bands to shame. And she definitely sings live through all of it.  I do love my rock, metal, indie and folky sorts of music, but sometimes you can't beat a good pop concert for photography opportunities. And let's face it, Gaga's the ultimate pop experience right now… POSTED BY ASH
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